Perhaps Not
March 21, 2011
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Summer vacation planning - perhaps a trip down the beatiful Nolichucky River, fresh air, nature, scenery and finish at the Davey Crockett campground in Tennessee. -
Our specialty is the scenic Nolichucky River. The Nolichucky, winding through both North Carolina and Tennessee, offers a variety of whitewater rapids that cut their way through a beautiful 3000' gorge.
For Tennessee whitewater rafting we offer the Lower Nolichucky, Watauga, and Holston Rivers. For North Carolina whitewater rafting we offer the Nolichucky River and trips on the French Broad. For more information on the exhilarating Nolichucky whitewater trips, as well as all others, check out our trip options page.
Or perhaps not. sigh....
Pressures may be too high in some uranium hexafluoride (UF6) storage cylinders at the Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. plant in Erwin, Erwin-based NFS has reported to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. That, according to a Jan. 20 "event notification report" posted on a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Web site, apparently could pose a fire hazard and the company is taking precautions as a result.
But NRC Spokesman Joey Ledford said the problem is not believed to pose an immediate hazard to either workers or the public. Ledford noted that NFS officials discovered the apparent pressure problem while making calculations as part of an investigation related to a Nov. 14 fire at the NFS plant. He said there are "several hundred" of the cylinders that are about seven inches in length, or "about test-tube size." In addition, he said, there are five larger UF6 storage cylinders that are about a foot tall. Ledford noted that 40 of the cylinders are "potentially at risk" from the pressure problem. Ledford noted the NRC also is continuing an investigation into the Nov. 14 incident at the NFS plant and noted that it is "too early" to draw any conclusions into whether it was related to the suspected cylinder-pressure situation. He also said some of the UF6 cylinders date to the 1950s and that most have been stored at the NFS plant for a number of years. (The Greeneville Sun Feb. 3, 2010)
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is allowing Nuclear Fuel Services to resume operation of one process line at its Erwin, Tenn., facility, where all process lines have been shut down since late December 2009.
> View NRC news release Mar. 24, 2010
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has authorized Nuclear Fuel Services to restart a second production line. NRC Public Affairs Officer Joey Ledford told The Erwin Record Wednesday afternoon that the Erwin-based company could officially restart its uranium metal/oxide process line. (The Erwin Record May 19, 2010)
A new study out Thursday (Nov. 11) shows the troubled Nuclear Fuel Services plant in Erwin is apparently discharging enriched uranium into the Nolichucky River.
The Sierra Club and local activists gathered water, soil and shellfish, some as far as 45 river miles downriver from the nuclear fuel plant. The scientist who analyzed the samples said the type of uranium seen in them is not the kind that is found in nature, and the only plausible interpretation is that the elements came from the processes at NFS. (WSMV Nov. 11, 2010)
Best wishes,
Steven
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