Valmont
The Valmont Station is located in Boulder, Colorado. Two of the units are owned and operated by Xcel Energy; one is coal-fired but can also use natural gas as a fuel source; the second can burn either gas or fuel oil. Two more generation units on the site are owned by Southwest Generation. The four units at Valmont have a total generative capacity of 309 megawatts.
History
Unit One came online in 1924. A second unit was added in 1942, making it the largest power station west of the Missouri. Two more units were added in 1964 and 1973. The four original units were taken down and replaced by the current ones in 1986.
Environmental Concerns
Valmont Station has taken significant steps toward reducing its carbon emissions, and is considered the company's most efficient plant. The second unit, designated as V5, uses low-NOx burners, and the plant employs other technologies such as baghouses and scrubbers in order to minimize its environmental impact.
Asbestos
As Valmont is one of Colorado's oldest power generation plants, asbestos is very likely to have been an issue which was the case for virtually all such facilities constructed and operated prior to the 1980s. All types power plants from coal-fired to hydro-powered have historically made extensive use of asbestos insulation because of its insulation properties against to heat and flame as well as electrical current.
Machinery that includes generators, boilers and turbine combustion engines as well as thermal control devices have all been insulated with asbestos at a time when the truth about health hazards of asbestos were kept secret from the general public. This conspiracy on the part of the asbestos industry was revealed in 1977, when the infamous “Sumner Simpson Papers” were discovered in the corporate office of Raysbestos, Inc. The evidence proved that the cover-up had been going on since before World War II.
While asbestos-containing materials may have saved lives and prevented massive property loss over the past century, those who contracted asbestos diseases have suffered disproportionately. Asbestos illness was shown to be a serious work-related hazard for power plant employees when in 2003, a Puerto Rican medical research team examined chest x-rays from 1100 such workers. 13% of the x-rays showed indications of asbestos disease.
Today, the EPA and OSHA have strict regulations in place that protect workers and govern the handling of asbestos containing materials.
Asbestos diseases take decades to become apparent, at which time they have reached an advanced stage. Thanks to new diagnostic methods however, pathologists are now able to detect the early signs of asbestos disease. Former power plant employees and their families should discuss asbestos exposure with their primary care physicians and be checked frequently.
Up until the 1980s, it was normal for plants, mills, and factories to be built with the naturally occurring, fibrous mineral known as asbestos because it offered high resistance to transferring heat and electricity. While using asbestos was intended in many cases to save lives, it unfortunately often had the opposite effect: exposure to asbestos while on the job has resulted in illness and death for untold numbers employees. The reason large numbers of people have suffered from illnesses such as "miner's lung" and cancer is that when humans inhale asbestos strands, the mineral embeds itself into internal organs; once there, the sharp, microscopic spikes damage organs. The most serious of the asbestos-caused illnesses is mesothelioma disease, a form of cancer that involves the cells lining the pleural cavity; it is almost always a death sentence for those who contract it. Therefore those who believe they have been exposed should seek medical attention as early treatment is crucial to the most positive mesothelioma prognosis possible.
Because researchers have shown the link between asbestos exposure and illnesses like pleural plaques, today's workers are protected by health and safety statutes that prescribe how asbestos is used. Those who labored around job sites constructed with asbestos prior to the passage of such laws, on the other hand, usually spent their shifts in locations where asbestos was prevalent, and they as a rule received little or no guidance concerning how to minimize risks when dealing with the substance. Moreover, workers carried dust containing asbestos home with them on their clothes or in their hair when change rooms weren't offered at the job site; as a result, this potentially deadly mineral also endangered wives and husbands of those who worked with asbestos.
Mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses frequently take decades to develop, and the symptoms of these disorders are often mistaken for those of other conditions, so men and women who worked at such plants at any time in the past, as well as those who lived with them, are advised to speak with their doctors about their history of contact with asbestos.
Sources
Bowker, Michael. Deadly Deception (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.
Xcel Energy Corporate Website. “Valmont Station.”
