From: jgd@dixie.com (John De Armond) Newsgroups: sci.energy Subject: Re: Nuclear Health!! Message-ID: <j3bpatf@dixie.com> Date: 3 Oct 92 23:17:33 GMT russ@pmafire.inel.gov (Russ Brown) writes: >In article <1992Oct2.202330.1@jaguar.uofs.edu> adf1@jaguar.uofs.edu writes: >>1.What does the operator of the plant do for the basic health protection >>of its employees. >Pretty much industrial safety standard, with the additional monitoring >of radiation exposure by dosimetry, whole-body counts, etc. >jgd@dixie.com might be able to provide practical information. Not sure what the definition of "basic health protection" is. If he meant things like health insurance, utility benefits tend to be among the best. That is a big draw for professionals in an industry not known for high salaries. If he was talking about industrial hygene, Russ you pretty much hit it. Radiation Workers (defined as anyone who is permitted unescorted access to a site) must be certified to be in good enough health to wear radiation protection gear (dressouts, supplied air equipment, etc.) As a practical matter, that means thorough annual medical checkups including treadmill hikes and breathing function (spirometer) tests. Much too thorough for my taste (I'm a confirmed doctor hater :-() >>2.Is O.S.H.A. the watch dog for there safety or if not who is. >>And what role or rules do they set. >OSHA, yes >Nuclear Regulatory Commission, yes >EPA, general environmental and waste standards, yes >State regulations where they exist, yes. I have never seen an OSHA presence and I believe federal regulation superceeds state regulation. I do know that a showdown happened at TMI where the state industrial hygene people tried to come on site and were not given clearance. I only dimmly recall this incident so don't hold me to it. I do know that the quasi-government utilities like TVA positively are exempt from OSHA. Thank God. If they had to worry about the trivialities of OSHA, they'd problaby not have time to address real safety. >All of these are certainly imperfect at times, but in general, the >health and safety of workers in nuclear facilities is probably monitored >more closely than in other industry. Absolutely. "Safety" became opressive at times. The utility is so concerned about any negative publicity that they go overboard on the industrial safety front. I remember one incident where we were all required to wear safety glasses and hardhats in order to go to the head because the path required about 10 steps down a hall that was defined as "plant area". No equipment or anything present, just a definition. A more practical matter is the fact that even a minor industrial injury such as a cut or scrape suddenly becomes serious if radioactivity is involved. The best way to deal with these problems is simply to keep them from happening. I can say without reserve that the nuclear power plants I've worked in were by a large margin the safest industrial environment I've ever been in. Since I started my work career in nuclear power, stepping out to the non-regulated world was somewhat of a culture shock. My first excursion was to a TVA fossil plant as part of a rotating machinery vibration balancing team. Gad what a nightmare. Steam leaks everywhere, capable of cutting steel, minimal and mostly worn out safety equipment, workers routinely in places I'd never go on a bet and so on. Things like men walking on molten flyass pools that have just barely crusted. I still have my oak shoes used to walk on red hot surfaces. I was scared, particularly when I saw the target of our work - a 35,000 hp, 8000 RPM steam turbine driving the induced draft fan that vibrated so bad the edges were blurred! Even at M&M Mars (the candy people), where plant safety is held up as the example of the industry, the equipment and procedures were poor compared to the power industry. Conventional, non-nuclear injuries are rare and industrial deaths are so rare that they still get trade press coverage. John -- John De Armond, WD4OQC |Interested in high performance mobility? Performance Engineering Magazine (TM) | Marietta, Ga |Interested in high tech and computers? jgd@dixie.com |Write me about PE Magazine Need Usenet public Access in Atlanta? Write Me for info on Dixie.com. |