NEWS FROM PADUCAH GOVERNOR PATTON VISITS PRESIDENT CLINTON
USEC may be fined $88,000
COMMENTS SOUGHT ON PROPOSAL TO CLEAN DRUM MOUNTAIN On December 21, 1999, the Department of Energy (DOE) opened a 30-day public comment period for its proposed plan to clean up the 6,500 tons of contaminated waste drums called "drum mountain." DOE plans to ship the waste to the commercial waste dump managed by Envirocare in Utah. The drums once contained uranium tetrafluoride ("greensalt"), a radioactive material used to make uranium hexafluoride. The mass of scrap metal is a potential source of groundwater and surface water contamination at the Paducah Plant. Furthermore, DOE cannot try to cope with waste in the burial pits beneath the pile until the metal has been removed. Drum Mountain needs to be dismantled, but what should be done with the remains is a complex question. Most residents of the area are understandably anxious to have the waste leave Paducah. Furthermore, Paducah is not the best of locations for waste, because it is located near the New Madrid fault, thus in an area with potential for destructive earthquakes. On the other hand, some environmentalists have pointed out that the four-story-high "mountain" is likely to include transuranics, since at least a portion of the greensalt was made from irradiated uranium; and they fear that wholesale shipment to Utah may mean that the waste is inadequately characterized. They raise the question of transportation risks and ask whether an onsite storage area could not be constructed for the cost of shipping the material and storing it in Utah. In addition, they note that DOE is not going through the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) process and it has not made a site-wide environmental impact statement. Thus DOE is not looking at the cumulative effect of its actions, of which the Drum Mountain remediation would be only one element. The draft plan is at the DOE Environmental Information Center in the West Kentucky Technology Park on U.S. 60 at Kevil, and at the Paducah Public Library. Comments should be addressed to Myrna Redfield, U.S. Department of Energy, Paducah Site Office, Box 1410, Paducah, KY 42001. Her phone number is 270-441-6801. Copies of the draft plan may be requested by calling Bechtel Jacobs at 270-441-5023.
PADUCAH CANCER RATES The Thursday before Christmas the Washington Post broke yet another story of misdoing at Paducah. It had obtained documents in October under the Freedom of Information Act that show that while Union Carbide officials were telling workers at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant that everything was fine, the company was tracking cancer deaths. The tracking began in the 1970s; by 1982 the company had noted thirteen "fatal cancers of the blood or lymph system out of a relatively stable work force that ranged from 1200 to 2000 people. How Union Carbide intended to use the list is unclear." The Washington Post itself investigated the fates of 211 people whom it could identify as having worked in dangerous areas of the plant. Ten of the 211 "died of cancers of the blood and lymph system, including six of leukemia." Government mortality statistics would predict only one leukemia death for 2ll people (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, 12/23/99).
CONTAMINATION IN LITTLE BAYOU CREEK Studies by the University of Kentucky show that Little Bayou Creek, a stream that runs into the Ohio River, is contaminated with technetium-99 and trichloroethylene (TCE) originating from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. Drinking water standards allow only 5 micrograms per liter of TCE, but concentrations along the west bank of Little Bayou Creek were as high as 220 micrograms per liter. Technetium-99 was detected in 17 samples, but all readings were below the government contaminant limit of 900 picoCuries per liter. John Volpe, manager of the Radiation Health and Toxic Agents Branch of the Kentucky Department of Public Health said technetium-99 levels are far below levels considered harmful. However, he admits that his department has not considered all potential pathways for human ingestion. In fact, Little Bayou Creek flows through the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area where quail, deer and rabbit hunting are permitted (James Carroll, Louisville Courier Journal, 12/26/99).
