Document 2RMO2xgz29870J5mjxBoKx27

n:B 2f> MV O!r LGW Sites Ooze Indestructible Chemical . --Staff Photo UTILITY POLKS WITH CAPACITORS, SOURCES OF PC8# . J' 1 By CHARLES THORNTON Prtu-kMter M.M WrtMr Once or twice a month, somewhere in Memphis and Shelby County, one of the more than 3,100 electri cal capacitors owned by Memphis Light, Gas It Water Division or TVA ruptures, spilling chemicals known as PCBs. The capacitors contain 1% to 2 gallons each of the chemical. - Depending on which literature one reads, or the expert talking, PCBs -- polychlorinated biphenyls -- are either the apocalypse straining at its chains, or only slightly more threatening than grandmother's sugar cookies. But: PCBs are virtually indestructible. . Wherever researchers have looked for PCBs in animal life forms, the chemicals have been found. They have been shown to cause miscarriages and stillbirths in animals. KBs can cause a painful skin ailment. KBs have been shown to cause cancer in rate. Some humans who inadvertently consumed PCBs developed liver cancer. The capacitors, plus 211 2M-failoa capacity trans formers in the midtown and downtown areas, use KBs as an Insulating fluid. Some of them may still be In use 35 years from now, said an LGfcW engineer. Because KBs are almost indestructible, they at first appeared to be an ideal fluid for industry, as insulation and coolant in high-voltage transformers and capacitors, heat exchange fluids and hydraulic fluids, to name just a few uses For years after KBs were developed in the 1920s, health and industry officials hailed them as wonder chemicals. When they were unveiled by Monsanto Chemical Co. in 1929, the industry gave them rave notices, even to the point of proposing them for use as binding agents in chewing gum Since then the electrical industry have used KBs as insulation, and they were incorporated into parts for household appliances -- color IV sets, microwave ovens and fluorescent light fixtures. Industry used them in paints, plastics, printing inks and marine caulking. Nobody paid much attention in 1936 when a team of American scientists reported that 23 of 24 workers involved in making KBs at one plant were found to have developed chToracne, a persistent and unsight ly skin disease caused by some chlorinated hydrocar bons, the chemical family that Includes PCBs and DDT Between 1940 and 1940, various scientific investi gations linked KBs to liver damage, impotence and digestive disturbances in workers who were in volved in the manufacture and use of PCB-based insulating waxes. The first indication that KBs might be dangerous to unborn children came in 1963 when a team of scientists found that injections of small doses of KBs into fertilized chicken eggs caused stillbirths and deformities. In experiments in rhesus monkeys, often used for experimentation because their reproductive system is similar to that of humans, Dr. James Allen of the University of Wisconsin found that KBs in doses of only 2.S parts per million caused stillbirths, mtscar riages, skin lesions and hair loss In 1966, Swedish scientist Soren Jensen was check ing for DDT contamination in fish. He found PCBs in tissue taken from a fish. Later, he began to find KBs almost everywhere in the environment, including the hair of his entire family. The shocker that eventually led to global concern about the health effects of KBs took place in Japan in late 1968 During a period of a few weeks, it was discovered that more than 1,000 residents of Yusho, Japan, had eaten rice oil accidentally contaminated with KBs that had leaked into the oil during a heating process at one factory. Within five yean, five of the Yusho victims bad died of liver cancer -- six times the normal death rate for Japanese liver cancer victims. Others who ate the rice suffered severe chloracne, swollen eyes, stillbirths and miscarriages. Japan im mediately banned all trade in KBs. The Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 banned all KB manufacturing in the United States, but pro ducts containing KBs, primarily electrical compo nents, are still being assembled "Due to a quirk in the law," said Ralph Jennings of the Environmental Protection Agency in Atlanta, "manufacturers are not required to tell you that electrical components contain KBs. They are sup posed to tell you if they don't" Many scientists now believe that KBs, a close relative of DDT, are imoog the most subtle and tena cious toxic substances known to man. PCBs have been identified as capable of causing an awesome array of health defects, including liver dimage, miscarriages, birth defects, impotence, jaundice, digestive disturbances, throat and respira tory irritations, severe headaches and chloracne KBs also are suspected of causing cancer because laboratory animals given KB doses of 100 parts per million in their food developed malignant tumors Jennings, hazardous waste expert for the Environ mental Protection Agency, said during an interview that scientists have not been able to show that pure PCBs are harmful. The key phrase is "pure KBs." Most persons in the chemical industry believe that once KBs have been Cut into use and escape their containers, they are no >nger pure and constitute an environmental hazard. Jennings said KBs can be changed by the heat generated in electrical equipment so that they are no longer "pure." As an example, he said that KBs found on utility poles have been found to cause changes in bacteria. Generally, any substance that causes a change in the genetic structure of bacteria is regarded as potential ly harmful to man. C.B. Merryman, manager of LGfcWi central shops and the man charged with handling LG&W's PCBcontaining transformers and equipment, said Indus try tests show that when PCBs are heated but not to the point that they are destroyed -- such as when 12,500 volts arc through them creating an explosion -- the normal KB structure can be changed When KBs are heated to 410 degrees Fahrenheit they are changed to a dangerous family of chemicals known as KDFs -- polychlorinated dipbenyifurans -- according to power industry reports to LG&W Merryman said there also is some evidence that KBs change slowly with the passage of time and become more dangerous He said that LGfcW is gradually phasing out equip^ ment that contains KBs, but that the process could take another 30-35 years because the equipment, espe cially transformers, is long-lived. He said, however, that LG&W is not able to repair or replace leaking PCB-laden transformers as quick ly as EPA would tike because of technical problems. "It takes several days to replace a transformer, which means that customers would have to be with out power for a long period of time The problem of the transformers is compounded because they are all underground and have pumps that automatically operate when fluid is in the vault. Merryman said that LGfcW is preparing to modify all its KB-equipped transformer vaults with special pumping switches that can tell the difference be tween KBs and water so that if an explosion occurs, the KBs will not be pumped into the environment. Only one of the KBcontaining transformers has exploded since EPA began requiring reports on KB incidents. That was late last year when the switching element of an underground transformer exploded at 969 Madison seriously injuring one LGfcW worker and dumping 20-30 gallons of KB fluid into the transformer's vault. Merryman said KB contamination has never been known to make an LG&W employee ill EPA records in Atlanta show that only two KB incidents have ever been reported by LG&W -- the transformer explosion at 969 Madison and a capacitor explosion last year in Germantown. Jennings said EPA did not follow up on the Madi son incident but did follow up the Germantown ca pacitor explosion because it contaminated the soil. Merryman said LGfcW crews went to the Surrey Lane site after the capacitor exploded and removed all the soil and foliage that appeared to have been splattered by the PCB fluid. "We didn't take any soil samples during our inspec tlon," Jennings said, "because LGfcW bad re-sodded the area " No one knows how contaminated the area may be. Usually, be said, "If the KB oil falls on soil, we dig up the soil and put it in cans for disposal in an approved landfill. If it falls on the street or on con crete. we wash the area with solvent, then use a material that absorbs the solvent. Foliage is cut back." The fluids are packaged in spill-proof containers and shipped to one of two EPA-approved landfills -- one in western Arkansas, the other in Alabama. Merryman said that while LGfcW does not consider the KB-loaded transformers and capacitors a haz ard, be said that if persons notice oil around either, they should not touch anything, but should notify LGfcW "Well know about it if a transformer breaks down, but we might not know very Quickly when a capaci tor goes out. If one explodes. LGfcW should be noti fied immediately," he said. EX P-2695 Page 1 of 1 J PHR-ARr H-P YTn-37 a ra