Construction/disposal safety

Radiation — Safety measures. 2. Radioactive waste disposal — Safety measures. 3. Nuclear reactors — Safety measures. 4. Nuclear reactors — Design and construction. I. International Atomic Energy Agency. II. Series. 

Redox reactions play an important role in industrial safety. Explosives are used in controlled ways in the mining, highway, and construction industries. The use of explosives allows modern workers to break up bedrock and carry out necessary demolitions from a safe distance. Chemists are involved in the development and production of explosives. They are also involved in making recommendations for the safe handling and disposal of explosives. 

For example, chemical engineering students studying corrosion to learn how various materials of construction may be affected by acids, alkalis, or process conditions in order to select the most economic materials for a particular use would be impacting the safety and loss prevention performance of that equipment because a vessel or pipeline leaking due to corrosion is a hazard to workers in the area. The spilled material may create an environmental hazard as well as a hazardous waste problem requiring special precautions for cleanup and disposal. 

The administration of 131I requires safety measurements to reduce to a minimum the irradiation of medical personnel and to avoid contamination of rooms and relatives of patients. Capsules containing 131I are therefore to be preferred to liquid iodine. At doses above 25 mCi (555 MBq), usually intended only for treatment of patients with thyroid cancer, isolation in a specially constructed room of a service for nuclear medicine is necessary. Waste disposal should also be carefully managed so as to avoid overall contamination (5,6). 

Necessary risk studies should be completed as quickly as possible. Before the HRA is completed, the Army should work with the Pueblo stakeholders to decide how the risk of a modified baseline process facility compares with that of a baseline incineration system facility. This will require that the Army increase and improve its communications with stakeholders. Finally, the Army should make safety the number one objective in the construction, systemization, operation, and closure of the Pueblo Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. 

Recommendation 4-3. Safety should be given the highest priority during the construction, systemization, operation, and closure of the Pueblo Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, regardless of the technology configuration. 

Workers associated with the application of carbaryl (applicator, mixer-loader, bystander and aerial flagger) and re-entry workers (apple thinners) were monitored by a modification of the procedure of Durham and Wolfe (3). The workers were fitted with a disposable jacket (Safety and Supply Co., Seattle, WA) to which 10 x 10 cm pads were attached with masking tape. One pad was attached as close to the neck as possible on each shoulder and on the chest and the back of each subject. One pad was also placed on each forearm midway between the elbow and wrist. The pads were constructed by backing an 8 ply gauze compress with two pieces of heavy filter paper and attaching these together in the center with a staple. 

Several existing protocols require a solvent (acetone, methanol, isopropanol) rinse as part of equipment decontamination for VOC sampling and 1 10 percent hydrochloric or nitric acid rinse for metal analysis sampling (DOE, 1996 USACE, 1994). These practices, successful as they may be in removing trace level contaminants, create more problems than they are worth. Organic solvents are absorbed by the polymer materials used in sampling equipment construction and appear as interferences in the VOC analysis. Acid destroys the metal surfaces of soil sampling equipment and induces corrosion. The use of solvents and acids is a safety issue and it also creates additional waste streams for disposal. 

In terms of safety, two issues are regularly debated. First, the issue of nuclear waste and, second, concerns over potential terrorist attacks on nuclear power plants. The first objection may be overcome through the introduction of new types of power plants, such as the pebble-bed modular reactor.This type of reactor uses graphite balls flecked with tiny amounts of uranium, rather than conventional fuel rods. With the fuel encased in graphite and impermeable silicon carbide, the theory is that the waste should be relatively easy to dispose of.The terrorism fears are less easily addressed and may ultimately stall the construction of new plants in countries such as the U.S., where these worries are greatest. 

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