| Contamination in Oak Ridge, TN |
| Comments: These pages are a portion of series of pages on The Image of Oak Ridge which deal with a widespread perception that Oak Ridge is a contaminated city. They were prepared by adapting slides used in an oral presentation. Comments have been added where appropriate and some reformatting has been necessary. In addition, some pages not based directly on the presentation have been added. Some of the additions have been data but it is only a very small fraction of the environmental data that has been acquired by monitoring programs that indicate that Off-site Oak Ridge is safe. TOC |
| References where applicable are cited. Some references are additional
reading. There is a considerable body of reports that document the
status of the OR off-site environment and a wealth of additional background
information on the Internet. References will be given for each topic.
ASER98 = ORR Annual Site Environmental Report
for 1998 DOE/ORO 2091 This is the most current in a long series
of environmental monitoring reports by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Chapter 1 provides an overview of the history and the ORR environmental
description. The report is available on:
DOE/ORO/EM Fact Sheets: http://www.bechteljacobs.com/emef/newsfacts/facsheet.htm DOE/ORO Home Page: http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/ |
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Presented by Al Brooks to
For our purposes, contamination is defined as the presence of pollutants at levels that can cause substantive public health problems and are in excess of the natural background levels.
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| Comments:
1) While naturally occurring pollutants may exist at hazardous levels and may require remediation or precautionary measures, we are interested in contaminants that have arisen from human activities. 2) The senators succinct comment points out that much of life is spent dealing with risk and in the reduction of risk. It also points out that, in spite of our best efforts, the lifetime risk of death by all causes is one. |
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| 1) For Oak Ridge, the War and the secrecy
of war efforts did not end until the Cold War and the arms race were over.
It is not completely ended yet as there is still a weapons maintenance
effort. The secrecy has had an impact on public openness and participation.
2) Some but not all of the allegedly ill-workers are ill with serious diseases clearly attributable to their DOE employment. However this has not yet been established for all the ill-workers. |
| ASER98 Chapter 1 |
Including In People and In the Water
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| 1) This image is a part of the current anti-nuclear culture which
is opposed to nuclear weapons and nuclear power. It also has been promulgated
by a few local citizens who have their private agendas and by several
newspapers, especially the Nashville Tennessean. The ill-workers,
in their conflict with DOE, have understandably contributed to it. The
vast amount of environmental data that would refute the claim for the off-site
areas is seldom presented.
2) This is important to the State of Tennessee because the DOE contribution to the economy is $ 1.6 billion and is being down sized. The negative image makes it more difficult for Oak Ridge to recruit new businesses and residents, which reduces its contribution to the State economy. |
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| See The Nashville Tennessean - http://www.tennessean.com/search-tennessean/
Search on Oak Ridge. Not all articles are available. |
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This conspiracy includes just about everyone and involves thousands of people for miles around. The following quote is applicable: This of course was the route to madness: viewing all of life as one elaborate conspiracy conducted by elite manipulators who see all and know all. The sane understand that human beings are incapable of sustaining conspiracies on a grand scale, because some of our most defining qualities as a species are inattention to detail, a tendency to panic and an inability to keep our mouths shut. Cosmically speaking, we are barely able to tie our shoes. If you believe a conspiracy of this
magnitude, you may as well stop reading now.
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| 1) In part, the legal requirements of security have lead to the belief in a conspiracy. Once security regulations are in place it is difficult to reverse them and some documents remain redacted. There is no doubt that sometimes security was overdone and declassification lagged behind the public needs for information. However, legitimate national security is not the same as a "conspiracy". |
| Dean Koontz, Fear Nothing, 1998 |
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| 1) X-rays, gamma rays and neutrons penetrate into and through matter
including flesh. Alpha particles and less energetic beta particles are
stopped by thin layers even the skin. Radioactive nuclei are most dangerous
when ingested but intense external sources of gamma rays and beta rays
are also dangerous. The intensity of radiation drops off rapidly with distance.
A fatal dose of 1000 rem at one foot would be reduced to 10 rem at
10 feet and to 100 millirem at 100 feet; the latter two would be harmless.
Shielding also stops radiation.
