Re: Fire, spill hot seat - isolate like asbestos?

["Howard Long" <hflong@pacbell.net>]

Asbestos in school ceilings does no damage if painted over, but creates

noxious dust if torn up to transport. Would most low-level radiologic waste,

likewise (after removal of spent fuel to Yucca or a Candu) better be

isolated in place?



Might that cool the hot seat inflamed by nano-curie fear-mongers?



Howard Long



----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Susan Gawarecki" <loc@icx.net>

To: "RadSafe" <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

Sent: Tuesday, May 18, 2004 2:04 PM

Subject: Fire, spill putting DOE in hot seat





> We've had a couple of "incidents" here in Oak Ridge lately.  Both raise

> questions about conduct of operations, and ultimately safety.  The

> dripping of Sr-90 contaminated liquid is a concern not just about

> inadequete containment of waste during transport, but in that there

> should be no free liquid in waste destined for our local mixed LLW

> landfill, that being a clear violation of the waste acceptance criteria.

>

> By the way, the chemical fire was a DOE subcontractor that was

> attempting to melt 11,000 lb of sodium for recycling.  "Somehow" water

> leaked in.  Although doing work for Oak Ridge National Lab (the Office

> of Science, not Environmental Management, EM), the company was working

> on leased space in East Tennessee Technology Park.  DOE HQ has

> differentiated their responsibility (as delgated to its EM contractor)

> for reporting emergencies caused by EM (sub)contractors as opposed to

> those caused by site tenants and/or their subcontractors (as in this

> case).  My organization is going to have a long look at the emergency

> reporting and response associated with that incident, as the potential

> for offsite release caused evacuation of a significant number of local

> residents.

>

> --Susan Gawarecki

> Executive Director,

> ORR Local Oversight Committee

>

> Fire, spill putting DOE in hot seat

> State asks if deadline pressures, cost cutting caused emergencies

>

> By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com

>

> URL:

>

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_2893897,00.html

>

> OAK RIDGE - After two environmental emergencies within a week, the U.S.

> Department of Energy is facing tough questions about its

> rush-to-completion cleanup program and its protection of the public.

>

> Authorities were forced to close public roads on consecutive weekends

> because of chemical or radiological threats associated with

> DOE-sponsored cleanup projects.

>

> A May 8 chemical fire near the former K-25 plant prompted the closure of

> state Highway 58 and the evacuation of local residents for about 24

> hours. This past weekend, a stretch of Highway 95 was shut down so

> workers could remove radioactive contamination that leaked onto the road

> from a truck hauling nuclear waste to a nearby landfill.

>

> Investigations are under way in both cases.

>

> John Owsley, the state's environmental oversight chief in Oak Ridge,

> said he believes the public is being adequately protected. He said

> emergency response in both recent cases was effective.

>

> However, Owsley said the state wants to know if federal pressure to

> speed up cleanup projects is contributing to more mishaps.

>

> "The fact that DOE and its contractors are attempting to accelerate the

> amount of work they can do in a particular amount of time is a concern

> to us," he said. "We intend to follow up on that. We don't know that's

> what caused the problem, but we intend to make sure that it didn't or,

> if it did, to ensure that it does not occur again."

>

> DOE revised its strategy last year and compacted the cleanup schedule,

> promising that an accelerated timetable would save millions of taxpayer

> dollars and reduce long-term risks to the public and workers.

>

> Many Oak Ridge projects are to be completed by late 2008, and there is

> pressure on companies to meet those deadlines and to minimize costs.

>

> Susan Gawarecki, staff director of the Local Oversight Committee, which

> represents local governments on environmental issues, said rushing

> cleanup can pose problems, even when contractors place great emphasis on

> safety.

>

> "If you're going to ask people to do more with less resources, then

> they're going to cut corners somewhere," Gawarecki said. "These recent

> incidents may be sheer bad luck and coincidence, but ultimately, when

> you're pushing hard, you're going to find engineering failures."

>

> Gerald Boyd, DOE's Oak Ridge chief, said he doesn't know the root cause

> of the chemical fire, which involved the processing of sodium metal, or

> the leaking radioactive waste on public roadways.

>

> "I think both of them could have been prevented, quite frankly," Boyd

said.

>

> But the DOE chief refused to blame the agency's accelerated cleanup plan

> or rising pressure for contractors to cut costs and meet deadlines.

>

> "I guarantee you I'm working very hard to try to determine the causes of

> these incidents, but I would not equate them with accelerated cleanup,"

> he said. "I don't think it's the cause."

>

> Paul Clay, general manager of Bechtel Jacobs Co., also doubted that

> tighter schedules were to blame. Generally, safety statistics have

> improved since DOE's accelerated cleanup plan went into effect, he said.

>

> The back-to-back problems drew broad media attention in the region, and

> DOE and its contractors got an earful from area residents.

>

> Special phone lines were set up for citizens to call with questions or

> concerns, and Steven Wyatt, communications chief at DOE's Oak Ridge

> office, said about 1,000 calls were received over the two weekends. More

> than 80 people asked to have their cars surveyed for radioactivity to

> make sure they didn't pick up contamination driving through the area,

> Wyatt said.

>

> Boyd said some aspects of the incidents disturbed him. For instance,

> subcontractors reportedly were aware that there was a midweek problem

> with radioactive liquids on the truck bound for the landfill, but the

> truck was cleared Friday after it passed several inspections. When it

> arrived at the landfill, inspectors found hot spots on the truck's

tailgate.

>

> "That is troubling to me because some things were identified earlier,"

> Boyd said.

>

> There also were questions about how quickly the road contamination

> problem was communicated to employees at ORNL and the public.

>

> Boyd and Clay emphasized that these incidents are extremely rare

> considering the amount and complexity of the cleanup work done at the

> government's Oak Ridge facilities.

>

> "We've made thousands of shipments (of waste) around the reservation and

> across the country with very, very few incidents," Clay said.

>

> Oak Ridge Mayor David Bradshaw drafted a letter Monday that was

> supportive of the federal agency. He urged DOE not to let current issues

> derail the aggressive cleanup effort in Oak Ridge.

>

> "We would not want this isolated incident to slow the pace or to place

> current (cleanup) efforts on hold," Bradshaw wrote in his letter to

> Boyd. "We have faith in the DOE and contractor leadership team in Oak

> Ridge."

>

>

>

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