This site will post communications directed to the Roane Community Advisory Group (CAG) as they are received in order to keep the community affected by the TVA ash dike failure fully informed.

General information regarding the CAG and relevant public documents are posted at the CAG website.

Friday, February 26, 2010

To Roane County Community Advisory Group

February 26, 2010

1. On February 25, on behalf of the CAG, S. D. Simon requested a map showing the location of all air and water sample locations. The maps were provided by Email to Mr. Simon and the CAG on the same day. In addition, the maps were enlarged and will be delivered to the CAG at the March 4 meeting. These maps and others are available at the following TVA/ EPA websites.

· Air monitors
·

Time Critical map

2. Mr. Simon also requested river bottom mapping locations of where and how much ash is yet to be removed from the river. The river bottom mapping location of where and how much ash is yet to be removed from the river is currently in draft form. It will be released, along with the dredging schedule, when it is finalized.

3. Heavy equipment operating in the gypsum stilling pond disturbed an overflow pipe that connects the main gypsum pond to the stilling pond. While neither pond is in use, the disturbance allowed a very small amount of rainwater to seep along the outside of the pipe (rather than inside the pipe as designed) into the stilling pond. Repairs are underway and should take less than a week.

4. Repair work on the dredge located in the cove adjacent to several Swan Harbour residences is expected to be completed within the next few days. After the repairs are made and the dredge begins operating it will begin moving south and will soon be out of this area. We apologize for any disturbances this work has caused.

5. The offsite utility work to install a 10” waterline between I-40 and Swan Pond Road crossing continues. The portion of the work affecting travel along Swan Pond Road is projected to be completed in May. The contractor is attempting to minimize impact from the work as much as possible and will continue to only close one lane of traffic to vehicles and clean up any remaining construction debris each day after work is completed.

Attached is a copy of the Kingston Ash Recovery Project Weekly Report. Please give Katie or me a call if you have any questions.

Jane Greenwalt

Project Manager, Community Outreach

Tennessee Valley Authority

Kingston Ash Recovery Project

Friday, February 19, 2010

Swan Pond Road Affected

To Roane County Community Advisory Group
February 19, 2010
Kingston Ash Recovery Project

Utility work along Swan Pond Road continues. At 5:15 p.m. after the contractor finishes work for the day, street sweeping operations will begin. Water trucks will be at the work site to minimize any dust that might be created. Only one lane of traffic will be affected while the sweeping is being done.
If you have any questions please give Katie or me a call.

Jane Greenwalt
Project Manager, Community Outreach
Tennessee Valley Authority
Kingston Ash Recovery Project

Update: On Friday afternoon as they travelled on Swan Pond Road, some members of the Roane County Community Advisory Group complained that an excessive amount of water remained on the road after the utility contractor had finished with its sweeping. I am told that it was necessary to use more water than usual on Friday to get the road clean since a large amount of dirt and mud had been left from the previous day’s work. Today there will be less water used by the water truck.

Please accept our apology for any inconvenience this may have caused. The appropriate individuals have been contacted and advised to use less water and to keep the water left on the road to a minimum. Please contact us if it occurs in the future.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Emergency Notification System Test

To Roane County Community Advisory Committee



Kingston Fossil Plant

Emergency Notification System Test

Thursday, February 18, 12:30 p.m.



On a regular basis, the Kingston Fossil Plant works with community emergency responders to test its emergency notification systems. These tests are run so that in the event of a site emergency of any kind, we know the system works and that proper notifications are made.



A test of this system is scheduled for Thursday, February 18, at 12:30 p.m. The test, which will last about 10 minutes, will utilize sirens and loudspeakers. The loudspeakers will be site-wide and will alert site personnel as to what the mock emergency is. Please do not be alarmed. This is a test and only a test. Please share this information with your neighbors.



Residents living on Swan Pond Road across from the Kingston Fossil Plant are also being notified.



If you have any questions please give me a call.



Katie



Katie Kline

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

TDH on Selenium

I have reviewed the paper that was a source of concern and some of the literature behind the recommendations in it.

http://www.fda.gov/Food/LabelingNutrition/LabelClaims/QualifiedHealthClaims/ucm072780.htm

First I have to say that many of the fish from Watts Barr should not be consumed because of the advisories already in place. The advisories for PCB and other contaminants are likely of greater concern than selenium. I understand the concept of not adding to a problem already present, but I can in no way let a largely theoretical discussion of selenium detract from the larger issue of people ignoring fish advisories for much more potent contaminants.

