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Aug. 28, 2000 -- Some of this week's
stories:  Argonne-West uses weeds, willows in
cleanup Badge exchange, sticker procedures
clarified ESH marks safety week
Employees to be quizzed on job hazards Blood drive is planned HR offers variety of
classes |
Argonne-West has enlisted an army of 620,000 to help clean up a half-acre of contaminated soil. The army works around the clock through the summer, performing cleanup duties at half the cost of conventional methods. And all this army requires to do its work are hot, dry conditions and the occasional dose of fertilizer.
The army is made up of kochia weeds, and environmental engineer Scott Lee (NT) is their commander in chief. His goal: rid the half-acre field of cesium-137 contamination, the result of a small accidental release just outside the Idaho site's fenced boundaries some 20 years ago. In a smaller but equally important skirmish, small willow trees grow in three ditches on the Argonne-West site, their roots removing inorganic contaminants from the soil.
The technique, known as phytoremediation, is not only cheaper than traditional clean-up methods, it is also a natural process and aesthetically pleasing. The technique uses the ability of plants to extract contaminants from the soil along with water and nutrients. Plants can remove several contaminants simultaneously, at low cost and with low maintenance.
Argonne's first experiments with the technique were conducted at the Illinois site, where about 770 hybrid poplars and willows have been planted in a 10-acre area of the Illinois site's southern flank to remove contaminants. Argonne's Environment, Safety and Health Division is managing this cleanup with the expertise of phytoremediation experts in the Energy Systems Division.
The process has several advantages over traditional and often invasive clean-up techniques in which the soil is dug up and either incinerated or dumped in a landfill -- the so-called "muck and truck" method.
Placing a concrete cap over the contaminated site is equally undesirable. "The costs are exorbitant," Lee said. "You're just putting it under a nonpermiable cover, and you have to monitor it forever."
Lee began working at Argonne-West in 1994, documenting the 37 known contaminated sites at the laboratory. Cost estimates show that digging up the contaminated areas and carting the soil off site would cost about $8 million. Some areas were lightly contaminated, making phytore-mediation an option. Lee contacted Cristina Negri and Ray Hinchman (both ES), who pioneered the use of the technique at Argonne-East, and sent them soil samples. Various plants were tested, and kochia turned out to be the best option to remove cesium contamination, for two important reasons:
Kochia plants
require lots of potassium. "Potassium and cesium are in the same column on the
periodic table of the elements, so they behave in chemically similar ways," Lee
said. "So we tricked 'em. We starve the plants for potassium, and they extract
the next best thing, which is cesium."
Kochia has no
known natural enemies. Deer and elk won't eat the plant, so there was no danger
of the animals eating the plants and scattering contaminants all over the
landscape.
The project is now in its second year. The kochia were off to a slow start due to a cool, wet spring, but now that the weather has turned hot and dry, they're growing like the weeds they are. In the fall, the kochia will be stressed with a dose of herbicide prior to harvesting. "The herbicide stresses the plants, and they respond by extracting everything they can out of the soil in an effort to survive," Lee said.
The kochia plants will be dug up using a modified "crossover" potato harvester, then compacted into small cubes using a modified baler and sent off for incineration. The resultant ash will be solidified into a concrete and taken to a hazardous waste landfill.
After incineration, "the ashes will weigh approximately one percent of what the soil would have weighed, if we would have had to dispose of the soil. The large volume reduction conserves landfill space," Lee said.
So far, testing has shown that the kochia plants are "right on track," Lee said. It will take another six years for the kochia plants to remove enough cesium to declare the area safe.
The willows are used to remove inorganic contaminants since the target chemicals tend to concentrate in the trees' roots, preventing animals from eating them. The willows are located inside the Argonne-West fenced area in surface runoff ditches and safe from roaming wildlife. However, during the winter of 1999, the laboratory's resident rabbits developed a taste for willow and began eating bark from around the bases of the trees. Feeding stations were set up to deter the rabbits from nibbling on the experiment; but when a pair of great horned owls took up residence at Argonne-West, the rabbit population rapidly declined and eliminated the problem.
The willow trees' effectiveness at removing the inorganic contamination hasn't been tested yet. The willow trees are on a two-year growth cycle to allow their roots to spread out and form a dense network in the contaminated areas. "We're hoping to end up with one huge root mass that will be more efficient at absorbing the contaminants," Lee said. This fall the willow trees will be dug up, chipped, and sent off for incineration.
Aesthetics
In addition to low costs, phytoremediation is prettier than a landfill or cap, and aesthetics are important in the Snake River Valley. Local Native American tribes were repelled by proposals to cap contaminated sites at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) with huge, low mounds topped with rock riprap or asphalt. But phytoremediation has received their approval.
Prettiness also pays. After these sites have been cleaned up, a Natural Resources Damage Assessment Team, comprising representatives of Native American tribes, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the State of Idaho and other groups, will assess penalties for damage to natural resources at the INEEL -- potentially millions of dollars for things like landfills and caps that will blight the landscape for the foreseeable future and in some cases, beyond. But phytoremedia-tion promises to return contaminated areas to a natural state.
"We don't think we'll have any damage assessments when this is all over," Lee said, "which could save millions of dollars in penalties."
-- Dave Jacqué
The all-employee memo of Aug. 11 about the photo badge exchange stated that grey badges with a "U" on the right border would not be included in the badge exchange. This is no longer the case, and employees with these badges are now included in the exchange.
Not included in the exchange are:
Grey badges without a "U" on the right
border.
Yellow badges with an "L" in the right
border.
