On November 8, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) announced that 17 employees were exposed to plutonium.  The INL now says it is 16 employees who were exposed, but, the number of those testing positive for contamination is going up.

The INL has also released more info on how their employees got exposed to deadly plutonium.  The affected area at the decommissioned Zero Power Physics Reactor has been isolated.

Japanese media are reporting that seven workers are now confirmed to be contaminated.  At least three workers are undergoing additional checks after lung examinations pointed to possible internal exposure.

Local east Idaho media are reporting that two employees tested positive for Americium 241 in their lungs.  INL officials say it’s almost sure that their lungs are contaminated with plutonium as well.

The Japanese and Idaho media are giving conflicting info on how the workers were exposed.

Idaho media says INL employees accidentally ruptured 30 year old containers filled with plutonium.  Japanese media says the workers found the containers already ruptured, with powder spilling out.  They opened the containers to see what the powder was.  It was oxidized plutonium that had turned to dust.  The Japanese media says the INL is trying to find out how the containers were ruptured.  INL officials suspect the containers were ruptured a long time ago, which would explain the oxidized (rusted) plutonium (it also means employees might have been exposed to plutonium since 1981).

The INL is currently run by contractor Battelle Energy Alliance.