SRSCRO July 2021 Update

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB)

The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB or Board), an independent executive branch agency, is charged under its enabling statute with providing technical safety oversight of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) defense nuclear facilities and activities to protect the health and safety of the public and workers. Since its establishment by statute in 1988, the DNFSB has provided independent analysis, advice, and recommendations to the Secretary of Energy regarding the adequacy of public health and safety protections at the DOE’s defense nuclear facilities.

DNFSB also reviews and evaluates the content and implementation of standards relating to the design, construction, operation, and decommissioning of defense nuclear facilities and investigates any event or practice at defense nuclear facilities that the Board determines has adversely affected, or may adversely affect, public health and safety.

In May 2018, DOE had determined it was necessary to reform the department’s engagement with DNFSB (new DOE Order 140.1) to clarify each agency’s role, with DOE serving as the owner and regulator responsible for ensuring the safety of its workers, the public, and the environment, and DNFSB serving as the independent agency providing advice, analysis, and recommendations to assist DOE in overseeing its defense nuclear facilities. Consequently, DOE took steps to develop an order that would more clearly distinguish DOE’s roles and responsibilities from those of DNFSB and further clarify how DOE would cooperate with the Board. The DNFSB Chairman stated that the new Order 140.1 “wrongly attempts to diminish the Board’s ability to perform its statutory mandate under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.”

After the disagreements between DNFSB and DOE regarding Order 140.1, in December 2019, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20 NDAA) amended DNFSB’s original enabling statute. Among other things, the amendments modified DNFSB’s mission to include providing independent analysis, advice, and recommendations to provide for adequate protection of the health and safety of employees and contractors at defense nuclear facilities as well as clarified when the Secretary of Energy may deny DNFSB access to facilities, personnel, or information.

However, DNFSB does not have regulatory or enforcement authorities and, therefore, neither establishes requirements for defense nuclear facilities nor imposes penalties for noncompliance with DOE’s regulations. Instead, the Board is authorized to make recommendations to and establish reporting requirements for the Secretary of Energy.

As part of this mission, DNFSB received testimony and public input at a livestreamed public hearing on July 13, 2021, concerning the status of the Savannah River Site (SRS) as well as the ongoing actions at the Savannah River Tritium Enterprise (SRTE) facilities. In particular, the Board focused on the ongoing actions at the SRTE that DOE cited as a basis to not accept Board Recommendation 2019-2, Safety of the Savannah River Tritium Facilities.

Summer TREAT

What goes on at the Savannah River Site (SRS)? How is the environment monitored for communities living near the Site? How might local teachers connect with education programs and teach students about high-tech career options at SRS?

These, and many other questions were answered for participants at the 26^th TREAT workshop hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Operations Office on July 7-9, 2021. The workshop name, TREAT, stands for Teaching Radiation, Energy and Technology. More than 30 educators and college interns attended this summer’s TREAT held on the campus of the University of South Carolina Aiken.

“The SRS TREAT program is highly recognized as one of the most successful programs of its type across the DOE complex,” said Ms. de’Lisa Carrico, Public Affairs Specialist with DOE at SRS. “This program reaches communities near SRS to help local citizens understand the Site. Participants hear directly from local experts and learn ways to get answers to questions about environmental topics.”

One lively topic at this year’s TREAT was provided by the SRS Community Reuse Organization (SRSCRO). Participants engaged in a dialogue about career opportunities related to SRS and ways to help students prepare for these well-paying jobs. For 12 consecutive years, the SRSCRO has participated in TREAT workshops to help convey local workforce development opportunities that support the two-state region.

TREAT is held twice annually for communities near SRS as part of DOE’s Environmental Justice program. For more information contact d.carrico@srs.gov.

WORCshop@AU Develops Local Talent

Most people learn technical information best when they can apply it toward a real problem. That is what makes the new WORCshop at Augusta University so valuable. The program connects middle and high school teachers with engineers from Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS). Engineers join WORCshop sessions to convey real-world technical challenges. Then, under the direction of Dr. Ashley Gess, Assistant Professor for STEAM Education at Augusta University, the teachers learn ways these scenarios can be used to teach scientific principles.

Ten teachers are participating in the inaugural WORCshop@AU. Each teacher was nominated by school leaders from Georgia and South Carolina school districts in the SRSCRO region. When teachers return to their classrooms this fall, they will be using new techniques to educate their students, and they will have continued support from SRNS mentors and WORCshop educators. For example, teachers are learning how the Arduino® provides an easy-to-use hardware and software platform for teaching their students to solve real problems.

