Cape Canaveral
The Cape Canaveral first came online in 1965, and was constructed to meet the massive power needs of NASA and the space program. A second unit was added in 1969, giving the facility a total generative capacity of 800 megawatts. Capable of burning either gas or fuel oil, the facility is currently undergoing modernizations that will increase its capacity to 1.25 gigawatts, sufficient to power a quarter-million homes and businesses in the region while using 1/3 less fuel, reducing particulate emissions by 88 percent and CO2 emissions by half.
In addition, administrative offices will be powered by rooftop solar panels.
Asbestos has been a problem associated with all types of electrical generation plants – particularly those constructed prior to 1980. Prior to that time, asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) were used extensively throughout the construction of power generation plants as well as other industries. The reasons have to do with the hazards typically encountered in such facilities: flame, heat and electricity, and caustic substances. “Blue” crocidolite asbestos is a particularly effective electrical insulator; it is also one of the deadliest varieties of asbestos, known to cause mesothelioma.
ACMs were employed in virtually everything from flame-retardant paint to the very machinery used to generate power. It was particularly hazardous in this context, as the moving parts could eject millions of fibers into the building environment. This was dangerous not only for workers who inhaled such fibers, but their family members as well when fibers that had settled in workers' hair and clothing were brought into the home resulted in secondary exposure.
A research study in Puerto Rico involved the examination of chest x-rays from 1100 power plant workers. Signs of asbestos disease were noted in over 130 of the images. Power plants are regarded by industrial medicine experts as some of the most hazardous industrial worksites for asbestos exposure.
Asbestos was not only a hazard to the worker, but to his family as well; asbestos fibers could be carried home in a worker's hair and clothing, subjecting family members to what is known as “secondary exposure.” There are several documented cases of a family member developing mesothelioma as the result of this type of exposure.
Current and former employees of the Cape Canaveral facility should discuss the possibilities of exposure with their family physicians and get frequent checkups if possible. Although mesothelioma is deadly, it can be treated if caught in the early stages. Fortunately, new technologies have made it possible for pathologists to detect the “markers” indicating the early stages of mesothelioma before symptoms become apparent. However, such cancer can recur, and lifetime screening and health monitoring is usually necessary for good long-term mesothelioma prognosis.
This installation was one of many factories, mills, power plants and worksites that, throughout the majority of the last century, used the fibrous mineral asbestos for its ability to insulate against fire. It is ironic that protecting lives was typically one of the driving justifications for using asbestos in places because the outcome was actually to put employees at risk of serious illness due to asbestos exposure. The illnesses linked to asbestos exposure include asbestosis and cancer; the biggest chance of developing these conditions occurs when asbestos-containing materials become friable, releasing strands into the air where they are easy to inhale. In addition, a history of asbestos exposure can lead to the almost always fatal form of cancer called mesothelioma disease, which develops as a tumor of the mesothelium, the tissue that lines the pleural cavity (pleural mesothelioma) or the stomach (pericardial mesothelioma).
Because research has shown the relationship between asbestos exposure and illnesses such as pleural plaques, 21st-century laborers are protected by health and safety statutes that prescribe how asbestos is used. In earlier days, however, workers often were expected to operate in areas in which air filled with asbestos dust was unfiltered; in most cases, the risks of asbestos exposure were unknown. Spouses were also exposed to asbestos if job sites failed to provide ways for employees to wash off asbestos fibers, as workers carried asbestos dust home with them on their skin or in their hair.
As conditions such as mesothelioma often don't manifest until a very long time after asbestos exposure first occurs, those who had jobs at contaminated plants, as well as those who lived with them, should discuss their history of asbestos contact with their physicians regardless of how long ago they worked there.
Sources
Cabrera-Santiago, Manuel et al. “Prevalence of Asbestos-Related Disease Among Electrical Power Generation Workers in Puerto Rico.” Presentation at American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, 2007.
Florida Power & Light Corporate Website. “Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center .”
http://www.fpl.com/environment/plant/cape_canaveral.shtml
