SUMMARY: The Department of Energy
(DOE) is today publishing a final rule to
establish a chronic beryllium disease

prevention program (CBDPP) to reduce
the number of workers currently
exposed to beryllium in the course of

their work at DOE facilities managed by
DOE or its contractors, minimize the
levels of, and potential for, exposure to
beryllium, and establish medical
surveillance requirements to ensure
early detection of the disease. This
program improves and codifies
provisions of a temporary CBDPP
established by DOE directive in 1997.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This rule is effective
January 7, 2000.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jacqueline D. Rogers, U.S. Department
of Energy, Office of Environment, Safety
and Health, EH–51, 1000 Independence
Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585,
301–903–5684.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
A. Background
B. Chemical Identification and Use
C. Health Effects
1. Chronic Beryllium Disease
2. Beryllium Exposures at DOE Operations

beryllium disease prevention program
(CBDPP) for the Department of Energy
(DOE or the Department). This program
will reduce the number of workers
currently exposed to beryllium at DOE

facilities managed by DOE or its
contractors, minimize the levels of, and
potential for, exposure to beryllium

establish medical surveillance
requirements to ensure early detection
of disease, and improve the state of
information regarding chronic beryllium

disease and beryllium sensitization

DOE has a long history of beryllium
use because of the element’s broad
application to many nuclear operations
and processes. Beryllium metal and
ceramics are used in nuclear weapons,

as nuclear reactor moderators or
reflectors, and as nuclear reactor fuel
element cladding. At DOE, beryllium

Inhalation of beryllium dust or
particles

can cause chronic beryllium
disease (CBD)

or beryllium
sensitization. CBD is a chronic, often
debilitating, and sometimes fatal lung
condition.

Beryllium sensitization is a
condition in which a person’s immune

system becomes highly responsive
(allergic) to the presence of beryllium

There has long been scientific
consensus that exposure to airborne
beryllium is the only cause of CBD.

As of September 1999, among the
11,266 current and former DOE federal
and contractor workers who were
screened for the disease, 130 workers
had been diagnosed with CBD, and
another 277 workers had become
sensitized to beryllium.

DOE anticipates
an increase in the number of workers
who may be exposed to beryllium

DOE moves forward with deactivating
and decommissioning former nuclear
weapons production facilities.
The current worker protection
permissible exposure limit (PEL) of 2
mg/m3, measured as an 8-hour, timeweighted
average (TWA), was adopted
by the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) in 1971 and
codified in 29 CFR 1910.1000, Tables Z–
1, Z–2 and Z–3 by reference to existing
national consensus standards. DOE’s
predecessor agency, the Atomic Energy
Commission (AEC), had previously
established the same limit of 2 mg/m3 for
application at its facilities in 1949, and
that limit has remained in effect at
DOE’s facilities up to the present. In
1977, the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health
(NIOSH), a federal agency,
recommended to OSHA an exposure
limit of 0.5 mg/m3 for beryllium

NIOSH,
at the same time, classified beryllium as
a potential occupational carcinogen

Between the 1970s and 1984, there
appeared to be a significant reduction in
the incidence rate of CBD. This, coupled
with the long latency period for the
disease, led to the assumption that CBD
was occurring only among workers who
had been exposed to high levels of
beryllium decades earlier (e.g., in the
1940s)

However, the number of
confirmed cases of CBD, more recent
data suggesting the occurrence of CBD
among workers with low-level
exposures, and the expected future
increase in the number of workers
potentially exposed to beryllium (during
decontamination and decommissioning
activities) all indicate a need for more

The Hanford Beryllium Awareness Group would like to take this chance to welcome you.

Beryllium on the Hanford site is becoming a growing health and safety concern.

In an joint effort between DOE, all the contractors and the Beryllium Awareness Group we are trying to insure everyone understands the issues concerning exposure to beryllium.

This web site is set up to provide current employees with information about Beryllium as it pertains to the Hanford Site.

