Kingston Steam Plant-Ash Spill Kingston Fossil Plant Fly Ash Spill

Transcription

1 Kingston Steam Plant-Ash Spill Kingston Fossil Plant Fly Ash Spill

2 Location and Plant History Located on Watts Bar Reservoir (Emory River), 3 miles upstream of confluence of Clinch River and Tennessee River. Completed in 1955: at the time reportedly largest coalfired power plant in the world. 14,000 tons coal consumed per day.

3 Harriman, Failed Location and Dredge Plant Cell Tennessee History TVA Kingston Fossil Plant Kingston, Tennessee

4 December 22, 2008 Incident Catastrophic failure of Dredge Cell 2 and Dike C began at approximately 01:00 hrs EST. Event occurred over a span of about one hour. Approximately 5.4M cubic yards (CYs) of ash released. Covered about 300 acres Damage to 40 homes (3 condemned) Displaced 22 residents Gas line and power line rupture Road and rail line damage Estimated 3M cubic yards of total entered Emory River and its tributaries.

5 Root Cause Analysis: AECOM June 25, 2009 Source: Figure 1.8. Route Cause Analysis AECOM. June 25, 2009

6 December 2008 Incident REACHES 1/2 MILE UP WESTERN BRANCH EMORY RIVER FILLS IN SWAN POND SLOUGH CONTAINMENT WALL COLLAPSES HERE FILLS IN WESTERN BRANCH OF EMORY RIVER EMPTIES INTO MAIN BRANCH OF EMORY RIVER ORIGINAL LOCATION OF ASH LANDFILL

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20 Dredging Operations Looking southwest across Emory River across portion of Site. Dredge operating in foreground. Middle ground, left are two debris barges. Background, center, fly ash choking tributary is being pushed into temporary stockpile for movement to larger stockpile cell. Portion of Dike 2 visible between stockpile and debris barges.

21 Dredging Operations

22 Ash recovery and Dewatering

23 Ash recovery and Dewatering

24 Ash recovery and Dewatering

25 Rail Spur Dedicated to Fly Ash Transportation

26 Loading Railcars for Transport to Arrowhead Landfill

27 Fly Ash Characteristics Fly ash is the residue from combustion of powdered coal. Nonflammable constituents are concentrated in the ash. Though primarily silica, contains a number of hazardous substances. Metals Constituents include arsenic, lead, cadmium, selenium. Arsenic concentrations above EPA R4 Residential Removal Action Levels (RAL), but below Industrial RALs. Residential soils, except those with direct ash deposition, were within RALs. TCLP analysis indicates that fly ash from Kingston spill does not leach metals in excess of hazardous waste thresholds Radionuclides Radium 226 and 228. TVA analysis of ash indicates a slight elevation above background but within expected range for fly ash.

28 Environmental Media Monitoring Drinking Water Public water supplies 3 drinking water treatment plants (Kingston, Rockwood & Cumberland) were sampled immediately after event - none of the results exceeded any MCLs. Currently plant personnel collect daily samples of untreated and treated water at Kingston WTP. TDEC collects samples twice weekly. Private water supplies» Samples analyzed for metals no exceedances of State or Federal standards. Approximately 100 residential wells located within 4 miles of the site were sampled and none of the results exceeded any drinking water MCLs (used as the benchmark for safe water) Surface Water??????? (fill in date when received)

29 Environmental Media Monitoring Air Quality Worker Protection More than 3,000 integrated air samples have been collected for total dust, respirable dust, crystalline silica, and metals. None exceeded currently established limits for occupation exposure. Samples collected to represent exposure in activities including: heavy equipment, truck drivers, laborers, and flaggers. If an action level is met:» Engineering controls» Personal protective equipment upgrades Off-site Approximately 60,000 real-time PM10 samples taken throughout community. and compared to NAAS of Approximately 150 ug/m3. Results demonstrate that site controls are effective.

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34 Direct Contact Issues On-Site Workers receive HAZWOPER training. Level D protection employed for site activities (with air monitoring). Workers at truck wash stations required to wear tyvek as over-garment to protect against splash. Off-Site Areas where fly ash deposited on ground have restricted access. Homes and property directly impacted have been purchased by TVA. Swimming advisory set for portion of Emory River where dredging operations likely to produce suspended sediment containing ash. Outreach to educate public to identify ash in water. Advised to use normal soap and water should suspected contact occur.

