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RE: Beta 3 Saved!
Susan,
I think you should be congratulated on the obvious work you did in saving
the caultron. Many on this list moan and groan about the decline of nuclear
technology and nuclear power, and inability of the public and media to
understand the importance of nuclear technology. It is nice to see someone
take an active part in the political process to effect a change.
-- John
John P. Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
3050 Traymore Lane
Bowie, MD 20715-2024
e-mail: jenday1@msn.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Susan L Gawarecki [mailto:loc@icx.net]
Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 5:38 PM
To: RADSAFE
Subject: Beta 3 Saved!
I'm very pleased that DOE has reversed its decision to permanently
disable the Beta 3 caultron racetrack. Many thanks to Rep. Zach Wamp
(R-TN) for his intervention in this unwise decision. Thanks also to
Cathey Daniels, DOE-beat reporter for the Oak Ridger, who has reported
on the issue a number of times, illustrating the importance that the Oak
Ridge community places on preserving this facility. Her work certainly
reflects a balanced and professional approach towards nuclear issues.
As noted below in the body of the article, I will attend next week's ANS
meeting in Washington, DC. Who am I likely to run into out there? I'm
hoping to put some faces with the message-senders on RadSafe.
--Susan Gawarecki
Beta 3 off the chopping block
R. Cathey Daniels, Oak Ridger staff
November 13, 2002
A decision has been reversed that would have disabled one of only two
facilities in the world capable of providing approximately 110 stable
isotopes that can't be produced by any other enrichment technique.
The Beta 3 calutrons, located at the Y-12 National Security Complex and
operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, had been scheduled for
drainage earlier this fall.
That action would have permanently disabled the facility. A local
lobbying campaign evidently was successful in halting the procedure.
Susan Gawarecki, executive director of the Oak Ridge Reservation Local
Oversight Committee, fired off a June 27 letter to U.S. Sen. Bill Frist,
R-Tenn., calling the facility important to national security needs.
"This facility is not very costly to maintain and operate, compared to
the cost of restoring its function," wrote Gawarecki. "A reasonable
solution to this problem would be to allow the National Nuclear Security
Administration to take over ownership of the building and facility and
continue to allow ORNL to operate it. This would preserve the technical
capabilities of the process without damaging the facility's historical
integrity."
Local workers at Y-12 and ORNL, as well as the Friends of the ORNL
organization, put pressure on the office of U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-3rd
District, according to chief of staff Helen Hardin, who toured the
facility earlier this fall.
"Afterward we asked DOE to stop any efforts to disable the calutrons,"
said Hardin this morning in a phone interview from Washington.
"It's such a historic facility, and just having it on standby will keep
the Russians from having this monopoly of the production of these
important isotopes," said Hardin.
The only other facility with such capabilities is in Sverdlovsk, Russia.
Wamp wrote in an Oct. 31 e-mail to a constituent:
"After learning of the Department of Energy's (DOE) plans to drain the
oil from the calutrons and decommission this important and historic
facility, I asked my staff to contact DOE and intervene in this unwise
decision.
"DOE has reversed its stance and now has dropped plans to drain the
calutrons. The facility will remain in cold standby in case it is
needed."
In the midst of the lobbying, Gawarecki nominated the facility for the
American Nuclear Society's 2002 Nuclear Historic Landmark Award.
That designation was approved, and a ceremony will be held later this
year at the facility. Gawarecki is attending an award ceremony next week
in Washington, D.C.
The award designates sites where "outstanding physical accomplishments
took place which were instrumental in the advancement and implementation
of nuclear technology and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy,"
according to a press release from the American Nuclear Society.
The activity must have successfully provided an "essential contribution"
to subsequent peaceful application of nuclear technology or energy and
been "a first of a kind, or provided a significant new departure,"
according to the release.
The facility produces isotopes used in many cancer and medical studies,
including prostate, bone and soft-tumor cancers as well as cardiac
imaging, coronary restenosis and Hodgkin's disease. Other stable
isotopes produced include those used for electronics and explosive
detection and atomic clocks for geo-positioning and cellular phone
systems.
R. Cathey Daniels can be contacted at (865) 220-5515 or
danielsrcd@oakridger.com.
--
.....................................................
Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee
102 Robertsville Road, Suite B, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Toll free 888-770-3073 ~ www.local-oversight.org
.....................................................
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