Chemical fire forces evacuation in Oak Ridge (An Update)

WATE News ^ | 05/08/2004 | Not Attributed

[Tennessee_Bob]

May 8, 2004

OAK RIDGE (WATE) -- About 150 people were forced from their homes Saturday afternoon when a chemical reaction caused a fire at the former K-25 site west of Oak Ridge. Roads surrounding the facility remain closed to all traffic.

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) officials say the fire at the East Tennessee Technology Park was caused when liquid sodium reacted to water vapor in the air during recycling operations by a company called Toxco Metals. The facility recycles metals and other materials as a contractor for the DOE.

Officials stress that no radioactive material was involved in the incident.

No injuries were reported and all personnel are accounted for at the site. Officials say there was a report of a family getting nauseated after driving through smoke from the fire before the road was closed.

DOE spokesman Walter Perry said the fire must be allowed to burn itself out because water will only make the situation worse.

Warnings sounded at 1:10 p.m. Roane Co. Sheriff's Department officers assisted in the evacuation. Residents living within 1/2-mile of the facility were asked to leave their homes. Only a few went to a shelter that was set up at Roane State Community College in Harriman.

Nearby residents who have questions about the evacuation may call a hotline set up by DOE's Joint Information Center. The number is (865) 362-8600.

The roads near that were closed to traffic include Gallaher Road between I-40 and Oak Ridge, as well as state roads 95 and 58.

Tennessee Wilderness Resources Agency officers checked the Clinch River to make sure no boaters or fishermen where in the evacuation area.

The K-25 site is a World War II-era facility that was once used to enrich uranium through a gaseous diffusion process. A massive cleanup project is now underway there and several buildings have been leased to private companies and DOE contractors.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Pretty nifty. This is the town I live in, and didn't hear anything about it until the 11:00 PM news. Of course, the plant is a long ways from the house, and we were up in Pigeon Forge the better part of the day.

No injuries reported, no radiation, and a good lesson in why liquid sodium and water vapor don't mix.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Pretty nifty. This is the town I live in, and didn't hear anything about it until the 11:00 PM news. Of course, the plant is a long ways from the house, and we were up in Pigeon Forge the better part of the day.

That area is one of the most beautiful parts of the country. I have relatives that lived in Maryville and Sevierville. Awesome country, great fishing.

Only bad thing was all the Vol fans. >>>>>>>>>Dawg fan rimshot.

[Tennessee_Bob]

LOL - well, you can't help being a Dawg fan, you know - but you can get help...

[datura]

Why would a company like this working at a National Lab not know enough to keep Na in an inert atmosphere?

[Tennessee_Bob]

Actually - it's not the National Lab - that's a separate facility in function and location. K-25 (used to do uranium enrichment) is in one valley - that was where this occurred, Y-12 (weapons manufacture and disassembly) is in another valley, and ORNL (used to be X-10) is in yet another valley.

That'll be for the DOE and EPA investigation teams to figure out. Then again, this is Oak Ridge - strange things happen. Just up river from this facility is the tower shielding facility at ORNL - where they used to hoist operating nuclear reactors into the air to see how they would function. There's also a facility where they were going to build a liquid metal cooled reactor - but didn't get the funding to go beyond building the containment facility (now used for developing military robotics).

[datura]

I've had little experience with ORNL - looked at buying some machine tools of theirs one time (nice stuff!). Liquid Na is even worse than the solid form, which makes me wonder what it was in solution with? (NH3?) If so, that's one heck of a mess, and little wonder they didn't try to fight it.

[Vigilantcitizen]

LOL - well, you can't help being a Dawg fan, you know - but you can get help...

Lol...yeah I know. But alas, bulldawg nation has received it's savior, and his name is Richt. His only remaining hurdle to dominance is learning the lesson that it's OK to pound the ball against the gators late in a defensive, low scoring game. Richt's winning back a lot of the local talent all y'all (UT, ALA, AUB, FLA) used to get the best of.(Remember Jamal Lewis? I watched him run all over my alma matter in the state playoffs.)

Between Richt and Mora/Mckay going to the Falcons, life is sweet for us long suffering Georgia football fans

I just hope Richt does well before the bad juju from boning Dooly comes back to haunt UGA.

What's up with Fulmer and co.? They seem to be slumping a little. Ya think they got a little complacent?

[Tennessee_Bob]

Company I used to work for milled and baked technical ceramics for the chip making industry. We used ORNL's presses to form some of our green bodies for milling. They had a press over there that put out - heck, I don't remember - some ungodly amount of pressure. We'd get the material back, formed on the collets, and it was like a rock. Then, after firing it, it was a rock. Then we'd mill it, polish it, and turn it into a very expensive rock.

Funniest thing I ever saw when I was delivering mail out at the Lab - at the robotics division - I met the Army liason officer - I bit my tongue when I met him, and the first thing he said was "You must watch Star Trek." His name was Colonel Borg.

[Vigilantcitizen]

One other thing...

Gooooooo dawgs! Sic 'em! Woof! Woof! Woof!

[Tennessee_Bob]

What's up with Fulmer and co.?

You mean our other professional football team? (obviously, I'm not a big Vols fan)

I think they did - I think that they thought that they'd walk all over everyone, and then when it didn't happen, they couldn't recover. Of course, it's funny to hear the sports talk radio out here - half the listeners think that Fulmer is the savior of UT, the other half want to hang him - and who is in which half goes back and forth on a regular basis.

[datura]

We need someone with a name like that to be in charge over in Iraq.

[Fred Hayek]

Was is liquid Na or was it really NaK (sodium-potassium), which has a much lower melting point (liquid at room temperature?). NaK has been used as liquid metal coolant in reactors, and it's a bit more violent when it hits water. See a periodic chart - leftmost column. Elements are called "Alkali metals". The more reactive ones are further down the table. Conversely the next to rightmost column on the periodic charts (the halogens) get more reactive as you get to the top - fluorine being the worst.

[RaceBannon]

Well, I'm from Connecticut, so... he he he he

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OUCH! I'll Stop!