NEW YEAR’S EVE EDITORIAL On the last day of 1999 the Washington Post published a strong editorial critical of the treatment of workers at the Paducah enrichment plant and "their counterparts at other such plants." The editorial, entitled "Nuclear Horror Tale," ended by noting that the "ultimate problem" is that people were harmed and lied to "by a government that they trusted. Who trusts the government next, and who among the current politicians can restore such trust?" EXCAVATION PLANNED BY U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT January 7, the United States Department of Justice will begin to excavate two trenches (25 feet long x 15 feet wide x 15-20 feet deep) to sample soil where hazardous waste from the Paducah Plant has been buried. The area to be sampled is along the old north-south diversion ditch off Ogden Landing Road north of the plant. The excavation is part of the U.S. Attorney’s office’s continued attempts to decide whether or not to join the whistle-blower lawsuit filed by three plant employees in June. Soil samples taken from the drainage ditch will be analyzed by federal and state agencies working independently of one another. The US Attorney’s office in Louisville has asked for six more months in which to decide whether to join the suit. (James Malone, Courier-Journal, 12/28/60; 1/6/00)
WARNINGS IN THE WEST KENTUCKY WILDLIFE AREA As a result of criticism from a DOE oversight team, more than three miles of colored plastic rope have been strung around contaminated areas at the West Kentucky Wildlife Management area, adjacent to the Paducah plant (James Malone, Courier-Journal, 1/6/00). OAK RIDGE At a meeting convened in December at the American Museum of Science and Energy, U.S. DOE Assistant Secretary for Health Matters David Michaels listened to strikingly familiar stories of ignored safety concerns, overlooked accidents, and mysterious illnesses from workers at the Oak Ridge Uranium Enrichment Plant. According to one report, nearly 350 workers and concerned citizens turned out. Another report said more than 500. They heard Michaels admit that "these workers worked in dangerous, difficult situations to ensure national security". Anyone who was unable to attend the meeting can continue to provide confidential testimony to DOE by calling 877-447-9756 from 7AM to & PM, Monday through Friday (Laura Frank, The Tennessean, 12/9/99; Frank Munger, News Sentinel, 12/15/99). PORTSMOUTH LABOR RELATIONS December 12, the members of PACE ( Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical, and Energy Workers Union) Local 5-689 at the Portsmouth enrichment plant voted to extend for four years the labor contract with USEC that would otherwise have expired May 2, 2000. In October the Ohio Buckeye Labor-Management Conference had recognized USEC and the local for "outstanding achievement and success in the use of labor-management cooperation efforts." (USEC announcement, 12/13/99)
WASTE STORAGE DOE has proposed as one of the alternatives for disposition of surplus uranium at the Hanford Site, shipping the uranium to the Portsmouth enrichment plant for storage. The draft Environmental Assessment on disposition of the uranium (DOE/EA_1319) can be downloaded from the Web at http://www.hanford.gov/docs/ea/ea1319/index.html or obtained by contacting DOE's Terri Traub, 509-372-7443 or <terri.traub@pnl.gov> . The comment period ends January 21. OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST DOE RESHUFFLES MONEY FOR WORKER TESTING The Department of Energy has reshuffled funds and managed to find $3 million to begin medical testing of current and former workers at their three gaseous diffusion plants. The new funds will allow testing to begin in February. In February or March, DOE will probably ask for another $4 million from Congress. The program, which will include tracking the movement of radioactive materials in and out of the plant, will not conclude until October 31, 2001. However, screening of most workers will have been carried out by May, and workers will not have to wait until 2001 to receive the results (Knoxville News-Sentinel, 12/25/99).
DEPLETED URANIUM Plutonium contamination? The National Gulf War Resource Center Inc. in Washington, DC. has charged that the depleted uranium used in ammunition and armor during the Gulf War and in the Bosnian conflict was probably contaminated with plutonium and neptunium. It would be so contaminated if the depleted uranium were a byproduct of the enrichment of uranium that had been separated from irradiated fuel (Thomas D. Williams, Hartford Courant, 12/24/99). Starmet Starmet Corporation has announced that it has received two Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contracts from the Department of Energy to investigate methods for making fluoride gases used for manufacturing germanium semiconductors and titanium metal. Starmet's process can be used to extract the fluorine in the stockpile of depleted uranium hexafluoride now in storage at the three enrichment plants. According to Starmet, other processes for converting depleted uranium hexafluoride to uranium oxide produce only low grade hydrofluoric acid. In contrast, Starmet can make high purity fluoride compounds valuable in electronics, chemical and metals manufacturing (Starmet press release, 12/7/99).
POTENTIAL FOR PLANT CLOSURE A report obtained by the Columbus Dispatch from Morgan Stanley Dean Witter revealed that closure of either the Paducah or Portsmouth plants could save USEC $100 million annually. USEC in an agreement with the US Treasury Department committed itself to operating both plants until January 1, 2005, barring an act of God or financial hardship as outlined in the agreement. Conditions that would permit shutdown of a plant include showing less than 10% profit for 12 straight months and USEC's credit rating drops lower than investment grade value. Neither condition has yet been met (Jonathan Riskind, Columbus Dispatch, 12/11/99). USEC announced last June that it had "dusted off" plans to ask approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate the Paducah plant to produce uranium enriched to up to 5% uranium 235 (Nuclear Fuel, 6/28/99). At present only Portsmouth has such an authorization. Obtaining the authorization for Paducah would end dependence on Portsmouth.
