Tests for radioactive contamination in Mohawk River area of the Latham Water District came back negative after a spill occurred at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory just north of the facility in Niskyuna on Oct. 25.
According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the contents that were emitted from KAPL were Cesium-137 and Stronthium-90 along with small amounts of uranium and plutonium as a result of an electrical malfunction of the Hillside sump pump system. In a Notice of Violation from the DEC dated Nov. 3, the discharge of these materials lasted for nearly three hours until the pumping system was fixed, which resulted in 630 gallons flowing into the Mohawk River.
The spill violated state laws and regulations contained in the New York State Environmental Conservation Law, according to the Notice of Violation, for waste released into state waters that do not meet state standards and not taking steps to minimize the incident.
DEC said they will be notifying the U.S. Department of Energy, which is currently remediating the facility after it was shut down.
The facility, which was active from 1950-1953, served as a Cold War facility for processing special nuclear material, according to KAPL. The soil beneath the building is said to contain trace amounts of radioactivity.
Latham Water District Director John Frazer said they received the results of a test for alpha and beta emitters, a test that is conducted monthly, came back as non-detect, meaning there was no threat to public health. The explanation for this, Frazer said, might be because the materials were diluted by the river.
`We’re talking about the Mohawk River, which has a substantial diluted potential,` he said. `The contents were probably diluted enough that it wasn’t even detected.`
There was a breakdown in communication, though, between DEC, the Albany County Department of Health and the Latham Water District. Frazer said he had heard about the incident in the news when he was supposed to be contacted by the Albany County Health Department, which was supposed to be contacted by the DEC and the State Department of Health.
Tom Brady, Assistant Director of Environmental Health for Albany County, who is supposed to be called if an incident such as this occurs, said he heard about the incident in the news as well.
`It was a big screw up,` he said. `The chain of command, it was done right. I think both the embarrassment of DEC and DOH will correct who should be called even if it’s redundant.`
KAPL Spokesperson Anne LaRoche said the facility notified both DEC and DOH officials of the spill, and stated that they are not required by New York State regulations to notify the Latham Water District of the Albany County Department of Health.
DEC Region 4 Spokesperson Rick Georgeson said the department is changing its protocol and are instituting more redundancies to make sure a miscommunication like this one doesn’t occur again.
`Any released we are aware of we will notify the [Albany County Health Department],` he said. `In this case, we will also notify, directly, the water districts.`
LaRoche said KAPL is taking short term and long term actions to ensure a spill like this does not happen again.
For short term, KAPL will be implementing a 24 hour control panel that will monitor the sump pump operation while the electrical system is restructured so each pump is on a separate control circuit with automatic monitoring and warning systems installed. There will also be a backup pump and a 1,500 gallon water collection tank connected to the sump overflow pipe to collect the water
For long term, the Department of Energy’s Environmental Management and its contractors will be shipping wastewater to offsite locations for treatment and disposal and are winterizing the Hillside Treatment System.
`In addition, [Department of Energy’s Environmental Management] are instituting staffing changes and resource additions to improve management of the project,` said LaRoche.
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