Oak Ridge Scary stuff (Memphis, Knoxville: employment, construction, elementary schools)

[bbkaren]

Wow, what's the name of that book? It'd be interesting to do further research. Thanks!

[hiknapster]

I'll show you scary...

As many as 3,000 containers of plutonium may be transported across Tennessee highways during the next couple of years. But state and local authorities won’t know for sure unless there’s a serious accident.

DOE has evaluated the potential impact of a severe accident while transporting plutonium in certified containers with high-security trucks, known as Safe Secure Transports or SSTs. In the worst-case hypothetical scenario, involving crushing force, long-term fire and release of 10 percent of the radioactive material, DOE estimated that an accident in an urban area could cause as many as 114 cancer fatalities.

Secrecy marks transit plans : Unknown : Knoxville News Sentinel

The Gatling guns and other new weapons have been added to the Oak Ridge arsenal in recent months to better protect the facilities, including the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Y-12 houses the nation’s primary stockpile of bomb-grade uranium.

Bring out the big guns : Local News : Knoxville News Sentinel

The government's toxic-waste incinerator in Oak Ridge burned about 1.4 million pounds of waste in fiscal 2007, which concluded Sept. 30.

Bechtel Jacobs operates the federal facility that burns so-called mixed waste, which contains both radioactive elements and hazardous chemicals - such as polychlorinated biphenyls. Hill said the waste treated in 2007 was the highest total since 1999.

DOE has indicated it plans to shut down the incinerator at the end of 2009, but that date isn't firm. The federal agency previously extended the Oak Ridge incinerator's lifetime to provide a treatment option for other cleanup sites around the country.

On another cleanup front, Bechtel Jacobs has approval to resume uranium removal activities at the Molten Salt Reactor.

After the fissile uranium is removed from the fuel storage tanks, the site will be placed in a "surveillance and maintenance mode" while contractors study how to proceed with the cleanup project. Removal of the highly radioactive fuel salts is tentatively scheduled for 2011-2012.

Molten Salt was built and operated in the 1960s to test new reactor concepts. It was shut down in 1969.

Munger: Incinerator due for rehab after heavy load in 2007 : Columnists : Knoxville News Sentinel

The High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory currently operates with fuel plates that contain weapons-grade uranium — 93 percent U-235, the fissionable isotope of uranium. Anything above 20 percent is considered of potential use in weapons.

ORNL reactor poses conversion challenge : Local News : Knoxville News Sentinel

[Catsndogs]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

I'll show you scary...

As many as 3,000 containers of plutonium may be transported across Tennessee highways during the next couple of years. But state and local authorities won’t know for sure unless there’s a serious accident.

DOE has evaluated the potential impact of a severe accident while transporting plutonium in certified containers with high-security trucks, known as Safe Secure Transports or SSTs. In the worst-case hypothetical scenario, involving crushing force, long-term fire and release of 10 percent of the radioactive material, DOE estimated that an accident in an urban area could cause as many as 114 cancer fatalities.

Secrecy marks transit plans : Unknown : Knoxville News Sentinel

The Gatling guns and other new weapons have been added to the Oak Ridge arsenal in recent months to better protect the facilities, including the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Y-12 houses the nation’s primary stockpile of bomb-grade uranium.

Bring out the big guns : Local News : Knoxville News Sentinel

The government's toxic-waste incinerator in Oak Ridge burned about 1.4 million pounds of waste in fiscal 2007, which concluded Sept. 30.

Bechtel Jacobs operates the federal facility that burns so-called mixed waste, which contains both radioactive elements and hazardous chemicals - such as polychlorinated biphenyls. Hill said the waste treated in 2007 was the highest total since 1999.

DOE has indicated it plans to shut down the incinerator at the end of 2009, but that date isn't firm. The federal agency previously extended the Oak Ridge incinerator's lifetime to provide a treatment option for other cleanup sites around the country.

On another cleanup front, Bechtel Jacobs has approval to resume uranium removal activities at the Molten Salt Reactor.

After the fissile uranium is removed from the fuel storage tanks, the site will be placed in a "surveillance and maintenance mode" while contractors study how to proceed with the cleanup project. Removal of the highly radioactive fuel salts is tentatively scheduled for 2011-2012.

Molten Salt was built and operated in the 1960s to test new reactor concepts. It was shut down in 1969.

Munger: Incinerator due for rehab after heavy load in 2007 : Columnists : Knoxville News Sentinel

The High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory currently operates with fuel plates that contain weapons-grade uranium — 93 percent U-235, the fissionable isotope of uranium. Anything above 20 percent is considered of potential use in weapons.

ORNL reactor poses conversion challenge : Local News : Knoxville News Sentinel

I like this newpaper. Seems like straightforward reporting.

[BlessedMomma]

Originally Posted by ZoesMom

OMG I don't know where it was posted to do a google search of Oak ridge and uranium.. but I had NO idea. This really is some scary stuff.

I have family that is moving to Farragut, and I am moving there in the Spring time. Any idea what the effects of the surrounding areas areas, such as Knoxville, Farragut and even Maryville are?

