By: Russ PtacekKANSAS CITY, Missouri - An NBC Action News investigation has uncovered a 1989 report documenting radioactive contamination at the Bannister Federal Complex.
Have you had health problems you believe are linked to the Bannister Federal Complex? If so, please register your condition with NBC Action News by clicking here.
Government scientists disagree with an independent health physicist who believes the document, obtained by NBC Action News, could explain worker illnesses.
Click here to see the our 14 page list of sick or deceased workers separated by their conditions and the agencies where they worked at the Bannister Federal Complex.
The contamination report, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveals “extensive and widespread” radioactive contamination during a February 1989 accident at the Bannister Federal Complex.
82-year-old Ivory Mae Thomas was one of the first sick workers from the Bannister Federal Complex to come forward.
“They took an X-ray of my body and they discovered a tumor,” Thomas said when she disclosed her condition at the start of our investigation in November.
She believed that cancerous tumor, heart failure, and lung conditions all had something to do with that February night in 1989 when government men came to her home with Geiger counters.
“They had some rubber uniform, and boots, and mask and rubber gloves on,” Thomas said.
The U.S. Dept. of Energy report, titled “Report of Investigation of Pm 147 Contamination February 10, 1989,” details the incident at the Bannister Federal Complex.
Government officials initially denied our requests to see a copy but months later, released a copy with most names of individuals affected blacked out in response to our Freedom of Information Act request.
The 1989 investigation report reveals "extensive and widespread" "loose radioactive contamination" found at seven locations inside the Allied-Signal operated Kansas City Plant including radiation on a worker's hand and outside the plant inside an employee's residence.
Atlanta based physicist Wayne Knox helps workers prove health claims to qualify for government compensation.
The program is intended to help workers at plants that manufactured parts for nuclear bombs.
The Kansas City Plant, that has been operated by Allied-Signal, Bendix, and currently Honeywell, makes non-nuclear components for atomic weapons.
Knox believes the report we obtained could, for the first time, explain not only Thomas's health problems, but many others on our list of about 370 sick workers identified so far in our investigation.
“It's more likely that she would have health consequences, cancers as a result of these exposures," Knox said.
The 1989 contamination report's poorly copied pages show the electron shooting measuring device.
The beta backscatter measurement system leaked a radioactive substance called promethium and documents 15-years of contamination starting in "1974 multiple incidents" with "leaking or damaged radioactive sources."
“After that my health wasn't alright,” said Thomas, who was a cleaning woman at the plant.
The report states contamination was also found on a janitor’s shoe during the 1989 investigaiton..
“It was my shoe,” Thomas said at her attorney’s office. “They got rid of it. They gave me some more shoes to get back home. They said I really was exposed in the radiation.”
The report blames the "spread of contamination" on the "lack of engineering and administrative controls" at the Kansas City Plant.
“I think that there is no question in my mind that this is the smoking gun in this case,” said Attorney Randy James. “We intend to use this report to try to get justice for Ms. Thomas.”
According to the report four employees initially tested “positive for radioactivity,” but follow-up tests contradicted that saying workers were "within normal limits."
Officials at the now Honeywell managed Kansas City Plant declined our requests for an interview about the 385 page report, instead, releasing a one page statement.
The statement refers to a 2005 review prepared for the Centers for Disease Control finding “low risk of any radiological contamination” at the plant and to the 1989 report's finding that: “no employees received a detectable dose of radiation"
Click here to see a report prepared for the Centers for Disease Control that discusses health concerns at the facility.
In the Kansas City Plant statement, a plant spokeswoman said "there was not enough radiation released to cause any one person to exceed an annual limit even if they ingested all of it."
Knox says that doesn't take into account years of unmonitored, ongoing exposure documented in the report.
“All were exposed to chronic and acute radiation,” Knox said. “Not just internally, but externally also.”
Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control’s National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health, who assess worker claims reviewed the 1989 document at our request and say there wasn't enough radiation contamination
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