By Frank Munger,
News-Sentinel Oak Ridge Bureau
OAK RIDGE, Sep. 20 (KnoxNews.com) — The water at the K-25 Site is safe to drink, the U.S. Department of Energy reported Wednesday, offering test results and the opinion of project participants and observers to support that conclusion.
While the report may put to rest concerns about the quality of current drinking-water supplies at the federal plant, allegations regarding previous water problems -- and potential health effects on site workers -- have yet to be addressed.
DOE promised Wednesday to make public a plan for Phase 2 of the water investigation within the next few weeks. The project is expected to evaluate historical records and gather other information to determine the extent of past contamination problems at K-25, now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park.
"We're not ready to reveal those plans," DOE spokesman Steven Wyatt said.Concerns about K-25's water system were raised several weeks ago by past and present workers at the plant, some of whom suffer from illnesses they blame on workplace exposures.
One of the issues involved cross-connecting pipes and the possibility of contamination from nonsanitary water lines -- such as those used to fight fires -- mixing with the drinking water.
Henry Huffman of Operations Management International, which operates the plant's water system, said a review of the site found one instance of interconnecting pipes, but he said the area was inactive. He also said there would have to be three system failures for water from the fire-water basin to flow back into the sanitary water pipeline.
Earl Leming, the state's environmental oversight chief in Oak Ridge, said, "We're satisfied the water is safe to drink."
Leming, however, said the state remains "greatly concerned" about the potential for contamination in the Clinch River, where K-25 draws its water supplies. He noted that several upcoming cleanup projects should reduce the leakage from old nuclear burial sites upstream at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Harry Williams, a spokesman for Coalition for a Healthy Environment, which includes some former workers and area residents with health concerns, said his group didn't support DOE's methods in evaluating the water system and said all the participants had some connection to DOE. As a result, CHE left the project after initial discussions.
But Williams said CHE still intends to participate in the historical review of K-25 water supplies.
"Absolutely," he said. "Providing they do a truly independent sample, we're going to be right there. When I say sample, I want dirt samples, pipe scrapings; I want the steam system and the storm system evaluated."
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