Is the water and air even safe... GAH this is really got me stressed here :\

If anyone has some recent links of information to help me feel a bit more confident in moving there, it would be greatly appreciated

I'm so glad I came across this post. That is really unsettling. We've been looking at apartments b/c we will be moving up around the Knoxville area here soon. I came across a really nice and cheap apartments in Oak Ridge area. I decided to do some research, which at first looked really nice. Then I came across this. Needless to say, we've decided to keep looking.

[SandyOne]

Originally Posted by BlessedMomma

I'm so glad I came across this post. That is really unsettling. We've been looking at apartments b/c we will be moving up around the Knoxville area here soon. I came across a really nice and cheap apartments in Oak Ridge area. I decided to do some research, which at first looked really nice. Then I came across this. Needless to say, we've decided to keep looking.

Why? Oak Ridge is a nice quiet little town with really good schools. The contamination is at the labs, not in town, and it is being dealt with by professionals. This sort of work is going on at a lot of places across the country. Many of the old weapons sites are contaminated and are in the process of being cleaned up.

The contamination occured mainly during WWII and the early cold war. We know better these days, and existing contamination from the old days is being removed in an orderly and methodical fashion. A lot of very, very smart people from all over the world come to live and work in Oak Ridge. As someone else posted, if it wasn't safe, they wouldn't all be here.

[PaganEgyptian]

Originally Posted by ZoesMom

OMG I don't know where it was posted to do a google search of Oak ridge and uranium.. but I had NO idea. This really is some scary stuff.

I have family that is moving to Farragut, and I am moving there in the Spring time. Any idea what the effects of the surrounding areas areas, such as Knoxville, Farragut and even Maryville are?

Is the water and air even safe... GAH this is really got me stressed here :\

If anyone has some recent links of information to help me feel a bit more confident in moving there, it would be greatly appreciated

Oak Ridge prides itself on their citzens. The welcome sign should read...

"Oak Ridge, Where our people have that special glow to them"



Farragut is nice but is is really compact. You have nice choices of lakes and many parks to enjoy in the area. The Farragut school system is one of the best in Knox County. But the new Academy being built is suppose to second everything in Knox County. Its a good area, and is probably about 10 miles from Oak Ridge. If you are a boater then you have it made. The air is not the best, but is not the worst. You are close to a major trucking area (Watt Road), where hundreds of truck sit and idle for 6-8 or more hours end on end 24/7... so particulates are usually high in this area. I live only a couples miles away, I guess I have gotten used to it. If you have bad allergies, be warned.

[bluegreen.laurel]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Alarmists? All the information is true. Go on the ORNL website and see how they expect everyone to file out in a orderly fashion, or hunker down in their homes, after shutting down the air conditioning, and wait for further notice, in the event of a disaster.

Of course, that advice is only for leaks. In the event of a terrorist attack, we are all toast. Believe me, that played on my mind, this September 11.

My Grandpa worked at Oak Ridge a few decades ago. His whole body was covered up in cancer before he died.

[bluegreen.laurel]

Originally Posted by bluedogmusic8

Scary! Better run back wherever you came from ( most likely from the liberal north ) as fast as you can!

My mother and I used to go on about how many copperheads lived up in the woods when we didn't like someone who was looking at property close by. I mean to say it became a tall tale about the size and ferocity of said snakes. the funny thing is, it often worked. What we really didn't want was summer home people, because they fly home like birds in the winter. That's no good, because in the winter you need neighbors when you live remote.

[Reactionary]

Not only is there an eerie glow over Oak Ridge, but the copperheads are huge and ferocious! The 'Keep Out' signs are terrifying! Don't get me started on the mutant rattlesnakes...

I worked at ORNL years ago. hiknapster was (don't know about "is") correct that deer hunted on the federal land were subject to a health-physics screening, IIRC about 10% were sent to Savannah as low-level nuclear waste.

I don't know if the signs are still there, but Oak Ridge used to have signs posted along some streams that said "Warning: Stream Contaminated - Do Not Touch" because of the mercury. I also remember that the clean up was going to be difficult, because they were going to have to figure out how to remove the waste without the disturbed material causing more contamination. At the time it was better to let it lie undisturbed rather than remove it.

All that said, there are loads of people at ORNL who's job is to make the place as safe as possible, every day. Think about it - they have people who's job is to test the deer killed by hunters (and do biological monitoring all year) - and then put the results in the paper.

[hiknapster]

Clean up, contaminated water and deer concerns me less than sleeping security that is suppose to be guarding "one of the nation's most sensitive nuclear installations."

A federal spokesman at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant Wednesday corrected an earlier statement and said at least seven Wackenhut security guards had been caught sleeping on the job at Y-12 or being otherwise "inattentive."

Y-12 is one of the nation's most sensitive nuclear installations. It is the main U.S. repository for weapons-grade uranium, and workers there build and dismantle nuclear warhead parts. Wackenhut has about 500 security police officers at the site, including paramilitary teams trained to counter terrorist attacks.

"Given how serious NNSA considers our responsibility of safeguarding our nuclear facilities, we feel it is important to provide you a complete accounting of inattention incidents involving security police officers (SPOs) found sleeping on the job," Wyatt said.