A look beyond the barricades through a virtual tour of the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site. The data was collected by DHEC's Environmental Surveillance and Oversight Program (ESOP). How to Be Safe Around Alligators . Twelve days after the films release, however, an equipment failure at Pennsylvanias Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant triggered a chain of mechanical and human errors: Cooling water stopped flowing to the nuclear fuel; heat soared and the core began to melt. Water pollution occurs when harmful substancesoften chemicals or microorganismscontaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, aquifer, or other body of water, degrading water quality and . Savannah River Site Strategic Vision: 2021-2031 Overview The SRS, a 310-square-mile-site in Aiken, South Carolina, focused on the production of plutonium and tritium for use in the manufacture of nuclear weapons from its inception in the early 1950s until the end of the Cold War. [9][10], Historical and variant names of the Savannah River, as listed by the U.S. Geological Survey, include May River, Westobou River (for the Westo tribe), Kosalu River, Isundiga River, and Girande River, among others. Maintenance of this channel for commercial shipping ended in 1979, and the one lock below Augusta has been deactivated. The best times to visit this trail are March through October. Most didnt understand what it was. Charleston, SC 29403, News tips/online questions: newstips@postandcourier.com, Delivery/subscription questions: subserve@postandcourier.com, var html = new Date().getFullYear(); Michael Pronzato/Staff, A photo of the Three Mile Island nuclear power station near Harrisburg, Pa., circa 1979. Theyd known for weeks something big was in store. In the life of plutonium, 50 years is nothing. After Joseph and his wife started a family, their son was asked at a party how his father earned a living. The port is next door to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to 10 threatened or endangered species, according to the U.S. It offered a respite and a hefty paycheck to boot, so he and his wife, Paula, drove down over Christmas 1954 to check it out. According to the report, the number one polluter in the state that year was DSM Chemicals in Augusta. Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. } Georgia Public Radio GPTV, Journalist Donna Lowry Joins New Season of GPB's Lawmakers Premiering Monday, January 14 at 7 PM. The New River, in the northeast corner of the region, is thought to be one of the oldest in the world. He strolled along a tree-lined path accompanied by a breezy ditty: Dum, dum, dittle-dum, there was a turtle by the name of Bert. CLICK HERE FOR ADDITIONAL VIDEO RELEASES. Plant officials cautioned workers to avoid encounters with roaches and told them to alert the radiation-control division if they saw one. The reactor dome held and a catastrophe was averted. The Savannah River and her tributaries received over 5 million pounds of toxic pollution making it the third worst in the country."Georgia's rivers should be clean - for swimming, drinking, and supporting wildlife," said Jennette Gayer, Director of Environment Georgia Research & Policy Center. A few of the homes would be those that owners jacked up, placed on trailers and hauled from the old town. She suppressed her concerns about radiation exposure and returned to work. source pollution (urban and agricultural run-oft), storm . [1], The Westobou River was the former name of the Savannah River that was derived from the Westo (also known as Westoe) Native Americans. With a length of 981 miles from the confluence of the Alleghany and Monan-gahela rivers with the Ohio River at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, and a drainage area of 192,200 square miles, the Ohio River is the largest single tributary to the Mississippi River. He lost a kidney from what he suspects was radiation or chemical exposure at the plant. Most people in Ellenton and a handful of smaller, nearby farm towns huddled around radios as clocks struck noon to hear what all expected to be a major announcement. The health implications of I-129 contamination of the Savannah River should be studied, including its effect on pregnant women, and communicated to the public. The study says, middle Savannah River, has the worst pollution. The government allocated $260 million to start construction, compensate property owners, demolish almost every structure, destroy four towns, transplant graves and kick out 6,000 people. Industrial expansion and land development increase the risk of further pollution. The Savanna River Basin is 10,577 square miles: 5,821 square miles in eastern Georgia, 4,581 square miles in western South Carolina and 175 square miles in southwestern North Carolina. She is appealing. The Chattahoochee River Is Polluted With 15 Tons of Trash, 3 Ways You Can Help Clean It Up by VOX ATL 08.03.17 There is an elephant in the room that we the people of Atlanta fail to notice. The confluence also forms Lake Hartwell, a large reservoir built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Unsafe and illegal high-level waste management: DOE is leaving large amounts of residual radioactivity from high-level waste in tanks that are being closed by pouring grout into them. Read moreSC House GOP approves asking voters to remove ban on taxes directly aiding private schools, On the final day of testimony in Alex Murdaugh's double-murder trial, state prosecutors and a crime scene expert worked to debunk theories his defense lawyers have floated in recent weeks to blame unknown assailants for the June 2021 slayings of his wife and son. He knew just what to do. October 22, 2009 9:26 AM DOE should restore and expand environmental monitoring funds to the State of Georgia. Not since the attack on Pearl Harbor thrust America into World War II had events been so frightening and the future so uncertain: The Soviet Union had the atomic bomb. Your support makes this possible. And the government still cant agree on where to permanently bury the deadly radioactive remains that will last for a quarter million years and cost untold billions of dollars to safely contain. The DOE should urgently develop plans to recover buried wastes and highly contaminated soil, so that the main sources of water pollution over the long term are minimized. //-->, Nuclear Dumps by the Riverside: Threats to the Savannah River from Radioactive Contamination at the Savannah River Site, Threats to the Savannah River from Radioactive Contamination at the Savannah River Site, Science for Democratic Action (Vol. The majority of the river's flow through the Piedmont region is dominated by large reservoirs. Whites owned almost everything and black farmers often rented land to farm or sharecropped. For thousands of current and former workers at the bomb plant it came too late. The routine maneuver went horribly wrongas the B-52 slammed into the tankers fuel umbilical, ripping off the bombers left wing. Savannah River Is located at the borders of South Carolina and Georgia. Some workers simply slept any place they could find at the plant, including the womens restrooms. That danger was demonstrated on Jan. 17, 1966. Josephine lost her life. That company makes raw materials for plastics and dumped more than 3 million pounds of toxic waste into the Savannah river. EllentonSC.com/Provided, Louise Cassels wrote in a memoir, "Our little town of Ellenton is just a beautiful memory The sacrifice was heartbreaking." |Updated: July 16, 2020 11:48 PM.