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‘Diligent’ engineer discovers Y-12 water line break that spilled six million gallons

Posted at 3:26 pm July 17, 2013
By John Huotari 13 Comments

East Fork Poplar Creek

East Fork Poplar Creek starts at a spring at the Y-12 National Security Complex and flows through Oak Ridge. About six million gallons of water spilled into it in early June, killing several thousand small fish, after a 10-inch water line ruptured at Y-12.

The break in a 10-inch water pipe at the Y-12 National Security Complex on a Friday night in June—it spilled about six million gallons of water and killed several thousand small fish—was discovered by a diligent engineer who had returned to the plant to check on an abnormal water tower report, officials said.

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board reported that the plant contractor’s utilities and environmental compliance organizations both had had indications of an abnormal condition, but B&W Y-12 had not established a procedure to respond to the signals.

“The break was discovered because a diligent system engineer decided to come back in to the site and check on an anomalous report of a low level in a water tower that had cleared as the pumps refilled the tank,” the DNFSB report said. “B&W management is evaluating ways to improve recognition of a problem from the available indications during off hours.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Government, State, Top Stories, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: B&W Y-12, Building 9207, Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, DNFSB, East Fork Poplar Creek, fire suppression, fish, potable water line, Potable Water System, PWS, salamanders, water pipe, water tower, Y-12 National Security Complex

Water line rupture at Y-12 kills small fish, salamanders

Posted at 2:07 pm June 11, 2013
By John Huotari 1 Comment

East Fork Poplar Creek

East Fork Poplar Creek starts at a spring at the Y-12 National Security Complex and flows through Oak Ridge. It has been listed on a state list of impaired waterways due to mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls, among other things.

About six million gallons of chlorinated water spilled into East Fork Poplar Creek from a ruptured drinking water line at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and an estimated 8,500 minnow-sized fish and almost 30 salamanders were killed in the area of the incoming chlorinated water, a media advisory said.

It said the rupture in the potable water line was found Saturday. The numbers of dead fish and salamanders were determined by workers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, Y-12 National Security Complex Tagged With: B&W Y-12, Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program, chlorinated water, East Fork Poplar Creek, fish, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, potable water line, salamanders, water line rupture, Y-12 National Security Complex

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Classifieds

Availability of the draft environmental assessment for off-site depleted uranium manufacturing (DOE/EA-2252)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the … [Read More...]

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

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