And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: March 03, 1999 2:00 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Plutonium Filters at Livermore Non-member submission from [[EMAIL PROTECTED] (marylia)] Date: Wed, 3 Mar 1999 10:57:15 -0800 (PST) To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (marylia) Subject: Plutonium Filters at Livermore Hello. HEPA filters are used in so many places, I thought this might be of broad interest. Read on... Livermore Lab's Plutonium Filters: Another Accident Waiting to Happen? by Sally Light from Tri-Valley CAREs' March 1999 newsletter, Citizen's Watch Since December, 1998, Tri-Valley CAREs has received documents from the Department of Energy (DOE) concerning Livermore Lab's High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters in its plutonium facility, called Building 332. These documents came in response to our April, 1998 request for information under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). It is worth noting, however, that DOE did not provide any documents until we filed a FOIA lawsuit after waiting 9 long months (see, especially, the November 1998 Citizens' Watch for lawsuit details). It is increasingly clear, now, why DOE was so reluctant to release the documents to us. These documents reveal a long history of serious problems associated with Bldg. 332's HEPA filters, which are supposed to protect Lab workers and the public by preventing the release of plutonium into the air. Analysis of the documents we have received shows that at least one type of HEPA filter in Bldg. 332 is not totally qualified for nuclear applications. Further, HEPA filters, which are made by hand from glass paper and glue, may fail when wet, hot, cold, under too much air pressure, and/or when used beyond the recommended maximum of 8 years (some of Bldg. 332's filters are 20-30 years old!). Among the documents are many memos from Livermore Lab's own filter experts outlining a litany of serious technical concerns about the plutonium building's filter system and containing chilling warnings about potential and actual failures. Other issues include problems with how to treat, store and dispose of old filters (encrusted with plutonium). The lack of knowing what to do with used filters may further encourage the unwise, over-long use of HEPAs at the Lab. Some of the documents we received describe accidents that splattered plutonium around Bldg. 332, which includes many rooms and, in its entirety, covers most of four acres. One Lab memo acknowledges that HEPA problems allowed measurable plutonium releases to the outside air in 1979-80. In general, a HEPA filter works on the same principle as the filter in a coffee maker, and, like fine grounds in the bottom of the coffee pot, some particles get through the HEPAs. Thus, even when operating perfectly, filters do not capture 100% of the plutonium. If the HEPAs are allowed to get old, crusty, brittle and failure-prone, as the ones in Bldg. 332 demonstrably are, then this may have implications as to one possible pathway by which plutonium has gotten into the surrounding community, including in Big Trees Park. Further, there is a risk of major plutonium releases if a fire - always a risk with plutonium - occurs in Bldg. 332, causing the "blow out" of plutonium-laden filters when fire sprinklers turn on (this scenario is not just speculative, as a "blow out" of multiple HEPA filters did occur in the plutonium facility at DOE's Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado). The documents we have also indicate that, historically, there has been little guidance from DOE headquarters, as to HEPA filters for the entire nuclear weapons complex. Instead, each facility within the nationwide complex has largely been left on its own, although there are indications in the documents that both DOE and the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board have begun showing more interest. Livermore Lab memos also describe the long-standing inadequacy of DOE funding for research into both filter problems and their remedy. At least one memo shows a Livermore employee trying hard to juggle and stretch what little money there was in order to even partially address existing HEPA problems. Tri-Valley CAREs will continue to monitor the serious HEPA filter conditions at Livermore Lab's plutonium facility, as well as other problems there, including the epidemic of plutonium criticality safety violations (please see several prior editions of Citizens' Watch for details on LLNL's safety violations, including a resultant months-long shut down of Bldg. 332 in 1997-98). We also urge our readers to write Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, 1000 Independence Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20585, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515, as well as letters-to-the-editors, etc., demanding that Bldg. 332 be closed while an immediate, thorough, and open investigation of these serious risks to public health and the environment is undertaken. Please note that my email address has changed to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on 3/1/99 Marylia Kelley Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94550 <http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there! Our web site will remain at this location. Only my email address has changed on 3/1/99. (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the international Abolition 2000 network for the elimination of nuclear weapons. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
