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Ex-Worker At Largo Nuclear Weapons Plant Sees Cancer Link

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Vivian Scott pictured working at the former GE Plant

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By STEVE ANDREWS | News Channel 8

Published: November 6, 2007

Updated: 11/06/2007 09:27 pm

Previous Coverage: Former Workers Say Pinellas Nuclear Plant's Radiation, Chemicals Connected To Cancer
Video: WFLA Steve Andrews Report
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LARGO – Vivian Scott decided it was time.

During Scott's 27 years of working at the former GE Plant in Largo, the 62-year-old Pasadena resident said many of her friends died from cancer. The work performed at the plant was highly classified, but included the production of electronic and mechanical equipment for nuclear weapons.

She also was a friend of Jim Wood, 54, another former plant worker who passed away last year from a rare brain cancer. It was because of WFLA-TV's reports about Wood's death that she is now speaking out.

"There have been too many deaths, too many illnesses," she said.

Scott thinks the exposure to chemicals and radiation at the plant caused her medical problems and the government is responsible for medical benefits.

"I do have concerns that maybe some of the things that I worked with – chemicals and other agents – could have caused me to develop all these tumors," she said. "I don't know what I was working on but I have a pretty good idea now that it was not safe."

Working in the Gold Plating Unit, Scott remembered being around cyanide.

"I knew about the cyanide because they told us, 'Don't get it in your mouth … the cyanide was very dangerous,'" she said.

When she worked in the encapsulation unit, she wore a surgical-type mask to protect her from finely ground glass in the air.

She said the glass fragments made it hard for her to breathe and made her cough all the time.

Scott now suffers from recurring breast tumors and lung disease.

"SOMETHING IS GOING ON"

Built in 1954, the plant in Largo employed about 2,200 people.

By 2001, the government determined many workers at nuclear weapons plants across the country were developing illnesses related to their workplace.

Congress passed a law in 2001 to provide workers with medical benefits and a one-time payout of $150,000 if they proved their illness was related to their work.

Of the 1,000 claims filed by former GE Plant workers, the Department of Labor said they denied 600 of them.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is following the ongoing investigation closely to determine if the administration and Department of Labor conspired to limit payments to sickened workers.

"Something is going on that is a little bit suspicious," he said. "And if that is being done in a conspiratorial way then that's a violation of the criminal laws of this country and they ought to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

The investigation could take months to complete, but for former employees like Scott time is of the essence.

"That's the sad part about it, everyday is another challenge," Nelson said. "If the government's culpable, we're going to make the government pay."

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