RECYCLING OF CONTAMINATED SCRAP METAL Conflict of Interest Investigation In order to investigate allegations of conflict of interest, the NRC has halted contracts with Science Application International Corporation (SAIC). SAIC is a consulting firm working on NRC's rulemaking for recycling radioactive materials, and is also a subcontractor for British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL), the company in charge of recycling the contaminated metal from the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant. The Paper, Allied_Industrial, Chemical, and Energy Workers Union (PACE) charges that the NRC rulemaking could effect BNFL's attempts to recycle the contaminated metal. PACE's complaint is part of an effort to halt the release of contaminated metal into the market (George Lobsenz, The Energy Daily, 12/23/99). CBS News Presentation CBS News the week of January 3 ran a segment on recycling of radioactive metal into consumer products. Dan Rather opened the presentation with the question, "Would you believe it? Radioactive leftovers recycled for your dinnerware with the government's blessing." CBS looked in particular at the recycling of volumetrically contaminated nickel (contaminated throughout rather than on the surface only) from the K-25 plant. ORCA and MIRC call for a halt December 8 the Oak Ridge Communities Allied (ORCA) released a press announcement calling for a halt to release of volumetrically radioactive metal from the K-25 site for unrestricted use in consumer products. (Volumetrically contaminated metal has radioactivity throughout, rather than only on the surface.) The announcement pointed out that the Metal Industry Recycling Coalition (MIRC) has joined ORCA in its opposition to the agreement between DOE, the State of Tennessee, and BNFL that makes possible the recycling. MIRC, which represents trade associations of the iron, steel, nickel, zinc, copper and brass industries, has written a letter to Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson calling for DOE to adopt a policy of restricted release of radioactively contaminated scrap metal, limited to reuse at a licensed nuclear facility or proper disposal. "Tennessee doesn't have rules about release of radioactive metals. Rather it was a secret, ad hoc, release limit. The limit was the identical one, curiously, proposed by BNFL," says Jackie Kittrell, President of ORCA , and General Counsel for American Environmental Health Studies Project (AEHSP). "Uptakes (internal exposures of alpha and beta particles) by workers in machine shops and industrial processes can be very harmful. BNFL never even analyzed worker risk and the State of Tennessee, through its secretive licensing process, never required BNFL to examine the spectrum of worker risks to reusing radioactive metals. We are concerned that this unexamined practice will establish a precedent." MIRC, which represents the metal industries nationwide, does not want Tennessee to allow the unrestricted use of radioactive metal, because it sees such a program as undermining the whole program of metal recycling, including nickel-cadmium battery recycling. In its letter to Richardson, MIRC states that radioactive recycling of scrap metal for unrestricted use risks "losing the public's trust in the integrity and safety of products made with metal." The contact listed on the press release is Harry Williams, 423-693-7249, email: hwillia1@tds.net
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP STUDY The Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing a national study on long-term stewardship, focusing on the institutional and programmatic issues facing the Department as it plans to bring to an end its remediation work at its sites. It is preparing the study pursuant to the terms of a settlement agreement that resolved a lawsuit brought against DOE by the Natural Resources Defense Council and 38 other plaintiffs [Natural Resources Defense Council, et al. v. Richardson, et al., Civ. No. 97-936 (SS) (D.D.C. Dec. 12, 1998)]. On October 6, 1999 (64 FR 54279), DOE published a notice in the Federal Register stating its intent to prepare the study. It is seeking public input as to the issues it should address as priorities in the study; and, in response to public comment, has extended the formal scoping period from January 4 to February 3, 2000. Scoping comments may be submitted in writing to: Steven Livingstone, Project Manager, U.S. Department of Energy, PO Box 45079, Washington, DC 20026-5079; or electronically at http://www.em.doe.gov/lts or to Steven.Livingstone@em.doe.gov; or by fax at 202-586-4314. For further information contact: James D. Werner, Program Director, or Steven Livingstone, Project Manager, Office of Long_Term Stewardship(EM-51), Office of Environmental Management, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20585-0119, phone: 202-586-9280, fax: 202-586-4314.
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