Safety problems, workers pressured at Knolls nuclear site

WGI managers “created an atmosphere of fear among the work force not to speak up about issues of concern,” according to the DOE report.

Federal probe: Workers felt pressed to ignore safety issues at Knolls nuclear site, Times Union, By BRIAN NEARING , November 23, 2010 NISKAYUNA — A federal investigation into radiation released during demolition of a research building at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory found workers felt pressed by bosses to ignore safety issues and get work done faster.

A draft report, filed by investigators for the Department of Energy and obtained by the Times Union, also concluded that Washington Group International, a private company performing work under a $69 million contract, made missteps that led to an “uncontrolled spread of radioactive contamination” during the Sept. 29 demolition of a tainted Cold War-era research building at the research complex……

Two years ago, Knolls began a cleanup of the radioactive soil that covers about five of the facility’s 170 acres along the Mohawk River, including the demolition of two buildings dating to the early 1950s, when the federal government researched nuclear weaponry at Knolls.

WGI managers “created an atmosphere of fear among the work force not to speak up about issues of concern,” according to the DOE report. Such pressure “appears to be driven by project supervision and management personnel … brought into the project with the purpose of improving production.”

The investigation also found “questionable document practices” by WGI managers, including handwritten changes to safety reports without evidence of when or by whom such changes were made……

Federal probe: Workers felt pressed to ignore safety issues at Knolls nuclear site – Times Union

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Energy efficiency – theme for July 2019

Energy efficiency represents the single largest potential contributor to global emissions reduction, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA 2017). It should be a key part of the global energy strategy, for several reasons:

It could reduce global electric demand by more than 20 per cent, based on current rates in the U.S. power sector, while maintaining high levels of services such as heating and lighting.
It avoids the need for increased energy, capacity and grid services, making it the least expensive way to decarbonise at scale.
It can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by billions of tonnes.

A dramatic example of the power of energy efficiency is lighting. In 2017 the United States passed the milestone of 1 billion LED and CFL lights installed, avoiding 142 million tonnes a year of carbon dioxide emissions, at a cost of about $7 per ton of avoided carbon dioxide. In contrast, the cumulative installed capacity of rooftop solar reached 8,000 MW in 2017, saving 8 million tonnes a year of carbon dioxide, at a cost of $360 per ton. Lighting efficiency thus yielded almost 18 times the avoided carbon dioxide, at about 2 per cent the cost per ton of rooftop solar.

Google provides another example of the power of energy efficiency. Its data centers now use 50 per cent less energy than the average data center, according to the company. Google also developed an improved chip, the TPU, which performs 83 times better than standard CPUs. The new chip allowed Google to reduce power consumption at its data centers by a factor of 30—far exceeding the effect on Google’s carbon footprint of all of the company’s renewable energy purchases. ” – John Woolard, Eco Business, 10 June 2019

nuclear-news

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