Vol. 52 - No. 11 March 13, 1998 BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY EPA Proposes Two BNLers on FAA Panel HEPAP Draft Supports $80,000 Fine for Limited AGS Program 1997 BNL Findings After RHIC Start Charged with making a recommen- On Monday March 9, the U.S. En- dation on the future of the fixed-target vironmental Protection Agency (EPA) high-energy physics program at BNL’s proposed fines of $80,000 against the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and (AGS) after the AGS becomes the in- BNL’s former contractor, Associated jector for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Universities, Inc. (AUI), for violations Collider (RHIC) in 1999, a subpanel of of environmental law revealed last the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) year during a thorough EPA inspec- High-Energy Physics Advisory Panel tion of BNL’s compliance with all ap- (HEPAP) recommended in a February plicable environmental regulations. draft report that the future AGS fixed- The investigation was invited on May Roger Stoutenburgh target program should continue, al- 1, 1997, by Secretary of Energy Federico beit limited to two experiments. Peña when he announced that DOE “The report was enthusiastically would terminate its contract with AUI. and unanimously adopted by the full “When Secretary Peña invited EPA HEPAP at its February 18 meeting,” to conduct this investigation, we knew said Thomas Kirk, BNL’s Associate they would identify violations, and Joseph Indusi (left) and James Lemley (center) talk with a security Director for High Energy and Nuclear the Department takes them seriously,” officer at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip. Physics. said DOE Brookhaven Group Execu- Appointed in March 1997, the tive Manager Dean Helms. “The Lab Bringing over four decades of safe- Ribbon Panel. Its job is to review and HEPAP subpanel outlines a plan for and the Department corrected a num- guards and security analysis expertise evaluate the methods of assessing U.S. high-energy physics over the next ber of these concerns when we first to the table, two BNL Department of airport vulnerability and to make rec- decade. Its first of three guiding prin- learned of EPA’s findings last sum- Advanced Technology (DAT) scientists ommendations. The panel is also help- ciples is to “maximize the potential for mer. We initiated actions to resolve all — Joseph Indusi and James Lemley — ing the FAA develop an action plan to major discoveries by utilizing existing remaining concerns as soon as we were have been tapped for the Blue Ribbon establish automated assessment tools U.S. facilities at the frontiers in en- notified by EPA.” Panel appointed by the Federal Avia- for use by airport security managers. ergy and precision to capitalize on In a statement issued on Monday, tion Administration (FAA) in response The 15 panel members have been prior investments.” March 9, Lyle Schwartz, AUI Presi- to the White House Commission on selected from the FAA, the U.S. De- The subpanel recommends complet- dent, also emphasized that the EPA’s Aviation Safety & Security. partment of Defense and from the ing two “flagship, high-priority” AGS findings had been addressed immedi- Established in 1996, the Commis- U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) experiments: E787 — the search for a ately. He added, “Though AUI no longer sion is chaired by Vice President Al national laboratories, chosen for their kaon decaying into a positively charged manages Brookhaven, we still care Gore and includes as members analytical skills and experience in pion, a neutrino and an antineutrino; very much about the Lab and the local Federico Peña, formerly Secretary of high-security technology and hands- and E821 — the measurement g-2 of community, and we will be working Transportation, now Secretary of on vulnerability assessments. the muon’s magnetism. According to with DOE and EPA to bring this mat- Energy, and Louis Freeh, Director of Indusi and Lemley, who will serve the report, E787 should end by the ter to a satisfactory conclusion.” the Federal Bureau of Investigation. as his alternate, are among nine rep- time that DOE’s Nuclear Physics Divi- As reported in the Brookhaven Released in February 1997, the Com- (continued on page 3) (continued on page 2) Bulletin of July 18, 1997, specific vio- mission’s report contains sections on lations noted by EPA included: im- improving aviation safety, making air- proper storage of waste-containing traffic control safer and more effi- PCBs, improper storage of hazardous cient, and improving security. By 6-5 Vote, County Task Force waste at the point it was generated, One of the report’s first recom- and lack of sufficient training and mendations was to conduct airport vul- Endorses HFBR Evaluation Process nerability assessments and develop record-keeping for those who gener- On Friday, March 6, the Suffolk County