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My latest longform: For over two years I’ve been interviewing Kingston coal ash workers; over and over workers talked about a rumor that radioactive material was dredged at the spill site (outside radiation already concentrated in coal ash)
https://grist.org/justice/tva-kingston-coal-ash-spill-nuclear/
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https://grist.org/justice/tva-kingston-coal-ash-spill-nuclear/
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What I found: Halfway thru the final section of the Emory R designated for cleanup, TVA found “legacy contamination,” or nuclear waste that traveled downriver from Oak Ridge National Laboratory; TVA knew this material existed in the waterways surrounding Kingston for decades 2/x
That legacy contamination was cesium-137, a radioactive compound w/ a 30-year half life that can cause burns, acute radiation sickness, cancer, and death; it was tested in over half of the river sediment samples acc to TVA reports 3/x
Yet TVA, and a half dozen other contractors and agencies, including the EPA, claim none of this nuclear material mixed in w/ the coal ash they were removing from the river. Workers disagree. 4/x
Whether nuclear waste made the coal ash even more radioactive may never be known, but it is known TVA + its contractors didn't inform workers about the possibility that they could come in contact w/ this material, or provide gear like dust masks, respirators, or Tyvek suits 5/x
Since the spill, at least 51 former workers have died, the latest on Friday, Dec. 4 at 61 yrs old 6/x
Due to contamination from cesium-137, TVA + its contractors left behind 170,000 cubic yards of coal ash behind in the river, enough to fill 50 Olympic swimming pools. Their “monitored natural recovery” abandoned the ash to mix in w/ the sediment at the bottom of the river 7/x
I read through hundreds of court records and hundreds of pages of court transcripts. I received documents from my sources that haven’t been reported on before. I’m sure there is so much more to this story, but here’s a start @longform @longreads 8/x
Co-published b/w @grist & @thedailyyonder; @johnthom transformed this piece entirely w/ weekly phone calls for months (work w/ him!); @AngelyMercado's an amazing fact-checker (hire her!); @IRE_NICAR provided funding w/ a freelance fellowship; it really takes a village y'all 9/END