35 Enforcement Actions Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation issues Commissioner s Order on January 12, 2009: Contain release and minimize downstream migration Assist TDEC in determining the cause of dike failure Support TDEC assessment of current and future impacts of release Develop and implement Corrective Action Plan (CAP) Restore natural resources damaged by the release Assume financial responsibility for TDEC expenses Review all TVA coal ash impoundments in TN

36 Enforcement Actions EPA and TVA enter into an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) on May 11, 2009 Time-Critical Removal Action Removal of major portion of ash from Emory River east of Dike 2 Non Time-Critical Removal Action Address remaining ash in Emory, embayments, and other impacted areas CERCLA remedial evaluation process to follow

37 Time-Critical Removal Objectives and Operations Dredging major portion of ash from Emory River. Dewatering and temporary stockpile of ash. Off-site disposal. Oversight and monitoring. Full time oversight of TVA operations by EPA OSC. Air monitoring. Water quality monitoring. Community outreach. Assignment of Community Involvement Coordinator. Establish Community Outreach Center. Multiple fact sheets, press releases, and public meetings. Coordination and outreach with Local, State, Federal officials.

38 COAL COMBUSTION RESIDUALS REGULATORY DEVELOPMENT

39 BASIC INDUSTRY FACTS Number of Coal Burning Electric Utility Plants 506 electric utility power plants that burn coal for the public sale of electricity (based on DOE-EIA 2007 survey) Approximately 135 coal-fired power plants in R4 In total, these facilities burn 73% of the total coal consumed in the U.S. Other Facilities There are about 3000 industrial coal fired boilers Located at pulp and paper mills, glass plants, chemical plants, universities, etc. CCRs are much smaller in volume and co-managed with other wastes Management situation is fundamentally different from that of utilities

40 BASIC INDUSTRY FACTS Generation In 2007, there were 131 million tons of CCRs generated by electric utilities. These CCRs are disposed in 42 States By comparison, 6.9 million tons per year of solid hazardous waste are generated per year Uses Disposed in landfills (36%) Roughly 300 landfills at electric utilities Disposed in surface impoundments (21%) Roughly 300 surface impoundments at electric utilities Used to fill mine voids (5%) Beneficially used in commerce (38%)

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43 REGULATORY BACKGROUND HOW WE GOT TO WHERE WE ARE TODAY In 1980, Congress adopted Bevill Amendment Temporarily excluded fossil fuel combustion wastes from hazardous waste (Subtitle C) regulations EPA was required to conduct and submit a report to Congress (RTC) on effects on human health and the environment of the disposal of CCRs After taking comments on the RTC, EPA was required to make determination of whether CCRs should be subject to hazardous waste regulations In 1988, EPA published RTC on coal ash generated by coal fired electric utilities RTC did not address co-managed utility CCRs (fly ash and bottom ash managed with boiler slag or flue gas desulfurization (FGD) sludge)

44 Consistent with the court-ordered schedule, in March 1999, EPA issued a RTC on the remaining wastes (comanaged coal combustion residuals and oil and gas wastes) REGULATORY BACKGROUND (Continued) In 1991, EPA was sued for failure to complete a Regulatory Determination for all fossil fuel combustion wastes In 1992, EPA entered into a Consent Decree that required EPA to issue a Regulatory Determination for all fossil fuel combustion wastes (coal, oil, and gas) In 1993, EPA published a Regulatory Determination for the first category of wastes, fly ash and coal ash It concluded that regulation as hazardous waste was not warranted EPA also concluded making an appropriate determination for the remaining wastes required additional study

45 REGULATORY BACKGROUND (Continued) EPA s Notice of Data Availability Issued in August 2007 EPA obtained additional information on damage cases, conducted a revised risk assessment, and gathered new information on industry management practices Took comment on industry-developed Voluntary Action Plan and subtitle D regulatory approach recommended by environmental groups

46 CURRENT DATA ON CCR RISKS Damage Cases - Identified a total of involved contaminated groundwater (typically arsenic) 8 involved contaminated surface water 15 of 16 involved unlined units; liner status not clear in 16 th unit Risk Assessment - Revised risk assessment suggests greater risk than did earlier assessments 5x10-4 cancer risk (at 90 th percentile) for arsenic in unlined landfill; surface impoundment arsenic risks were considerably higher Non-cancer risks for boron and cadmium (above 90 th percentile) for unlined surface impoundments Composite liners effectively reduce the risk for both pathways for surface impoundments and landfills Management Practices - Improved practices at new disposal units built between 1994 and 2004 Between 1994 and 2004, 97% of new LFs and all new SIs had liners; 81% of SIs and 98% of LFs had gw-monitoring systems