Issued by: Minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs
MEDIA STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF MINERAL AND ENERGY AFFAIRS, MR R F (PIK) BOTHA
Pretoria, 25 February 1995
'NUCLEAR OCCURRENCE' AT AEC'S PELINDABA COMPLEX
A Sunday newspaper today published a news item stating that an Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC) nuclear storage site had been excavated in March last year releasing contaminated material into the environment. The Council for Nuclear Safety (CNS) has been actively working on this matter and two Reports from the CNS which have a bearing on the issue as well as the Report which formed the basis of the news item has been faxed to SAPA and Reuters. These Reports are available on request from 082 55 27994 or (012) 43 3394. The Report Specifically responding to the news item as well as an AEC Report "The Situation at Radiation Hill at Pelindaba" is attached to this Media Release.
From these Reports it is clear that, while the CNS is taking the matter seriously, the situation in itself is not serious. There is therefore no cause for alarm. Nevertheless, events of this nature should not occur. Although the danger is not significant, there are inadequacies and shortcomings which require urgent and earnest attention.
At its meeting on Wednesday last week, Cabinet appointed new Boards of both the CNS and the AEC. I will be announcing their names tomorrow. I have given instructions for a meeting to be arranged at the earliest opportunity with the new Boards and the managements of the two organisations, specifically on this matter. At that meeting we will discuss ways and means of preventing a recurrence of this kind of incident.
The situation is under the proper control of the CNS and is being responsibly managed by them.
Enquiries: Roland Darroll Phone: (o) (021) 462 2310 (cellular) 082 55 27994 (h) (021) 43 3394
TO: R Darroll Ministry: Mineral and Energy Affairs
FROM: Mr B C Winkler DATE: 25/02/96
THE ARTICLE ENTITLED "SA 'NUCLEAR OCCURRENCE' SCARE" IN "THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT" OF 25 FEBRUARY 1996 REFERS
The report to which the article refers was prepared and sent by the CNS to the AEC through the normal channels for "licensing work". The CNS has no knowledge of how the report was "leaked" to the media.
The article refers to the "illegal excavations". The activities conducted by the AEC in this regard should have been treated as modifications to an existing facility thus requiring prior approval from the CNS in terms of Condition 23 of the AEC licence. This constituted a violation of that licence, resulting in the CNS officially terminating the disposal activities in any old or new trenches at Radiation Hill pending further investigations. In fact the AEC had terminated these activities by 11 May 1995, when the AEC also informed the CNS that the AEC would be submitting further information with the objective of satisfying the CNS that operations at the Radiation Hill trenches could proceed. This work occupied the period 11 May until 6 november 1995, but it was only during the CNS inspection on 23 October 1995 that we realised that the activities represented a more serious contravention of the licence requirements. This gave rise to the CNS report (copy attached) on which the article is based.
Although the position of the CNS is categorically stated in its report and essentially reflected in the article, there are certain aspects warranting further explanations.
1. The CNS is always concerned, as a guiding principle, with the possible contamination of the human food chain. In the current instance the radioactive contamination is localised to the trenches involved, which are in a fenced-off area in approximately the middle of the Pelindaba site. As such, contamination is insignificant as far as radiation exposure to the public is concerned, and in addition, since all work has been suspended, also insignificant as far as the workers are concerned.
2. Regarding the contaminated sewage sludge, this is an entirely separate matter which is under investigation. The Sewage sludge to which reference is made is located in sewage facilities on the Pelindaba site and has been the subject of a separate report (copy attached) from the CNS to the AEC. Meanwhile, the CNS has instructed the AEC not to dispose of the contaminated sludge and to identify the source of the contamination. Therefore, as far as this issue is concerned, it is also insignificant regarding exposure to the public.
As far as the CNS is concerned these occurrences are indicative of a degradation of safety culture at the AEC and this concern has been brought to the attention of our Council whose Chairman has written to Dr Stumpf about it.
As inferred above, once the CNS is satisfied with the outcome of the ongoing investigations, it will give its approval for activities to recommence.
ATOMIC ENERGY CORPORATION
THE SITUATION AT RADIATION HILL AT PELINDABA
Radiation hill has been used since the early sixties as a disposal site for radioactive waste by the Atomic Energy Corporation (AEC) and was, up to the establishment of Vaalputs the only national waste disposal facility for radioactive waste. This facility was in use even before the Council for Nuclear Safety (CNS) existed. An AEC safety report concerning radiation hill was submitted to the CNS as far back as 1990 and the process of formal licensing of the facility was commenced shortly thereafter with expected completion during September 1996.
During 1990 there was an incident at the uranium enrichment plant when condenser tubes leaked in the part of the plant where product and waste are withdrawn. As a consequence the contents of some of the condensers reacted with the coolant. All the affected condensers were removed, decontaminated and the damaged tube-bundles replaced except in one condenser where the reaction products (in all cases a tarry solid) was so much that it was not possible to dismantle the condenser in the normal way. Because the condenser shell is made of aluminium and the tar-like reaction products are not easily soluble it was decided for safety reasons to seal all openings in the condenser and bury it on radiation hill in accordance with the existing safety report.
Early in 1995 this was reconsidered by the AEC after the closure of the 2-plant as there were indications that the condenser possibly contained more uranium than the original estimate and it was decided to retreive this cylinder and try to decontaminate it properly despite the fact that it was known that it would not be an easy task. The Technical Services Department was instructed to do the excavation and not unidentified and unqualified workers as reported in the Sunday Independent. Because of limited manpower in the AEC some contract workers were also hired on a temporary basis and they worked under supervision of qualified AEC personnel.
The excavation of the condenser started in April 1995 and was stopped by senior AEC officials shortly afterwards because there was no approved procedure to do the work and also because the depth of the excavation at the time started to cause some conventional safety problems. Following an internal investigation the personnel concerned were severely reprimanded. The incident was reported to the CNS followed by a submission indicating remedial actions on 11 July 1995. As soon as this lengthy process of CNS approval is completed the work will be continued under controlled conditions. Unfortunately the AEC cannot proceed with the excavation until formal approval of the CNS is obtained.
There is no danger of contamination of the rivers and dams in the vicinity of the AEC as reported by the Sunday Independant. SOme of the drums were damaged during the excavation. The AEC strongly denies that there is a poor safety culture in the organisation as the AEC's safety statistics are comfortably below the national average for the chemical industry and, furthermore, there are some departments within the AEC with five-star NOSA awards.
Some uranium contamination of the sewage sludge was observed by the CNS. The precise origin of this is not known and s still under investigation.
The AEC top management is also concerned about the incident and had already launched an in-depth investigation some weeks ago into the general management of all its facilities that operate under a CNS licence. Appropriate steps are already being undertaken to examine the best course of action with regard to correcting the situation revealed by the incident.