Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 13, 1990 TAG: 9003133505
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CARSON CITY, NEV. LENGTH: Medium
The daily briefing for Monday's operations was obtained by The Associated Press after it was sent by mistake to governors' offices by fax machine.
The two-page summary contains reports by Department of Energy operations to Watkins that were assembled by his office and were being sent back to the DOE offices.
The problems at the government's nuclear complex included "widespread low-level contamination" at a tank farm at Hanford, Wash.; the discovery of three live wires at a Savannah River reactor building that posed "imminent danger"; and an effort to halt the activities of anti-nuclear protesters.
Three hours after the briefing paper was sent out, a note addressed to "all state governors" urged them to disregard and destroy the document. It wasn't known how many governors' offices had received it.
The document provides an unusual glimpse into the daily routine at Watkins' office. But DOE press secretary M.J. Jameson said it doesn't suggest an excessive number of problems. She said the report was instituted by Watkins as a way to keep tabs on all DOE operations.
Jameson also said she knew of no actual danger to workers or other people as a result of any of the incidents. "If there was any danger, we would have issued a press release," she said.
Among other things, the document said a radiation survey in the control room of a reactor at Oak Ridge, Tenn., found that four chairs and a stool were contaminated with cobalt-60. Two chairs were disposed of and the other furniture was decontaminated.
Another item in the document said a cleanup of "widespread low-level contamination" in a tank farm at Hanford, Wash., was continuing. The efforts included cleaning of all paved roads and a radioactivity survey.
Jameson said there was a recent spill of contaminated water in the tank farm but "it wasn't hazardous to the health of anyone. It could have been if it had not been detected and cleaned up."
Among other reports in the briefing paper:
Sandia Lab management and the DOE's Albuquerque, N.M., office agreed to suspend operation last Friday of a particle beam fusion accelerator after "numerous safety concerns" were identified.
An annual safeguards and security survey at Sandia showed a shortage of classified parts at a microelectronics operation. The memo said the problem had been reported in January and that a complete inventory would be conducted.
The DOE's Savannah River operations office said the Westinghouse Savannah River Co. had discovered that seismic support U-bolts were missing from some supplementary safety system injection lines on a reactor.
Also at Savannah River, DOE and OSHA inspectors found three live, bare wires in a reactor building. The wires were fixed and an investigation is being conducted.
by CNB