Sludge Watch ==> Pennsylvania -radioactive sludge ash - oked for unrestricted use - now contained

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin

This is a shocking story - radioactive wastes were sent into the public 
sewers for a decade, and the sludge was incinerated leaving radioactive ash 
in a lagoon in a floodplane.  Two decades pass.


In 2005 the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) determined
that the ash is not a risk to residents and that in fact this radioactive 
ash can be distributed without restriction in the community.

But the State Department of Environmental Protection has asked the company 
responsible for the radioactive discharge to remove the ash from the lagoons 
to a secure landfill site.  Hats off and hugs and kisses to Kathleen A. 
McGinty on this issue.  But the general issues will all sewage disposal need 
to be addressed.  Most sludge is never tested for radioactivity.  Toronto 
sewage sludge routinely sets off the radioactivity alarms when the sludge 
trucks cross the border into Michigan state.

You can see that radioactive waste is just one alarming component of sludge, 
and that there are inadequate protection against the 'recycling' of 
dangerous soil materials into the environment.  Sewer sludge is but one 
issue...so is ash, river or harbour dredge, cement kiln dusts, lime kiln 
dust, bottom ash, spend foundry sand, fly ash etc.

Soil takes millions of years to form on the earth's crust.  A small 
percentage of the Earth's soils are suitable for agriculture.  We should not 
allow them to be contaminated.
................................................


Pennsylvania DEP Secretary Urges Company to Remove Uranium Ash From 
Westmoreland County Lagoon


  Material in Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority's Lagoon Came
     from Processes Used at Former Babcock & Wilcox Facility in Apollo

    HARRISBURG, Pa., April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Environmental Protection
Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty today called on BWX Technologies Inc. of
Lynchburg, Va., to immediately remove uranium-laden ash from the Kiski
Valley Water Pollution Control Authority's treatment plant lagoon in
Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County.

    "This community is burdened with waste materials, including some
radioactive materials that originated from plants BWX operated at the
former Babcock & Wilcox facility in Apollo," McGinty said. "As a matter of
good corporate citizenship, BWX should move immediately to remove the
material to a hazardous or low-level radioactive waste facility for proper
disposal. The materials are in the floodplain and should be moved as soon
as possible."

    The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in January 2005 determined
that the ash is not a risk to residents and meets all the criteria for
unrestricted use. The NRC maintains that states are preempted by these
types of determinations from requiring materials be handled based on
radiological concerns.

    "The situation has festered long enough. Action on BWX's part finally
to resolve this situation with special care and precaution is the right and
proper course," McGinty wrote in her letter to company officials.
    The Kiski Valley authority has been working to remove approximately
12,000 cubic yards of ash from its treatment plant lagoon but has been
unable to secure a disposal site. DEP approved the authority's plans in
October 2005.

    The authority placed its clay-lined lagoon into service in 1975. Two
years later, the authority began receiving wastewater flow from the former
Babcock & Wilcox facility in Apollo. The discharge consisted of sanitary
and sewage water from the facility's NRC-licensed uranium fuel
manufacturing facility, as well as a licensed laundry.

    In 1984, Babcock & Wilcox ceased operation and stopped discharges. The
authority's sewage treatment process included collection of solid wastes
from both primary and secondary treatment, followed by removal of the water
and on-site incineration. The authority stopped sending ash to the lagoon
in 1993 when it reached its capacity. A byproduct of the wastewater
treatment process, the ash contains low levels of uranium.

    For more information, visit DEP's Web site at
http://www.dep.state.pa.us, Keyword: "Waste Management."
    CONTACT: Susan Woods of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection, +1-717-787-1323.



SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
Web Site: http://www.state.pa.us http://www.dep.state.pa.us

....................................................

Sludgewatch Admin:
Here is a report I ran across..fyi

///////////////////////////////////////////

Nuclear Regulation: Action Needed to Control Radioactive Contamination at 
Sewage Treatment Plants (Letter Report, 05/18/94, GAO/RCED-94-133). 
Radioactive materials are sometimes discharged into municipal sewer systems 
by hospitals, decontamination laundries, research facilities, and 
manufacturers licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). NRC 
regulations fall short, however, in controlling low-level radioactive wastes 
being discharged into municipal sewer systems, possibly putting treatment 
plant workers, plant property, and the general public at risk. During the 
past decade, at least nine cases of radioactive contamination of sewage 
sludge have occurred at treatment plants. One of the most recent was the 
inadvertent discovery by NRC in 1991 of radioactive contamination at the 
Southerly Sewage Treatment Plant in Cleveland, Ohio. NRC has concluded that 
the elevated radiation levels at the site do not pose health or safety risks 
to plant workers or to the public. The facility has already spent more than 
$1.5 million for on-site cleanup and a secured fence, and estimates for 
off-site disposal range as high as $3 billion. The full extent of 
contamination at other treatment plants nationwide is unknown because (1) 
NRC has inspected only 15 of the 1,100 NRC licensees that may discharge 
radioactive material to determine if a concentration problem exists, (2) NRC 
does not know how many of the estimated 3,000 "agreement state" licensees 
may have been inspected, and (3) neither NRC nor the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) requires treatment plants to test for the presence 
of radioactive materials in sewage sludge. Exposure to treatment plant 
sludge, ash, and related by-products can occur in a variety of ways. For 
example, some of the substances are used for agricultural and residential 
purposes, such as lawn fertilizer. NRC and EPA studies on the health effects 
of radioactive materials in sewage sludge and ash have been inconclusive. 
GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Nuclear 
Regulation: Action Needed to Control Radioactive Contamination at Sewage 
Treatment Plants, by Jim Wells, Associate Director for Energy and Science 
Issues, before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the 
Subcommittee on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources, House 
Committee on Government Operations. GAO/T-RCED-94-247, June 21, 1994 (15 
pages).

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: RCED-94-133 TITLE: Nuclear Regulation: Action Needed to Control 
Radioactive Contamination at Sewage Treatment Plants DATE: 05/18/94

SUBJECT: Sewage treatment Environmental monitoring Water pollution control 
Radioactive wastes Environmental policies Health hazards Federal/state 
relations Nuclear waste disposal Nuclear waste management Safety regulation

IDENTIFIER: EPA National Industrial Pretreatment Program Northeast Ohio 
Regional Sewer District Southerly Sewage Treatment Plant (OH)