2009 Highlights

Kingston One-Year Later

TVA is making good progress in efforts to clean up the December 2008 ash spill at the Kingston Fossil plant.

More than two million cubic yards of the ash—two-thirds of the total—have been removed from the river. More than 110 trains have left the site, carrying more than 1 million tons of ash recovered from the Emory River to the Arrowhead Landfill in Perry County, Alabama.

We continue to monitor the environmental health of the affected area. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation are conducting air sampling concurrently with TVA. Data and testing results from all three agencies have been consistent.

TVA has five fixed-location air monitoring stations around the perimeter of the plant and spill site, and one off-site monitor collecting background levels. More than 142,000 air samples have been collected, using methods approved by the EPA. All air samples collected indicate that the air quality meets National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

TVA has more than 112,000 results from water quality samples taken from public drinking-water supplies, private wells, river water near the ash spill, local springs, and multiple locations downstream. All drinking-water samples from Rockwood, Harriman, Cumberland, and Kingston continue to meet drinking-water quality standards.

TVA is working with Roane County residents and officials in efforts to mitigate the impact of the accident. TVA appreciates the patience shown by the residents and officials of Roane County in the aftermath of the spill. TVA remains committed to restoring the area, making appropriate reparations, preventing future mishaps and rebuilding damaged relationships.

Next steps

Under CERCLA, the major recovery work necessary at Kingston is divided into time-critical and non-time critical activities. The time-critical work has focused on removing the ash from the Emory River’s main channel and from the waters directly east of the site’s ash-storage area. To date, more than two-thirds of the ash spilled into the river and related bays and sloughs east of Dike 2 has been removed. That amounts to more than 2 million cubic yards. TVA expects to complete the time-critical removal of ash from the river in the spring of 2010.

Prompted by the ash spill, TVA is converting all ash and gypsum storage facilities at Kingston from a wet to a dry storage system. The dry ash system is expected to be operational by 2011. Current dredge operations remove the ash at a rate of about 15,000 to 20,000 cubic yards per day.