Controlled Demolition Inc claims reactor stack implosion success despite issues.
Success is notoriously difficult to define. For example, if you attempted to jump a ravine on a motorcycle but broke every bone in your body when you landed on the other side, would that be considered a success?
The reason we’re asking is that we’ve just read news about the implosion of a 53 metre (175 foot) high exhaust stack at Hanford’s K East Reactor that is described variously, as successful, safe, well-planned and well-executed. Nothing ambiguous there, right?
Well, that’s what we thought. So we read a bit further. And we found this:
The blast did take off more exterior siding on the reactor building than anticipated. But surveys found no structural damage.
Exterior siding, which is old and fragile, already had been removed nearer the ground, but work had stopped to remove the heavy panels of siding farther up to reduce the risk to workers.
The Transite panels are made of cement asbestos board, but no asbestos fiber was detected, Kehler said. The siding has been removed elsewhere at Hanford with excavators with no problems with asbestos fiber.
Personally, we think this speaks more to the management of expectations and less to the defining of the term success. But we’d love to hear what you think.
Read the full story here.
