TVA is trucking asbestos discovered buried at Kingston power plant to Loudon County

 Jamie Satterfield, Knoxville News Sentinel

Workers at TVA's Kingston Fossil plant say this undercover video shows unsafe conditions inside. Submitted, Wochit

A cleanup effort is underway at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston power plant in Roane County after more than 50 tons of asbestos was found buried under two feet of soil over the site of a new proposed coal ash dump.

TVA contends it has no idea where the asbestos-containing material came from, how it wound up on TVA property or how long it’s been there. Asbestos is a fibrous mineral that was used in construction and as a fire retardant, but is no longer used because it is extremely dangerous if inhaled.

“As we said previously, the material appears to be decades old, possibly even before or during plant construction,” TVA spokesman Scott Brooks told Knox News.

Knox News first confirmed the discovery of the asbestos debris pile in September after an unnamed source shared photos with the news organization. TVA publicly announced the discovery after Knox News sent the utility those photographs but hasn’t said anything about it since, including how much asbestos was found or details of the cleanup effort.

Asbestos trucked to Loudon

Workers digging up a section of land at the Kingston plant — the site of the nation’s largest spill of toxic coal ash waste in 2008 — for construction of a new coal ash dump struck the asbestos-containing debris pile after removing what the permit described as a “two-feet (deep) soil cap” in late September.

TVA cordoned off more than an acre of land surrounding the initial discovery. Permits show testing of the debris confirmed the presence of asbestos.

TVA has contracted with Marion Environmental, a Chattanooga asbestos abatement firm, to dig up and haul away the asbestos and asbestos contaminated dirt. Workers loaded five hazardous waste containers with the material last week.

The containers were then trucked, according to Brooks and the permits, from the Kingston plant to the Matlock Bend landfill in Loudon County. Santek Waste Services operates the landfill, which is permitted to receive and store dangerous materials such as asbestos. The asbestos cleanup operation is expected to continue through March. Although Brooks did not answer specific questions about worker safety, including what protective gear is being required or provided, he said TVA and Marion are adhering to Occupational Safety and Health Administration “guidelines” in the cleanup.

TVA: We're following OSHA rules

Asbestos is a carcinogen that can cause chronic lung diseases and cancers if inhaled or swallowed, according to OSHA. Under OSHA guidelines, TVA and Marion are required to monitor worker exposure to asbestos fibers in the air, provide respiratory protection to limit exposure and provide both decontamination and clean lunch areas.

Brooks said TVA does not yet know how much the asbestos cleanup project will cost. He said it should not delay the construction of the new dump for coal ash, the byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity.

“This is asbestos abatement as would be done at any industrial construction/demolition site where asbestos is present,” he said. “It is being disposed of according to our special waste permit from (Tennessee regulators), and following OSHA guidelines for (protective gear) required for asbestos abatement, just as it would be at any other construction site.

“The material is being shipped in lined containers to Loudon County landfill,” he said in an email. "This is a small section of the planned landfill site, so it’s not expected to create any delays in the overall timeline.”

Probe reveals arsenic levels, ash dust

Knox News launched its ongoing investigation of TVA and its handling of coal ash waste and worker safety in 2017.

That probe revealed TVA had kept secret for decades the toxicity of its coal ash despite internal reports showing the waste contains at least 26 cancer-causing ingredients, including arsenic, radium and its related radioactive isotopes.

When 7.3 million tons of it spilled from an unlined pit at the Kingston plant in December 2008, TVA publicly and repeatedly compared its toxicity to dirt, saying arsenic levels in the ash were only slightly higher than soil.

Knox News recently compared the arsenic levels in coal ash the news organization secretly obtained from the Kingston spill to that of surrounding soil. Arsenic levels in the coal ash measured 70 milligrams per kilogram, while levels in East Tennessee dirt range from less than one milligram per kilogram to as much as 10.