That said, I can find no reference for acute toxicity by selenium at the levels represented in eating even a rather large meal of fish with a selenium level at the Risk Based Screening Level. This theoretical dose would of course be higher than the recommended daily consumption level by several fold, but the averaging out of the dose as presented in EPA’s Selenium Factsheet is how the measure of chronic toxicity was intended to work. One would not eat a selenium meal each day but rather get a dose on an occasional basis. The studies on which the recommendations are based show that people with average daily intakes as high as 850 micrograms of selenium per day showed no signs of ill effects. Of course, some of the days/ meals would have been significantly higher.

The screening level set by EPA should be quite protective. The exposure medium is fish tissue which would not be as effective as a designed capsule that would be used in a clinical trial. The chronic toxicity studies from which FDA tolerance limits are derived use estimates and reconstruct doses in a manner similar to the risk assessment. At two large meals per week the rate of fish consumption is should be an adequate for most fish consumers and represents a reasonable maximum exposure (RME).

RME refers to people who are at the high end of the exposure distribution (approximately the 95th percentile). The RME scenario is intended to assess exposures that are higher than average, but are still within a realistic range of exposure. Screening values are set according to EPA guidance to estimate RME.

As always Tennessee Department of Health will continue to follow the cleanup of the ash spill and will work with TDEC on fish advisories and other environmental public health concerns.

Sincerely,





Brad Parman
Environmental Epidemiologist
East TN Regional Health Office
1522 Cherokee Trail
Knoxville, TN 37920
Front Desk: 865-546-9221
Phone: 865-549-5234
Fax: 865-594-5738

Report on water quality sampling from recent high water

Below is an update on water sampling from heavy rains at the end of last week. I apologize for not getting this to you yesterday, but I was out unexpectedly.

Routine surface water monitoring at the ten fixed river locations on the Emory, Clinch, and Tennessee occurred on Friday February 5. Local rainfall exceeded 1.0” early Friday morning, so the February 5 routine monitoring coincided with a storm sampling event. In addition, the automated sampler at Emory River Mile 0.5 was activated to collect four samples over the 24-hour period commencing at 7:30 a.m. on February 5, with the final sample collected at 7:30 a.m. on February 6. Observed peak flow (~32,000 cubic feet per second) of the Emory River at Oakdale occurred at 11:30 p.m. on February 5; peak Emory River velocity measured at the ERM 0.5 float occurred at 12:15 a.m. on February 6.

The combination of fixed station monitoring on Friday and the 24-hour automated sampling on Friday/Saturday provides reasonable sampling coverage of the event.

Katie Bell Kline

Senior Manager, Community Relations

Tennessee Valley Authority

Friday, February 5, 2010

TVA update 2-05-2010

To Roane County CAG

February 5, 2010



We reported most of this to you last night, but a couple of additions are included. The ad that announces the river closure is attached and will appear in the paper next week. Also, we had estimated a number of air samples that were invalid and we now have an actual number, which is in #7 below.



If you know of a group who would like to hear a presentation on the EE/CA alternatives, let us know. We are currently scheduling civic groups, church groups, senior citizen groups, and others in order to get the word out.



1. To date, we have removed just over 2.5 million cubic yards of ash from the river and transported 1.35 million tons from the site via 148 trains.



2. The Root Cause Analysis of the non-compliant air sampling data has been completed. We are awaiting a final report from the team on its findings, and we’ll share it with you after we receive it.



3. TVA will award a contract this month, for fly ash drying operations. The drying process will reduce the moisture in the fly ash and allow for easier handling and transfer into rail cars for transport.



4. Early next week maintenance will be performed on the scrubber absorbers. This will create a plume from the scrubber; however, it still is not tied to power generation. Note: The plant is not currently running units. Units can only run for system reliability.



5. Utility work --The utility project work has begun with land clearing for the construction of a water line for the Kingston Water Department. Utility line work is beginning now. The line will run from behind the dance studio near Bluff Road, down Hwy. 70 (between Interstate 40 and State Route 70), and will cross under I-40 at Swan Pond Road. It will run parallel to Swan Pond Road to Frost Hollow Road. Flaggers will be in place as needed during the work. This part of the utility construction is scheduled for completion in mid-April.



6. River closure – EPA and TVA are authorized to close the river between Emory River mile markers 0 – 6 between February 10 and May 15. See attached ad. We have requested a dredge schedule and we will forward to you when we receive it, but I have been told they will be setting up the dredge next week just past ER Mile Marker 4. Letters will go out to residents who live along the river.



7. We previously estimated 600 invalid air samples from mid-September to mid-January. That number is actually 369. There were nearly 100,000 valid redundant samples taken.





Katie Bell Kline

Senior Manager, Community Relations

Tennessee Valley Authority