2) Radiation, about 300 millirem, is a part of the normal environment. Radon is the heaviest contributor as is potassium-40 in many foods. 3) At low levels, the primary damage to tissue is ruptures in the DNA molecules possibly resulting in cancers. Disruption of DNA is also caused by thermal processes at a much greater rate than modest radioactive exposures. |
| ASER98 p.A-3 |
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Background is the Normal Level of Radiation
Allowed Additional External Exposure Levels
Internal Doses Are Set for each Radionuclide A Fatal Dose Is From 500,000 to 1,000,000 mrem |
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| 1) The typical airborne dose to an ORR neighbor is far below the background level and well below the allowed levels. The other possible exposures around the ORR are also small . The typical home-gown food exposure is 0.008 to 0.07 mrem. Eating a lot of fish is 1.7. to 2.3 mrem. Eating wild game may be as high as 5.7 mrem. | ||||||||||||||
| ASER98 p. A-4 to A-11
Radioactivity in Nature: http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/natural.htm |
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| 1) Again the Off-site ORR exposures fall at the bottom of the exposure table. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ASER98 Summary edition p 14 |
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PCB Concentrations (ppm) 1987 96
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| 1) Melton Hill Lake is upstream of the ORR outflows; Watts Bar Reservoir is below them. The ORR is not the only or primary source of PCBs in the TVA system. It contributes about 25% to the Watts Bar Reservoir. Indeed, PCBs are found in the environment almost everywhere. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source: TVA private communication |
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The Residential Areas The Work Areas The Real Answers Lie In:
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| 1) The Oak Ridge residential areas are little different from any typical community. The work areas house a nuclear industry, one of the most closely controlled industries in the world, but it still is a nuclear industry. It has its unique potential hazards. |
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Average Mortality Data for Selected
TN Counties - 1990 - 1997
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| 1) It is also claimed that OR doctors spend three times as long with their patients but no explanation of how they make a living under fixed fee HMOs and TennCare. This is now all part of the conspiracy. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Statistical Profiles of Tennessee (SPOT) - http://funnelweb.utcc.utk.edu/~chrg/hit/main/SPOT/frames/SPOT/nfindex.htm |
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| 1) Several alleged critical events were checked with the FBI, DOE/IG, guards, and operating personnel which allegedly confirm the events. None of them did. The events are now a part of the grand conspiracy. |
| Summary of Critical Accidents in USAEC, 1945-1970: http://www.envirolink.org/issues/nuketesting/accident/critical.htm |
This is the major ORR off-site, and only residential, contamination. (only about 20 % of the PCBs comes from the ORR) Although the perception is different, after considerable study, none of these were found to have caused any health problem. They have been cleaned up, are being cleaned up, are being further studied, or have been placed under administrative controls. |
| 1) The LEFPC mercury contamination was not announced for about 24
years for security reasons concerning nuclear weapon design. Fortunately
the chemical form of the mercury (HgS) Reduced any risk to a minimum. A
study of residents in the middle eighties did not show elevated mercury
levels in urine or hair. A study of PCBs and mercury in the blood serum
of heavy fish eaters on the Clinch River and Lower Watts bar reservoir
also found normal levels of these contaminants.
2) A remnant of the past plume which contaminated the Clinch River still exists in a greatly reduced magnitude. The current flow over the White Oak Dam is now only slightly above drinking water standards and is diluted by a factor by the water flow in the Clinch River. The plume follows the east bank past Jones Island along the DOE property and is considered well mixed some 4-5 miles down stream before it reaches the K-25 plant. River water has not been used for drinking along this region of the Clinch. Contrary to poplar opinion, the intake of the Kingston Water System is in the Tennessee River just above the Clinch confluence and the possibility of drawing Clinch River water is small. The tests of Kingston water has found no problems. The problems with fishing is not the current water concentrations but the PCBs in the deep sediments and its entry into the aquatic food chain. |
| 1) CERCLA Reports (RI/FS) for the contaminated sites
2) Scarboro Community Environmental Study 9/22/98; Contact: Bob Poe 576 0891 |
Findings: Scarboro looked a lot like any other community with an Asthma Rate within the Normal Range for American Communities.
