[img1]A student labor-rights group says the contractor chosen to dismantle an old nuclear reactor on campus could endanger the health of its workers and the UW community.

At a meeting attended by about 40 people last night, panelists for the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) lambasted LVI Services Inc. for environmental and safety abuses that have generated fines and lawsuits in several states.

"LVI is a company that doesn't care about the public or workers, only profit," said Carlos Fernandez, a former employee who said the New York-based company exposed him and other laborers to unsafe conditions at a Seattle job site.

The reactor, housed in the More Hall Annex across from the Paul G. Allen Center, hasn't been used since 1988. It was built for students in the now-defunct nuclear engineering department.

The university administration maintains it did all the necessary "due diligence" when it chose LVI out of the three final bidders.

"You can ... put the spotlight on LVI, but you need to put things in comparison with [other] contractors," said Alan Nygaard of the Capital Projects Office. "Any major contractor will have some level of accidents."

LVI has racked up $90,000 in state and federal environmental fines, according to Steve Marquardt, a spokesman for the Laborers' International Union of North America.

LVI, a non-union company, was recently targeted by a PBS documentary for housing Hurricane Katrina clean-up workers in unhealthy, dangerous conditions. Workers have sued the company for shortchanging them on wages and overtime pay.

"LVI gets sued constantly by its workers, by its clients, by everybody," Marquardt said. "Charges in those lawsuits include discrimination, retaliation and negligence."

The panelists also accused LVI of distorting its safety record to get the UW contract.

Members of SLAP said it is probably too late to switch contractors, but at the very least, the UW should make sure LVI adheres to safety procedures as workers take apart and dispose of hazardous materials.

The group has proposed a supplemental contract that would provide for federally-approved safety equipment for workers, allow workers to complain about safety issues without retaliation and permit union organizing.

"Most of the items they were asking were already covered ... on the contract we have with LVI," said Nygaard, who added the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a "strong whistleblower requirement" that protects workers who voice safety concerns.

"It's illegal for the contractor to do anything discriminatory ... for bringing up a safety concern," he added.

Looking inside the More Hall Annex - the two-story glass and concrete shell that encases the reactor - one can see yellow radiation warning signs close to where the core used to be. Asbestos, mercury and lead also pose health threats if not disposed of properly.

Marquardt warned that the building contains a substantial amount of asbestos, which can cause several serious -- and possibly fatal -- lung diseases when inhaled.

"Disrupting, disturbing, pulling asbestos out of buildings often is one of the most common way the public becomes exposed to the stuff," he said.

LVI has been cited several times for mishandling asbestos at removal sites, including one instance where workers were dumping debris into a dumpster filled with dry asbestos, releasing clouds of the toxic substance into the air.

Nygaard said there will be a representative from the Capital Projects Office and a third-party observer at the site to ensure safety and environmental compliance.

"We believe we're going to have a safe project. All the safeguards are in place," he said. "This isn't going to occur in a vacuum."

Reach Daily reporter Jason McBride at: [url='mailto:jasonmcbride@thedaily.washington.edu']jasonmcbride@thedaily.washington.edu[/url].