“We are so fortunate to have Dr. Gess involved in this program because she understands how to link the teaching standards of both states to principles that address real-world applications. My hope is that WORCshop@AU helps local teachers spark student interest in science and math,” said Dr. Joe Newton, Assistant Professor for Nuclear Science at Augusta University. “It would be fantastic to see these students learn about nuclear science and the important ways this technology is used for energy, medicine, and security in our community and nation.”

Drs. Newton and Gess developed the WORCshop@AU pilot program as part of the Workforce Opportunities in Regional Careers (WORC) program that is administered by the SRSCRO. Augusta University is a recipient of the grant program aimed at developing the workforce needed in the Georgia and South Carolina region that supports the Savanah River Site (SRS). This aspect of the WORC program is funded by the National Nuclear Security Administration to help build the future workforce.

In This Issue

Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board

Summer TREAT

WORCshop@AU

Develops Local Talent

Fireworks

Fun Facts

1. The Chinese used firecrackers to scare off mountain men. As early as 200 B.C., the Chinese were writing on green bamboo stalks and heating it on coals to dry. Sometimes if left too long over the heat, the wood expanded and even burst, with a bang. Chinese scholars noticed that the noises effectively scared off abnormally large mountain men. Thus, the firecracker was born. By some accounts, fireworks were also thought to scare away evil spirits.

2. The invention of fireworks led to the invention of pyrotechnic weaponry — not the other way around. Sometime between 600 and 900 C.E., Chinese alchemists accidentally mixed saltpeter (or potassium nitrate) with sulfur and charcoal, inadvertently stumbling upon the crude chemical recipe for gunpowder.

3. Fireworks are just chemical reactions. A firework requires three key components: an oxidizer, a fuel, and a chemical mixture to produce the color. The oxidizer breaks the chemical bonds in the fuel, releasing all of the energy that’s stored in those bonds. To ignite this chemical reaction, all you need is a bit of fire, in the form of a fuse or a direct flame.

4. Specific elements produce specific colors. Firework color concoctions are comprised of different metal elements. When an element burns, its electrons get excited, and it releases energy in the form of light. Different chemicals burn at different wavelengths of light.

5. China may have invented the firework, but Italy invented the aerial shell (and also made fireworks colorful). Most modern fireworks displays use aerial shells, which resemble ice cream cones. Developed in the 1830s by Italian pyrotechnicians, the shells contain fuel in a cone bottom, while the “scoop” contains an outer layer of pyrotechnic stars, or tiny balls containing the chemicals needed to produce a desired color, and an inner bursting charge.

6. Marco Polo probably wasn’t the first to bring gunpowder to Europe. While Marco Polo did return from China in 1295 with fireworks, some argue that Europeans were likely exposed to gunpowder weaponry a little earlier during the Crusades.

7. Boom! Hiss! Crack! Some firework recipes include sound elements. Layers of an organic salt, like sodium salicylate, combined with the oxidizer potassium perchlorate burn one at a time. As each layer burns, it slowly releases a gas, creating the whistling sound associated with most firework rockets. Aluminum or iron flakes can create hissing or sizzling sparkles, while titanium powder can create loud blasts, in addition to white sparks.

8. Fireworks are poisonous. Given their ingredients, it makes sense that fireworks are not so great for the environment. Exploding a firework releases heavy metals, dioxins, perchlorates and other air pollutants into the atmosphere, and these pollutants have serious health effects in high doses.

9. You can’t recycle fireworks. Given their components, it’s probably not too surprising that recycling exploded fireworks isn’t an option. Before tossing them in the trash, soaking the discards in water is always a good idea.

10. Don’t worry, chemists are working to develop more environmentally friendly firework recipes. Some groups have already found substitutes for barium compounds and potassium perchlorate. By replacing chlorine with iodine, a team at the U.S. Army’s Pyrotechnics Technology and Prototyping Division found that sodium and potassium periodate are both safe and effective oxidizers.

11. Americans have been setting off fireworks to celebrate their independence since 1777, at least. Even some of the very first Independence Day celebrations involved fireworks. On July 4, 1777, Philadelphia put together an elaborate day of festivities. The celebration included a 13 cannon display, a parade, a fancy dinner, toasts, music, musket salutes, “loud huzzas,” and of course fireworks.

12. Fireworks aren’t for everybody. Dogs whimper. Cats hide under the bed. Birds become so startled they get disoriented and fly into things. Even some people have extreme fears of fireworks or noise phobia.