All Cancers - N = 23
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| 1) This residential area, which lies about 2000 feet from the Y-12 Production Plant has been monitored and studied for years. The studies will still continue due to residents concerns. | ||||||||
| 1) CDC Draft Report
2) Data Source: TDH from the NCI and issued by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies |
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There is limited data available to the public for residential area comparisons. The reason for this is that the several flyover surveys, the site perimeter monitoring has shown no evidence of significant contamination and there has been no reason to pursue the matter except in the known incidents listed earlier. However due to the concerns of Scarboro residents, this area has been sampled and compared to the data of Lower East Fork Poplar Creek and other limited mercury data in other areas. Except for one lot in Linden that had had mercury contaminated sediment
trucked to it, the mercury was limited to LEFPC floodplain and the Sewerline
Beltway. Other areas were at background levels. The Background/Scarboro/LEFPC
comparisons are shown below:
Scarboro Soils Are Clearly NOT Significantly Contaminated Bar Chart Displays:
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| 1) There is much more data that confirn these direct measurements but it is dispersed in many reports. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1) ORR Background Soil Characterization Project - Final Report
on the Background Soil Characterization Project at the ORR, DOE/OR/01-1175/V2,
October 1993
2) East Fork Poplar Creek - Sewer Line Beltway Remedial Investigation Report; DOE/ORO by SAIC; April 1993 and Addendum May 1994 3) Environmental Surveillance of the ORR and Environs During 1985; ORNL-6271 4) Scarboro Community Environmental Study 9/22/98; Contact: Bob Poe 576 0891 5) David Carden, Timothy Joseph, Aerial Radiological Surveys of the Scarboro Community May 1998 6)The ORR Annual Site Environmental Report for 1997 ES/ESH-78 |
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The DOE Toxic Sustances Control Act Incinerator has been the subject of much disagreement. It has been blamed for both worker and public illnesses. Atimes it is alledged to contribute to the Scaboro problem although it is located 8-10 miles away, not right next door as has been stated. The incinerator is subject to many stringent conditions and does an admirable job of compliance to them as the following data will show. Pounds Per Year (mrem)
A typical large power plant, e.g., Kingston or Bull Run, will consume about 4 million tons of coal containing about 6 parts per million of thorium and uranium and, in East Tennessee, about 25 ppm of arsenic. This is about 24 tons of uranium and thorium and 100 tons of arsenic per year. Typically the fly ash of a power plant does not go into a landfill as environmentally safe as the landfills required for DOE hazardous or mixed waste residues. The uranium and thorium present a far greater radioactivity risk than does TSCA. |
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| 1) TSCA is a Mixed Waste incinerator permitted for PCB disposal. It is sometimes said to be near Scarboro but is actually about 8 miles away. It has been blamed for many things but the data shows that it is dwarfed by its nearby big cousins: TVA's Bull Run and Kingston Steam Plants | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1) Private communication from Fidel Perez, Manager, TSCA Incinerator
2) G. M. Gray, Toxic Pollution from Powerplants: Large Emissions, Little Risk, Risk in Perspective, Vol. 7/2, April 1999 Eastern Coal Fired Plant (7,000,000 tons/yr) Analysis 3) Coal Combustion: http://www.ornl.gov/ORNLReview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html |
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All values over 4 % of the Derived Concentration Guide As % of DCG
Kingston City Water: Radiation Dose (EDE) = 0.19 mrem/yrGraphics Display: |
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| 1) All the streams flow into White Oak Lake and over the dam. The
current remediation plans should reduce the concentrations at the dam overflow
by about 75 %. The state regards these streams as waters of the state and
will require that they meet state water regulations.
