The company seeking a permit to relocate its rock quarry from Crosskey in northwest Limestone County to Tanner just south of Athens says 2.76 million pounds of explosives would be necessary for any damage at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant. They say the largest blast at the new site would be 588 pounds of the same explosive.
Officials with Rogers Group Inc. said they obtained the blasting figures from research done by Frank Chiappetta, a national blasting expert.
“The Tennessee Valley Authority, which operates the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, is fully aware of the proposed relocation and has voiced no concerns to Rogers Group,” rock quarry officials said in prepared statement. “Another quarry in the Trinity area has operated within the same distance of the nuclear plant with no apparent safety threat.”
Several area legislators met with residents at Tanner Thursday night to discuss the proposed relocation of the rock quarry. State Sen. Tom Butler, Rep. Henry White and others say they intend to introduce legislation in February that hopefully will prohibit the relocation since it is within a few miles of the nuclear plant.
A retired TVA engineer who said he worked 30 years at Browns Ferry, told Limestone County commissioners earlier this month that he feared blasting could cause breakers to trip at the plant and shut it down.
However, Rogers Group said before any blasting is conducted, studies are conducted by licensed third-party inspectors. They quoted Chiappetta as saying the level of a blast necessary to cause any damage to nearby residences is seven times larger than the biggest blast to be used at the new location.
If allowed to relocate and granted a permit by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Rogers Group said the quarry would be operational within 18 months.
“The new location will be better positioned to supply the growing demand for construction materials in north Alabama,” company officials said. “In addition, the new location will offer improved access via U.S. 31, a four-lane highway, rather than the narrower county road currently used to access the quarry. This will provide a safer, more traffic-friendly way for haul trucks to deliver products to Rogers Group customers.”
As for the wildlife, the company said an assessment conducted by the AST Environmental Group found that the quarry activity would not affect the continued existence of a protected species of fish and other wildlife for Limestone County.
Rogers Group officials said this assessment has been submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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Rogers Group says blasting won’t damage nuclear plant
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