April 10, 2012 - Associated Press -
Feds Cleaning Up Soil Near Paducah Nuclear Plant - Federal and state agencies are set to begin removing contaminated soil from around the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in an $18 million project designed to clean up four decades of pollution. The U.S. Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection want to remove the cancer-causing chemical trichloroethene. The chemical, also called TCE, is used in automotive brake cleaners and printer tone enhancers and was used as a degreaser at the plant. Officials say it leaked into the aquifer beneath the facility. Neighbors say they were sickened by the contamination. Fay and Ray Buckingham drank the well water until someone from the DOE told them to stop. The government installed city water and has paid the Buckinghams water bill ever since, but the two are doubtful that the Energy Department even cares. "They got more dad-gumb degrees than a thermometer but that don't make them good people," Fay Buckingham told WPSD-TV in Paducah. Ralph Young, a retired environmental engineer and now chair of the Citizens Advisory Board to the Department of Energy, said the cleanup is a responsible move, not just environmentally but economically, because someday, the plant will close.
April 10, 2012 - KBSX 91.5 - Investigators Search For Source Of Radioactive Particles On INL Grounds - Cobalt, Cesium, and Europium are the radioactive materials investigators have found on the INL grounds. Workers with radiation detectors continue to comb the facility, the employees, and any vehicles leaving the site. "No contaminated particles have been found on people, nor in buildings, office areas, or on the site busses." Says Tim Jackson, a spokesman for the Department of Energy which is conducting the investigation. Jackson says the contaminated particles have been found on the ground outside the advanced test reactor complex and on some construction debris, specifically insulation. He says they don’t know yet what construction project it came from. He adds there is no threat to the public or the environment.