Safe Workplace and Safety News

The Time Online (UK) reports that a disgruntled employee of the high-security Kaiga nuclear power plant, on the west coast of India, "spiked the office drinking water with a radioactive isotope." The result is that 55 workers were treated after drinking tritium. The article stated:

"The crime came to light when workers at the plant took urine tests after a shift, a week ago. Two are still in hospital and the rest have been discharged."

"But while the short-term dangers can be contained, the long-term risks are far greater: health hazards linked to contamination include an increased occurrence of cancer and genetic abnormalities in the children of those exposed, making the poisoning an act that will have repercussions for years."

The person responsible has not been identified. There are 15 people who have been identified as possible suspects.

Read the entire article here.

Labels: Industrial Health, Nuclear Power Safety

A New Jersey cast iron pipe manufacturer, Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co. (a division of McWane Inc.) and four company officials were found guilty of committing flagrant abuses of environmental and worker safety laws, the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced today. The charges include, among others, the regular discharge of oil into the Delaware River, concealing serious worker injuries from health and safety inspectors, and maintaining a dangerous workplace that contributed to multiple severe injuries and the death of one employee at the Phillipsburg, N.J., plant.

After approximately six days of deliberations, the jury returned guilty verdicts against five of six defendants: Atlantic States; plant manager John Prisque; maintenance supervisor Jeffrey Maury; finishing superintendent Craig Davidson; and former Atlantic States human resource manager Scott Faubert—each of whom face prison time for the convictions. One defendant, Daniel Yadzinski, formerly the engineering manager at the plant, was acquitted on three counts.

U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper, who presided over the nearly seven-month-long trial—the longest environmental crimes trial prosecuted by the Justice Department—scheduled the sentencing for the corporation and individual defendants for Sept. 7, 2006.

"As a multiple offender, McWane has time and again shown a disturbing indifference towards the health and safety of their workers and a blatant disregard for the natural environment we all share," said Sue Ellen Wooldridge, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "Today's conviction shows that the Department of Justice takes seriously its responsibility to enforce the nation's environmental laws. And when companies or individuals break them with such shocking regularity, they will be vigorously prosecuted."

"The conviction of Atlantic States and its managers after a trial of unprecedented length sends a clear message: neither EPA nor the public will tolerate knowing and rampant environmental misconduct," said Granta Y. Nakayama, EPA's assistant administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "This manner of 'doing business' injures workers, the public and our environment, and EPA will continue to deter such flagrant disregard of pollution laws by vigorously pursuing not only corporations, but also the culpable individuals regardless of their position within the organization."

The 34-count indictment charged Atlantic States, a subsidiary of McWane Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., and the named managers, with conspiracy to violate federal clean air and water regulations and laws governing workplace safety, as well as obstruction of criminal and regulatory investigations by the EPA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The company and the four managers were each convicted on Count One of the 34-count indictment, charging that they and the company engaged in an eight-year conspiracy to pollute the air and Delaware River in violation of the federal Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, expose its employees to dangerous conditions and impede federal regulatory and criminal investigations. For the individual defendants, the conspiracy count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and a fine of $500,000 for the company.

Atlantic States was named in all counts of the indictment, and was also convicted on five counts of making materially false statements to state and federal environmental agencies and the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA); four counts of obstructing OSHA investigations; 22 counts of violating the federal Clean Water Act and one count of violating the Clean Air Act.

In addition to the main conspiracy conviction, the verdicts for the individual defendants were as follows:

• John Prisque, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania:

– Guilty of three counts of obstruction of an OSHA investigation, and one not guilty of obstructing OSHA.
– Guilty on one count of violating the Clean Water Act.
– Guilty on one count of violating the Clean Air Act.

• Scott Faubert, of Easton, Pennsylvania:

– Guilty on one count of making false statements to OSHA.
– Guilty on two counts of obstructing an OSHA investigation.

• Jeffrey Maury, 36, of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania:

– Guilty on one count of making false statements to the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety and the FBI.
– Guilty of obstruction of an OSHA investigation
– Guilty of seven counts of violating the Clean Water Act

• Craig Davidson, of Nazareth, Pennsylvania:

– Guilty on one count of making false statements to the NJ Department of Law and Public Safety and a NJ Department of Environmental Protection emergency responder.
– Guilty on 16 counts of violating the Clean Water Act.

The privately held McWane Inc. and its divisions are among the largest manufacturers in the world of ductile iron pipe with more than a dozen plants in the United States and Canada. McWane's products are used primarily for municipal and commercial water and sewer installations.

Assistant Attorney General Sue Ellen Wooldridge of the Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie credited Special Agents of the U.S. EPA, under the direction of William V. Lometti, special agent in charge of EPA's Criminal Investigation Division in New York; staff of OSHA's Avenel, N.J. office, under the direction of Patricia K. Clark, OSHA regional administrator in New York; the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, under the direction of Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson; the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Division of Criminal Justice, under the direction of Attorney General Zulima Farber; and the Phillipsburg Police Department.

The case was prosecuted by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr., Assistant U.S. Attorney Norv McAndrew, Andrew Goldsmith, Senior Trial Attorney and Assistant Section Chief in the Environmental Crimes Section, and Senior Trial Attorney Deborah Harris in the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice in Washington.

