Salem
The Salem Nuclear Power Plant is located in New Jersey near Lower Alloways Creek Township. The two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors have a total generative capacity of nearly 2.3 gigawatts; during one year, Salem produced over half of the electrical energy used in the state of New Jersey.
Unit 1 came online in 1977; the second one was operative by 1981. They are licensed for operation through 2016 and 2020 respectively. One little known bit of trivia regarding the Salem plant is that prior to becoming a film actor, Bruce Willis was employed at the facility as a security guard.
Although nuclear power is far less damaging to the environment than coal or oil (provided there is no melt-down or explosion), Salem is not without its issues. Several problems including a generator leak and defective reactors were discovered by inspectors during the 1990s, which led to a two-year shut down of the facility. These were not reported largely because employees feared for their jobs were they to make such reports.
Since then, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has increased its oversight of the Salem plant.
All power plants built prior to the 1980s, whether fired by fossil fuels, nuclear power or hydro were constructed using extensive amounts of asbestos insulation. Asbestos is resistant to heat and flame as well as electrical current. Industrial health and safety experts have long known of the hazards of asbestos; this was confirmed by a Puerto Rican study in 2003, which revealed that 130 out of 1100 chest x-rays from such workers showed indications of asbestos disease.
Asbestos was first established as a health hazard in the late 1930s; however, this information did not become available to the general public until 1977, when in the course of asbestos litigation, discovery of papers in the corporate offices of asbestos-product manufacturer Raysbestos, Inc. revealed a four-decade conspiracy in the asbestos industry to suppress information about the health hazards of asbestos.
Generators, boilers and turbine combustion engines as well as thermal control devices have all been insulated with asbestos-containing materials because of their remarkably resistance to electrical current as well as their flame-retardant properties.
Since 1977, EPA and OSHA have issued strict regulations governing worker safety and other asbestos issues. Asbestos diseases such as mesothelioma have very long latency periods; symptoms often are not apparent until such diseases have reached advanced stages.
However, new diagnostic methods have been developed and approved by the FDA, which enable pathologists to detect early signs of asbestos disease. Former power plant workers should discuss asbestos exposure with their primary care physicians and receive regular checkups if possible.
With its ability to block fire, the mineral asbestos was used in many work sites in every state of the US. It is ironic that protecting lives was usually one of the driving justifications for utilizing asbestos in companies for the outcome was actually to place laborers in danger of serious illness or death due to exposure to asbestos. The reason so many workers have fallen ill from health conditions including asbestosis and cancer is that when humans inhale or ingest asbestos fibers, the mineral embeds itself into internal organs; once there, the tiny, jagged bits of asbestos damage tissues. The most serious of the asbestos-linked illnesses is pleural mesothelioma, which is a form of cancer that involves the lining of the chest cavity; it is very difficult to treat, and patients seldom live more than two years after being diagnosed.
People whose jobs put them in contact with asbestos today are generally protected from contact due to the extensive body of rules controlling its utilization, inclusion in products and disposal. In earlier days, though, workers often were told to operate in spaces in which asbestos dust was unfiltered; in most cases, the dangers posed by asbestos inhalation were not explained. Family members were also subjected to asbestos exposure when job sites failed to provide ways for employees to wash off asbestos fibers, as employees took asbestos home in their clothes and hair.
Diseases such as mesothelioma can take decades to develop, and symptoms are often mistaken for those of other conditions, so people who worked at these sites during their careers, as well as those who lived with them, are advised to chat with their medical care providers about their history of asbestos contact. Workers who believe they have been exposed negligently are encouraged to contact a mesothelioma attorney.
Sources
Bowker, Michael. Fatal Deception: The Terrifying True Story of How Asbestos is Killing America. New York: Touchstone, 2003.
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.
Energy Information Agency. “New Jersey Nuclear Industry.”
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/at_a_glance/states/statesnj.html
