Tractor Trailer Catches on Fire in Louisa

April 6, 2009 07:22 PM

April 6, 2009 11:52 PM

courtesy of Independent News

Part of Cross County Road (Route 522) in Louisa County was closed for more than two hours Monday morning after a tractor trailer caught on fire. The truck was carrying a load of materials containing nuclear substances from the North Anna Power Station to the Surrey plant.

North Anna Power Plant technicians inspected the material containers and determined all the content was secured. The cab of the tractor trailer, however, was destroyed in the blaze. The driver was not injured.

Another tractor was used to carry the materials to Surrey.

This has to be the loosest news story about toxic waste hazards that I've ever read. Not blaming the news company, as this may have been the only information they were fed. But, here are the questions that aren't answered - yet:

1. There is no such thing as a "nuclear substance." This is just sloppy verbiage, and one that which makes this payload seem benign. The word, "nuclear," is much less scary than "radioactive." According to the Hazardous Materials compliance pocketbook for truck drivers, there is no such thing as a "nuclear substance." But, there are pages upon pages of Radionuclides (an atom with an unstable nucleus) listed in this book. What you want to look for is class 7 material, otherwise known as 'radioactive material.' There is a long list of these materials in that handbook. What was this truck carrying?

The importance behind the answer to that question is this: if it was hazardous material, then why was that truck on Rt. 522?

2. Route 522, part of Cross County Road in Louisa County is NOT designated as a route safe for hazardous waste. Just head to your local truck stop and pick up a Motor Carrier Road Atlas. This book marks all the routes where hazardous materials can be transported. Rt. 522, Cross County Road in Louisa County is not one of those roads. Now, granted, that road might be used for materials from North Anna Power Station to be transported to the Surry plant and vice versa, but that's another question to be answered. Is this company allowed to use that road specifically for hazardous materials?

Surry, by the way, was misspelled in the story. For those unfamiliar with the North Anna Power Station, you can learn more at http://www.dom.com/about/stations/nuclear/northanna/index.jsp. This plant is located in Louisa County just northwest of Richmond. Its sister plant, the Surry Plant, is located at 5570 Hog Island Road in Surry, Virginia. This second plant is on the south east of Richmond. So, this payload was being carried from northwest to southeast through (or around) Richmond.

What is confusing here is that North Anna is listed as A nuclear power station, but on the Web page it states:

"Dominion announced on Nov. 28, 2007, that it has filed an application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to build and operate a new nuclear reactor at its North Anna Power Station in central Virginia. If built, the new reactor would add to Dominion’s position as one of the nation’s top nuclear operators. The application filed with the NRC is for a Combined Operating License (COL) for North Anna Unit 3. The company has not committed to build the new unit, but wants to maintain the option to do so to meet projected skyrocketing demand for electricity in Virginia in the next decade."

Confusing? Why would "nuclear substances" be at the North Anna Power Station if the plant isn't nuclear? But, maybe they just haven't updated the Web site (wow, I'm being generous).

3. The next question is about the cab of the truck that caught fire. Who owns this truck, why was it being used to transport hazardous waste, and - further - was the driver a certified Hazmat driver? I would presume the answer is "yes" to the last question, but who really knows.

Here's some more information...in a situation where a fire occurs on a vehicle that is carrying hazardous materials, a Hazardous Materials Incident Report must be filed with the DOT (meaning VDOT in this case, or Virginia Department of Transportation) within 30 days. However, when "a major transportation artery or facility is closed or shut down for one hour or more..." or when "Fire, breakage, spillage or suspected radioactive contamination occurs involving radioactive material" or when "Some other situation occurs which the person in possession of the hazardous material considers important enough to warrant immediate reporting," then immediate telephone notification "to the DOT is required." In other words, if this driver or his carrier company followed the incident reporting guidelines for hazardous materials, VDOT should have an incident report on hand.

If VDOT has an incident report, then where is the information? What is that information? If there is another, more detailed, story about this incident in the press somewhere, I'd like to know about it. So far, my searches online have been futile, except for the story above. If that story wasn't published by NBC 29 (which that station then Twittered), this story might never have been told.