For the second time in recent years, the Beryllium Testing Laboratory managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities ended a year of testing without a single error, a press release said.

ORAU manages the Oak Ridge lab for the U.S. Department of Energy. The lab processed nearly 4,100 beryllium lymphocyte proliferation tests, or BeLPTs, in 2013, the press release said. The laboratory is one of only three in the United States that can perform the BeLPT.

The BeLPT is a blood test used to identify individuals at higher risk of developing Chronic Beryllium Disease, a chronic disease that scars the lungs, making it more difficult for oxygen to transfer into the bloodstream. The test examines how a lymphocyte, which is a type of disease-fighting blood cell in a person’s body, reacts to beryllium and can determine if an individual is developing an immune response to beryllium. [Read more…]