Labels: Nuclear Power Safety, safety, workplace safety

The most prominent safety news related to yesterday's earthquake in Japan concerns the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant, which is located nine miles from the epicenter of the earthquake. There were some problems, but none that have been reported as resulting in a health hazard.

An article at news@nature.com reported:

"An earthquake off the western coast of Japan yesterday hit a nuclear plant with more than twice the jolt that the plant was expected to have to handle. The shock seems to have done little immediate damage, but has raised concerns about whether Japan's nuclear plants are designed to withstand the kind of shaking they are likely to experience."

The news@nature.com article also reports that the quake caused a small fire that was quickly extinguished.

Mainichi Daily news reports today:

"Water containing a small amount of radiation leaked into the sea from a nuclear power station, where four reactors were automatically shut down after a powerful earthquake jolted Niigata Prefecture on Monday, government officials said.

This is the first time in Japan that radiation has leaked from a nuclear power station because of the impact of an earthquake, officials said. It will unlikely to adversely affect the heath of people or the environment."

The outcome appears to be that, although the quake caused stresses that were twice what the facility was designed for, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant performed well and no safety or health hazards resulted.

Labels: Nuclear Power Safety

Press release from the Nuclear Energy Institute:

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 30, 2007 —America’s nuclear power plants continued to operate at high levels of efficiency and safety in 2006, according to industry performance indicators compiled by the World Association of Nuclear Operators.

For the seventh consecutive year, the U.S. nuclear energy industry’s unit capability factor topped 90 percent. The median capability factor for 103 reactors of 91.5 percent, when measured on an operating cycle basis, was within four-tenths of a percentage point of the 91.9 percent record set in 2005. Unit capability factor is the percentage of electricity actually produced compared to the maximum electricity a plant could supply to the electrical grid.

These sector-leading levels of efficiency at nuclear power plants produced 787.2 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity last year, second only to the record-high of 788.5 billion kwh of electricity produced in 2004.

The nuclear energy industry similarly sustained excellent levels of safety and operating performance in areas including safety system performance, industrial safety, unplanned automatic reactor shutdowns, and programs to protect workers from radiation exposure.

"The 2006 performance indicators are another indicator of the nuclear industry’s commitment to safety and efficient operations," said Frank L. “Skip” Bowman, the Nuclear Energy Institute’s president and chief executive officer. "As our industry prepares to build new state-of-the-art nuclear plants, it’s noteworthy that we move forward from a solid foundation of operating excellence at our existing plants."

The performance data compiled by WANO is analyzed by the Atlanta-based Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, which promotes excellence in U.S. nuclear power plant safety and operations. INPO uses the data to help set challenging benchmarks of excellence against which safety and plant operation can be measured. New performance indicator goals for 2010 also are shown in the results report for 2006 (link to report provided below), since last year marked the beginning of INPO’s new five-year goal period.

In previous years, results for the performance indicators were based on a calendar year. Beginning in 2006, performance indicators and goals are based on nuclear plants’ lengthier operating cycles between refuelings to more consistently reflect performance.

Results from previous years have been reconfigured to conform to the new methodology. Other highlights of the nuclear energy industry’s performance in 2006 include:

Unplanned Automatic Reactor Shutdowns.

The 2006 median industry value of 0.42 unplanned automatic shutdowns per plant equaled the historic low value first established in 2002. The 2006 cycle value also was better than the 2010 median goal of 0.5 unplanned shutdowns per 7,000 hours of reactor operation.

Safety System Performance.

For the 12^th straight year, 94 percent or more of key safety systems met industry goals for availability. In 2006, 97 percent of the key safety systems met their availability goals. Nuclear power plants are built with redundant safety systems and backup power supplies so these systems are available, if needed, even when maintenance is being performed on a similar system or component. The three key standby safety systems are two main cooling systems and back-up power supplies used to respond in the event of unusual situations.

Forced Capability Loss Rate.

The 2006 cycle median value of 1.2 percent capability loss reflects significant progress in the operation of nuclear plants. Ten years ago, the median value exceeded five percent; it has been under two percent each year since 2000. Forced capability loss rate measures a plant’s outage time and power reductions that result from unplanned equipment failures, human errors or other conditions when the plant is expected to be generating electricity. The industry’s 2010 goal for this indicator is a median value of one percent.

Industrial Safety.

The nuclear industry is acknowledged as one of the nation’s safest working environments; U.S. nuclear plants continue to post a very low industrial accident rate. In 2006, the industry median plant had only 0.12 industrial accidents per 200,000 worker-hours, a record low. Statistics from other industries through 2005, as compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, show that it is safer to work at a nuclear power plant than in the manufacturing sector and even the real estate and finance industries.

Collective Radiation Exposure.

The industry’s collective radiation performance at both pressurized-water reactors (PWRs) and boiling-water reactors (BWRs) improved from 2005. Employees at BWRs recorded a 9.6 percent decrease in collective exposure (measured as person-rem per reactor), while employees at PWRs recorded a 2.9 percent decrease from the prior year. Low exposure indicates strong management attention to radiation protection.

To view charts of the WANO performance indicators for U.S. nuclear power plants on NEI’s Web site, go to: http://www.nei.org/index.asp?catnum=2&catid=353

Labels: Nuclear Power Safety