This probably has absolutely nothing to do with Y2K. Just file away with all the those other sewage stories.

Copyright 2000 Oregon Live .

Forest office closed by sewage spill

The Associated Press 01/13/00 1:11 PM Eastern

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) -- About 100 Panhandle National Forest employees are working from their homes and in temporary quarters after raw sewage overflowed into their office and one employee was hospitalized after cleanup efforts.

Results of tests for chemical residues are expected by the middle of next week. Officials don't know when employees will be allowed back into the building, Dave O'Brien, Forest Service spokesman, said Wednesday.

Sewage bubbled up from the building's floor drains and pooled throughout the office Dec. 17. A crew cleaned up the sewage, but employees complained of watery eyes, sore throats and runny noses.

The building was fumigated to remove a musty odor last week. On Monday, an employee complained of health problems and was taken to an emergency room after spending just 20 minutes in the building, O'Brien said.

The building was closed at noon Tuesday.

Crews began ripping out the building's carpets on Wednesday and planned to replace some drywall and take other cleanup measures, he said.

The cleanup costs were not immediately known.

http://flash.oregonlive.com/cgi-bin/or_nview.pl?/home1/wire/AP/Stream-Parsed/OREGON_NEWS/o1195_PM_ID--SewageProblem

-- Martin Thompson (Martin@aol.com), January 13, 2000

Answers

Did any shit hit the fan?

-- Earl (earl.shuholm@worldnet.att.net), January 13, 2000.

note the December 17 date of the sewage spill. Wonder why newsflash is reporting a month old incident?

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), January 13, 2000.

REP ORG: ADVANCED INPUT DEVICES NOTIFICATION DATE: 01/05/2000 LICENSEE: ADVANCED INPUT DEVICES NOTIFICATION TIME: 13:47[EST] CITY: COEUR d' ALENE REGION: 4 EVENT DATE: 01/05/2000 COUNTY: STATE: ID EVENT TIME: 00:00 [MST] LICENSE#: AGREEMENT:N LAST UPDATE DATE 01/05/2000 DOCKET: PERSON ORGANIZATION CHARLES CAIN R4 JOHN HICKEY NMSS NRC NOTIFIED BY: JODY PLUMMER HQ OPS OFFICER: JOHN MacKINNON EMERGENCY CLASS: N/A 10 CFR SECTION: BAB1 20.2201(a)(1)(i) LOST/STOLEN LNM>1000X

EVENT TEXT

MISSING 10 MILLICURIE POLONIUM-210 STATIC IONIZER ELIMINATOR CARTRIDGE On 03/14/99, Advanced Input Devices Company moved to a new location. A box containing one polonium-210 static ionizer eliminator cartridge was shipped to the new office and the box apparently got lost during the move. The caller discovered that the ionizer eliminator was missing since last week and that the box ended up in a land fill. The model P-2021 series static ionizer eliminator cartridge, made by NDR, Grand Island, NY, contained 10 millicuries of polonium-210. The static ionizer eliminator is used to remove static from the air at their printing company. The caller has already relayed the above information to NRC Region 4 Jeffrey Cruz.

-- Cin (Cinlooo@aol.com), January 13, 2000.

OHhhhh CIN.... please put that in English for moi--who is not "fluent" in technical matters of sewerage.

-- tt (cuddluppy@aol.com), January 13, 2000.

oops,forgot the link. =)

Daily Events Report

-- Cin (Cinlooo@aol.com), January 13, 2000.

Link

F.6. What is polonium?

Three different isotopes of polonium are included among the radon progeny. They are polonium-218, polonium-214 and polonium-210. These pernicious substances are responsible for most of the biological damage attributed to radon. In particular, polonium-214 and polonium- 218, when inhaled, deliver massive doses of alpha radiation to the lungs, causing fibrosis of the lungs as well as cancer.

Animal studies have confirmed that polonium is extremely harmful, even in minute quantities. The 1988 BEIR-IV report states that polonium-210 is far more dangerous than plutonium at high exposure levels, is more or less equivalent to plutonium (which is five times more damaging than radium) at intermediate exposure levels, and approaches the toxicity of radium at very low exposure levels

-- Cin (Cinlooo@aol.com), January 13, 2000.

Cin,

Where you posting a second isolated event, or insinuating a connection; sorry, just don't quite follow. Must be the flu.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 13, 2000.

When I read the first post, I recognized the name of that town and remembered reading it in the NRC daily events report and the missing polonium. Coincidence? Not sure. But I thought it worth posting, after I researched the dangers of polonium a little bit. Sorry if it seems way out. =)

-- Cin (Cinlooo@aol.com), January 13, 2000.