2) The water from White Oak Dam flows into the Clinch River. The current flow over the White Oak Dam is now only slightly above drinking water standards and is diluted by a factor of 1000 to 1500 by the water flow in the Clinch River. The plume follows the east bank past Jones Island along the DOE property and is considered well mixed some 4-5 miles down stream before it reaches the K-25 plant . River water has not been used for drinking along this region of the Clinch. Contrary to poplar opinion, the intake of the Kingston Water System is in the Tennessee River just above the Clinch confluence and the possibility of drawing Clinch River water is small and only at unusual flow conditions. The tests of Kingston water has found an Effective Dose Equivalent of 0.19 millirem. The problems with fishing is not the current water concentrations but the PCBs in the deep sediments and its entry into the aquatic food chain. |
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| ASER98 p 5-8; p 8-6 |
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The groundwater on the ORR tends, like the wind and surface streams to flow along the valleys and down the slope of the rocks to the south eastern side of the valleys. As a result most groundwater plumes are contained within the ORR boundaries. There are no known flows of ground water under ridges nor toward residential areas. These plumes are the subject of monitoring and remediation. The small small plumes of ORGDP terminate in the Clinch River or in tributaries near the river where they are immediately diluted to negligible values. The single significant plume that leaves the ORR and surfaces is the Union Valley volatile organic compound plume extending eastward from Y-12 into the Union Valley industrial area which is served by city water. The use of ground water is administratively controlled and plume remediation is planned. ORR neighbors have little to fear from groundwater contamination. |
| 1) This discussion has omitted the complex plumes internal to the ORR. |
| ASER98, p 6-46 |
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| 1) Rowley, D.L., Turri, P., Paschal, D.C.; A Pilot Survey
of Mercury Levels in Oak Ridge [Residents], TN; 9/85;Div. of Env. Hazard
& Health Effects, CDC, Public Health Service, USDH&HS, Atlanta,
GA 30333
2) ATSDR; Exposure Investigation: Serum PCB and Blood Mercury Levels in Consumers of Fish and Turtles from Watts Bar Reservoir, CERCLIS NO. TN18900900003; US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Div. of Health Assessment and Consultation; Atlanta , GA (1-800-447-1544; http://atsdr1.atsdr.cdc.gov:8080 |
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| The workplace problems are not the prime focus of these pages. It is discussed breifly here to point out that the problem is quite different from the residential problem. Clearly workers were exposed to some degree and clearly some have been made ill. |
| A compendium of past studies is being prepared by ATSDR. |
(this legislation should not be delayed for CBD)
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| 1) For the most part, the dissention is focused on the assignment
of causes when the diseases are not even well-characterized or understood;
and the allegation of criminal responsibility when the hazards were not
understood and in spite of the evidence of DOE concerns.
2) ) There is wide spread public support for CBD workers where the evidence for work related cause is considered more than adequate. There is varying support for other alleged diseases and causes. 3) The dissatisfaction arises from the failure of DOE to address
the workers concerns promptly and failure of the "system" to support ill-workers.
A part of this is a "communication gap".
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| 1) Beryllium Support Group: http://www.dimensional.com/~mhj/index.html
2) Beryllium: A Chronic Problem: http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1994/102-6-7/focus.html |
ORR Stakeholder Report on Stewardship
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| More aggressive public participation in all facets of the DOE program (similar to that in the EM program) would greatly facilitate matters. |
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The ORR is subject to a great deal of remediation to ensure the safe disposal of all waste materials. This should be substantively completed by about 2015, After this the waste disposal and remediated areas that have residual contamination will be subject to a stewardship program. Stewardship is the program which ensures that the remediation remains effective as long as needed, that physical structures remain intact, that land is not inappropriately used, and that the public is protected far into the future. The ORR stakeholders have had considerable input in to the remediation process and the structure of the stewardship program. Their main concern has been the protection of human health and the reduction of emissions of the ORR. The ORR can be kept safe as long as the public is determined to see that it is done. |
| 1) The working documents of these working groups contain much valuable background information and are available at the Information Resource Center; 105 Broadway; Oak Ridge ,TN 37830 |
| 1) Final Report of the ORR End Use Working Report, July 1998
2) The ORR Stakeholder Report on Stewardship [Volume 1], July 1998 3) The ORR Stakeholder Report on Stewardship Volume 2, December 1999 |
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Residential and Off-site Areas 1) The Residential Areas of Oak Ridge bear few scars from the presence of a pioneer nuclear industry as their neighbor. 2) The few off-site contaminated areas have either been remediated or have restricted access and will be remediated to safe levels. 3) The public exposures due airborne emissions are truly negligible. 4) The downstream water supplies have negligible contamination. 5) One plume of volatile chlorinate organics extends into the Union Valley industrial area which is served by city water. 6) The Clinch River Embayment and the Watts Bar Reservoir contain contaminated deep sediments and have advisory PCBs postings for some species of fish. The On-Site and Work Areas 1) The Disposal Areas and some Production Areas are seriously contaminated and require remediation which has begun. 2) Chronic Beryllium Disease has been a result of nuclear operations in spite of the DOE's attention to the prevention of hazardous beryllium levels. Damaged workers deserve adequate assistance and compensation. 3) The causes of other illnesses
alleged to be work related are not as clear-cut but certainly deserve further
study and some resolution.
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