One purpose of this web site is to assist each individual in making an informed decision in regards to the need for medical testing. Another use for this site is to assist in complying with 10 CFR Part 850 by providing an on-line beryllium inventory for the Hanford Site

also to help with the production of Automated Job Hazard Analysis (AJHA)'s as they relate to beryllium.

The Hanford site currently consists of Bechtel Hanford, Inc. (BHI), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Fluor Hanford, Inc. (FH), CH2M Hill Hanford Group (CHG), AdvanceMed Hanford (AMH) and Department of Energy-Richland Operations (RL), Department of Energy-Office of River Protection (ORP).

The following steps may be helpful for a Hanford employee to enter the AMH Medical Beryllium Program:

. Determine if you have worked in any of the Listed Buildings where Beryllium was stored or processed

Print out a copy of the Hanford Site Beryllium Employee Questionnaire

then complete and return the questionnaire to AdvanceMed Beryllium, G3-70. AdvanceMed will provide you with further information to assist you in making an informed decision on medical testing

The Berllium Awareness Group, Mark Fisher 373-3870

Beryllium point of contact at AdvanceMed is Beryllium Case Management Representative 376-6000.

The link below contains a list of all of the buildings currently administered by Fluor Hanford that have been evaluated for possible beryllium exposure. This list is based on information obtained from reviewing past sampling records, historical process information and interviews with current and past employees. Each facility listed was, at one time, suspected of containing beryllium contamination from past beryllium production activities

research or pilot-plant operations, storage of beryllium materials, or beryllium tool usage.

Each of these facilities has been evaluated to determine the potential for beryllium exposure from current operations in the building

Based on this evaluation, some of these facilities were determined to have been erroneously designated as suspect buildings, as there was no credible evidence of beryllium usage at the facility.

Each of the facilities also has a Fact Sheet containing additional information about the facility. This information includes a summary of past beryllium operations and sampling data.

Handling beryllium in solid form poses no special health risk

Like many industrial materials, beryllium-containing materials may pose a health risk if recommended safe handling practices are not followed

Inhalation of airborne beryllium may cause a serious lung disorder in susceptible individuals.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set mandatory limits on occupational respiratory exposures. Read and follow the guidance in the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) before working with this material. For additional information on safe handling practices or technical data on beryllium contact Brush Wellman Inc. - Electrofusion Products.

Beryllium (IPA: /bəˈrɪliəm/)

Be
Beryllium

Although emeralds and beryl were known to ancient civilizations, they were first recognized as the same mineral (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) by Abbé Haüy in 1798. Later that year, Louis-Nicholas Vauquelin, a French chemist, discovered that an unknown element was present in emeralds and beryl. Attempts to isolate the new element finally succeeded in 1828 when two chemists, Friedrich Wölhler of Germany and A. Bussy of France, independently produced beryllium by reducing beryllium chloride (BeCl2) with potassium in a platinum crucible. Today, beryllium is primarily obtained from the minerals beryl (Be3Al2(SiO3)6) and bertrandite (4BeO·2SiO2·H2O) through a chemical process or through the electrolysis of a mixture of molten beryllium

Beryllium is relatively transparent to X-rays and is used to make windows for X-ray tubes.

Beryllium is also used as a moderator in nuclear reactors

Beryllium is alloyed with copper (2% beryllium, 98% copper) to form a wear resistant material, known as beryllium bronze,

used in gyroscopes and other devices where wear resistance is important. Beryllium is alloyed with nickel (2% beryllium, 98% nickel) to make springs, spot-welding electrodes and non-sparking tools.

Other beryllium alloys are used in the windshield, brake disks and other structural components of the space shuttle.

Beryllium oxide (BeO), a compound of beryllium, is used in the nuclear industry and in ceramics.

Beryllium was once known as glucinum, which means sweet, since beryllium and many of its compounds have a sugary taste.

Unfortunately for the chemists that discovered this particular property, beryllium and many of its compounds are poisonous and should never be tasted or ingested.

Beryllium, symbol Be, gray, brittle metallic element, with an atomic number of 4. It is in group 2 (or IIa) of the periodic table (see Periodic Law).