Environmental Task Force on action plans. These assessments are ated that waste; existence of a pipe BNL, chaired by biostatistician Roger Grimson, presented 14 recom- already being done by several differ- that may be a source of unpermitted mendations to a Suffolk County legislative committee on BNL, chaired ent commercial companies having ap- discharge; and the need for greater by Legislator Fred Towle (R-Shirley). The recommendations included propriate technical data and models. attention to meeting air-compliance one that by a 6-5 vote endorsed letting the High Flux Beam Reactor The group to which Indusi and and reporting requirements for oil- (HFBR) evaluation process continue, and another that urged the County Lemley have been appointed is offi- burning boilers at the Lab’s Central to fund further studies as a result of the Task Force’s finding of a higher- cially known as the FAA Interagency Steam Facility. than-expected breast cancer rate on the East End. Working Group on the Airport Vul- Jeanne Fox, EPA’s Administrator By recommending that Suffolk County should “monitor the environ- nerability Assessment Project Blue (continued on page 2) mental impact review process of BNL’s High Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR) to assure that the impacts of all alternatives be properly addressed,” the Task Force overrode its own radiation subcommittee, which was charged with examining issues related to radioactivity at BNL. BSA Chair Strum Kenny to Speak The radiation subcommittee, which consists of three community members and two public health officials, had earlier voted 3-2, respec- On ‘A Personal Journey’ tively, against the HFBR’s reopening. Two of the radiation subcommittee’s members publicized its stance at a press conference on Wednesday, Now both the President of the State Strum Kenny has combined a teach- March 4, at the Supreme Court building in Mineola. At the conference, University of New York at Stony Brook ing and research career with admin- Ronald Stanchfield, Task Force vice chairman and an East Hampton (USB) and the Chair of Brookhaven istrative leadership, using her expe- builder, said, “DOE [the U.S. Department of Energy] and the scientists Science Associates (BSA), Shirley rience to forge collaborations between . treat us and the lab workers like canaries in a coal mine. We’ve become the academic and business communi- victims.” ties. When explaining to the Legislature on March 6 why the full Task How she has used her personal Force vote had gone against the radiation subcommittee’s vote to close strengths to develop a rewarding pro- the HFBR without further delay, Task Force member William Grainer, fessional life will be the topic of “From an associate professor of the New York Institute of Technology, said that Here to There: A Personal Journey,” a the majority of Task Force members were neither for nor against the talk to be delivered by Kenny at 2:30 HFBR, but wanted to see the due process go forward to get full informa- p.m., on Thursday, March 19, in tion before making a decision. Berkner Hall. She will be introduced BNL and Cancer: No Link by John Marburger, BNL’s Director Chairman Grimson, an associate professor at the State University of and BSA President. New York at Stony Brook (USB), also headed the Task Force subcommit- All are invited to attend the talk, tee on epidemiological issues. At the March 6 presentation, Grimson which is sponsored by BNL’s Women’s repeated this subcommittee’s findings, which had already been an- Program Advisory Committee as part nounced late in January (see Brookhaven Bulletin of January 30, 1998), of its Women’s History Month pro- that a review of available data showed no evidence of higher-than- gram of events. Refreshments will be normal cancer rates within a 15-mile radius of the Lab. served. Grimson also discussed the subcommittee’s previous finding that Shirley Strum Kenny received her breast-cancer rates on the South Fork are 60 percent higher than bachelor’s of journalism and also of elsewhere in the county and recommended more research. arts from the University of Texas, her “We need now to go in and do a more detailed epidemiological study, M.A. in English from the University of (continued on page 2) BSA Chair Shirley Strum Kenny (continued on page 3) Brookhaven Bulletin March 13, 1998 HEPAP Report (cont’d.) AGS beams to particular advantage.” Further, to make recommendations sion takes over support of AGS base to DOE’s Division of HEP on which Investigations Ongoing of Tritium operations for use as the RHIC injec- competing experiments in kaon and tor, while E821 should finish its data muon physics should be carried out at Elevated in On-Site Monitoring Well runs by the end of fiscal year 2001. either BNL or Fermi National Accel- Analysis of a recent sample from a groundwater monitoring well After the AGS becomes the injector erator Laboratory (Fermilab), HEPAP located east of Bldg.