The Department of Energy cited the outgoing operator of the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Monday for several "significant" violations of nuclear safety rules.

The violations, which occurred at the Long Island, N.Y., laboratory in June, were so blatant they normally would have resulted in a $142,500 fine.

However, the nonprofit company that oversees the facility, Associated Universities Inc., is exempt from civil penalties, the Energy Department said.

Operation of the Brookhaven site will be taken over in January by a team led by Battelle, which manages the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

A new nonprofit corporation formed by the partners - Brookhaven Science Associates - was awarded a five-year contract to manage the 3,400-employee laboratory. The team has three subcontractors with Hanford ties -Bechtel National Inc., Waste Management Federal Services and Duke Engineering & Services.

Energy Department spokeswoman Jayne Brady said the viola tions cited Monday never posed a threat to the public health.

But she said the department found they reflected a trend of noncompliance with regulatory and lab procedures.

In one incident, six lab workers were exposed to radioactive material when technicians at Brookhaven's medical research reactor failed to follow proper safety procedures.

According to the lab, the radiation exposure was equivalent to that of a dental X-ray.

In another incident, workers failed to follow proper procedures when moving contaminated material at the lab's troubled High Flux Beam Reactor, which currently is shut down.

Some workers' skin was contaminated in that incident, the department said.

The lab management also was cited after the department found that some radiation control technicians were not qualified.

The president of Associated Universities, Lyle Schwartz, said the company has not received any notification from the Energy Department and had no comment.

Earlier this year, Energy Secretary Federico Pena fired Associated Universities because of years of mismanagement.