Beryllium was named for its chief mineral, beryl, an aluminum beryllium silicate.

Beryllium, one of the alkaline earth metals, ranks about 51st in natural abundance among the elements in Earth's crust.

Its atomic weight is 9.012. Beryllium melts at 1287°C (2349°F), boils at 2471°C (4480°F), and has a specific gravity of 1.85.

Beryllium has a high strength per unit weight.

It tarnishes only slightly in air, becoming covered with a thin layer of oxide. The ability of beryllium to scratch glass is usually ascribed to this oxide coating.

Beryllium compounds are generally white (or colorless in solution) and show great similarity in chemical properties to the corresponding compounds of aluminum.

This similarity makes it difficult to separate beryllium from the aluminum that is almost always present in beryllium ores.

The addition of beryllium to some alloys often results in products that have high heat resistance, improved corrosion resistance, greater hardness, greater insulating properties, and better casting qualities.

Many parts of supersonic aircraft are made of beryllium alloys because of their lightness, stiffness, and dimensional stability.

Other applications make use of the nonmagnetic and nonsparking qualities of beryllium and the ability of the metal to conduct electricity.

Beryllium has important use in so-called multiplexing systems.

In miniature, high-purity components made with beryllium, a single wire can carry hundreds of electronic signals.

Because X rays easily pass through pure beryllium

the element is used as window material for X-ray tubes. Beryllium and its oxide,

beryllia, are also used as a moderator, or so-called blanket, around the core of a nuclear reactor because of the tendency of beryllium to slow down or capture neutrons (see Nuclear Energy).


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Although beryllium products are safe to use and handle, the fumes and dust released during fabrication are highly toxic. Extreme care must be taken to avoid breathing or ingesting even very small amounts. Specially designed exhaust hoods are used by persons working with beryllium oxide.

Beryllium and its oxide are being utilized more and more in industry. Besides its importance in aircraft and X-ray tubes, beryllium is used in computers, lasers, televisions, oceanographic instruments, and personal body armor.

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How to cite this article:
"Beryllium," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
© 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.



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Although beryllium products are safe to use and handle, the fumes and dust released during fabrication are highly toxic.

Extreme care must be taken to avoid breathing or ingesting even very small amounts.

Specially designed exhaust hoods are used by persons working with beryllium oxide.

Beryllium and its oxide are being utilized more and more in industry.

Besides its importance in aircraft and X-ray tubes, beryllium is used in computers, lasers, televisions, oceanographic instruments, and personal body armor.

WHAT IS BERYLLIUM?
Beryllium is a lightweight strong, steel-grey metal. Its
oxide, beryllia, is a hard, white ceramic. Copperberyllium
alloys are 98% copper containing up to 2%
beryllium.

WHERE IS IT FOUND?
Beryllium is used in industry in three main forms: as

beryllium metal, as beryllium alloys (often copperberyllium

HOW CAN IT GET INTO YOUR BODY?
The most important problem is breathing it in. But it
can also get into your body by:
• skin or eye contact with soluble salts of beryllium
or as swarf from metal or alloy;
• eating, drinking or smoking in areas where
beryllium soluble salts are used.
Large pieces of beryllium or beryllium alloys (for
example in electronic components) are unlikely to
cause any ill-health effects. However, beryllium can get
into your body, as dust, fume or as soluble salts and in
such cases could damage your health.

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH HAZARDS?
Single exposures to beryllium and its compounds can
cause:
• inflammation of the lungs, if the exposure is high;
• eye inflammation from splashes;
• skin disease (dermatitis and sensitisation) from
soluble salts;
• corn-like lesions if swarf gets into the skin and is
not removed

Repeated exposure to beryllium and its compounds
can cause long-term lung disease. This develops
gradually after a period, which can be anything from a
few weeks to many years, during which there may be
no symptoms of illness. In severe cases the lungs are
so badly damaged that the illness can be fatal. There is
also concern from studies in animals that beryllium
may cause cancer. This has not been proved to occur
in humans, but employers are required to handle
beryllium and its compounds as if they did cause
cancer.