Radiation Accident

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO investigated the conduct of the Air Force and its contractor in responding to the 1983 radiation accident at Clear Air Station, Alaska, to determine whether: (1) the contractor fulfilled all the required services in compliance with the terms of the contract; (2) Air Force actions in administering the contract were beyond reproach; and (3) affected employees have been afforded the best available medical evaluation, treatment, and follow-up they are entitled to under law.

GAO noted that, according to Air Force and contractor investigation reports, the accident occurred because of the inadvertent actions of a contractor technician. Upon investigation, GAO found that: (1) the technician's action resulted in the workers' exposure to radiation because the equipment was not laid out and operated as required by the contract; (2) contractor noncompliance with contract specifications and problems in contract management practices allowed the accident to go undetected for 8 minutes; (3) there was some delay in providing medical services to the victims immediately following the accident; and (4) the contractor reduced staffing in key control rooms below the minimum manning requirement. GAO also found that: (1) maintenance technicians on duty were not fully qualified to perform in their assigned positions; (2) the quality assurance evaluators (QAE) monitoring the contract were neither technically trained in radar operation nor had prior experience in procurement procedures or contract administration; and (3) although there was some delay in providing medical evaluations to the victims in the 24 hours following the accident, the victims have received extensive medical evaluations since the accident.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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