Tourists, employees and children on field trips have been exposed to radiation for close to 20 years at a museum building at the Grand Canyon, but park officials never warned anyone, according to a frustrated worker.
In a rogue email to Park Service employees earlier this month, National Park’s safety director Elston “Swede” Stephenson alleged a cover-up of what he called “a top management failure.”
Stephenson claimed that five-gallon containers filled with uranium ore — including one container that could not close completely because it was too full — were removed from the building in 2018, according to the email, acquired by the Arizona Republic.
The containers were stored next to a popular taxidermy exhibit that is frequented by children taking the museum’s tour, he claimed in the email. Exposure to radiation beyond federally acceptable safety levels, as much as 4,000 times higher for children and 400 times higher for adults, could have happened within seconds.
But federal officials never warned park workers or visitors that they may have been exposed.
“If you were in the Museum Collections Building (2C) between the year 2000 and June 18, 2018, you were ‘exposed’ to uranium by OSHA’s definition,” Stephenson wrote. “The radiation readings, at first blush, exceeds (sic) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s safe limits. … Identifying who was exposed, and your exposure level, gets tricky and is our next important task.”
He also claimed that he was repeatedly blocked by higher-ups at National Parks when he made requests for the public to be informed of the exposure.
OSHA, National Parks and Arizona Health Services are coordinating an investigation, Emily Davis, a public affairs specialist at the Grand Canyon, told the Arizona Republic.
“There is no current risk to the park employees or public,” Davis said. “The building is open. … The information I have is that the rocks were removed, and there’s no danger.”
She added that a recent building inspection found “background radiation” that is local to the area.