Blue badges with a "Q" in the
right border.
The schedule for exchange of badges in the Aug. 11 memo has not changed.
The memo also stated that new vehicle sticker registration cards will be available, and the stickers will be mailed to employees or can be picked up at the Badging Office after Sept. 6. Security now recommends that employees wait for the stickers to be mailed to avoid long lines at the Badging Office.
Both the current sticker and the newly designed sticker will be accepted for site access until Nov. 30. On Dec. 1, only the new stickers will be accepted for site access.
Argonne's Environment, Safety and Health Division will hold an "in-house open house" for Argonne-East employees and visitors the week of Aug. 28-Sept. 1, to mark Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety Week 2000.
Several activities will take place in the Building 213 Cafeteria lobby or in the Cafeteria parking lot from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Different ESH
sections will staff informational tables each day with photos, displays and
pamphlets, and will answer any questions employees or visitors might have.
The Argonne
Fire Department will demonstrate and offer tours of a different emergency
vehicle Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. A firefighter will check child safety
seats on those days; park cars with safety seats behind the fire department
vehicle.
Ergonomic
chairs and safety supplies will be demonstrated Wednesday, Aug. 30, from 11:30
a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
All active employees at Argonne-East will complete a new, revised "Job Hazard Questionnaire" by the end of September.
Revised for the first time since 1995, the questionnaire adds new sections that make it more useful for managing a number of aspects of employee health and safety, said ESH Director Bob Wynveen.
"It used to focus primarily on determining employees' safety-training needs based on the potential hazards they face on the job," Wynveen said. "But the new version also encompasses items of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and will be more useful for tracking lab employees' overall exposure to possible health and safety hazards while on the job."
All active employees at Argonne-East will need to complete the revised questionnaire in time for their supervisors and division ESH coordinators to sign them before the end of September, he said. "Completion of all the questionnaires is one of the lab's performance measures under the operating contract between the Department of Energy and the University of Chicago."
Active employees, he explained, include full- and part-time employees, regular and temporary employees, and students and faculty paid by Argonne -- basically everyone on site except STAs, no-pays, consultants, visitors, guests and site occupants.
ESH is setting up a special Web site to help employees understand all the questions. Throughout September, links to the help page will be displayed prominently on the ESH home page and the Argonnet home page .
"Past experience has shown that employees find some questions confusing or unclear," Wynveen said, "so we've set up Web pages to help. If you're not sure what information a question is after, you can read the help page online while filling out the questionnaire on paper."
The full questionnaire will also be available online for employees who may need to print out a fresh copy.
Paper copies of the questionnaire will be sent to division offices around Sept. 1, he said, along with lists of active employees. Each division will be responsible for distributing copies to the appropriate employees and monitoring their completion.
LifeSource will hold its bi-annual blood drive Wednesday, Sept. 13, in Argonne- East's Building 617 (Exchange Club).
Donation forms have been sent to all employees by inter-office mail.
Human Resources will hold the following classes at Argonne-East in September:
"Facilitating
Effective Meetings" (HR636) -- Participants will learn a six-step meeting
process and practice group facilitation techniques to help build consensus,
handle conflict, and keep meetings on target. Thursday, Sept. 7, 1 p.m. - 5
p.m. in Building 201, Room 274.
"Sharpening
Your Business Writing Skills" (HR325) -- Participants learn to organize and
express ideas and understand the formats of technical writing used in memos,
reports and visual aids. Wednesdays, Sept. 20 through Nov. 8, from 11:30 a.m. -
1:30 p.m. in Building 201, Room 238.
To enroll, contact a Training Management System representative. For more information, call Betty Iwan (HR) at ext. 2-3410 or visit the HR web site .
Human Resources will offer two courses for supervisors at Argonne-East during September. Supervisors interested in enrolling in these courses should contact a Training Management System representative or call ext. 2-3410 for more information.
"The
Supervisory Role In Managing Employee Issues" helps managers and supervisors
gain an understanding of key laws governing the workplace and the necessary
skills to handle difficult employee issues. The course provides guidance on
managing issues like poor performance, excessive absenteeism, misconduct,
safety violations and fitness for duty. Participants learn the importance of
documentation and the application of corrective action. Argonne-specific case
examples are used to reinforce key concepts.
The course (HR643) will be held Thursday, Sept. 14, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Building 212, Room A157.
"Performance
Management" (HR561) will be presented Thursday, Sept. 21, from 2 p.m. to 4:30
p.m. in Building 201, Room 190. This course provides supervisors with essential
communication tools to more effectively manage, document and influence the
performance of employees. Participants will learn how to develop employee
performance objectives, document performance based on behavioral anchors, write
performance appraisals and conduct effective performance reviews.
The Argonne News deadline will change due to the Labor Day holiday Monday, Sept. 4.
All news items, seminar listings and classified ads must be received in the Argonne News office by 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1, to be included in the Sept. 11 issue.
The regular deadline of Monday at 5 p.m. will resume Sept. 11.
Representatives from Argonne's retirement vendors will visit Argonne-East during September to meet individually with employees and answer questions about retirement plans and retirement plan assets.
To schedule an appointment with these representatives, call the number listed.
Prudential --
Wednesday, Sept. 6, 13 and 20. Call Cheryl, (847) 619-3519. Appointments are
for one-half hour each.
Fidelity --
Tuesday, Sept. 19 and 26. Call (800) 642-7131.
TIAA-CREF --
Monday, Sept. 18, and Tuesday, Sept. 19. Call (800) 842-2005.
