ORCA

Oak Ridge Communities Allied (ORCA) is a coalition of local grassroots organizations interested in the health and safety of nuclear workers and the environmental effects of the nuclear industry. ORCA members are concerned that the cleanup of existing buildings at the former K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, may be inadequate under the current reindustrialization strategy. In addition, they want to know how the documentation of hazardous exposures in some K-25 buildings—the basis for the remediation and reindustrialization of this site—relates to workers’ experiences on the site.

ORCA received an Environmental Protection Agency Technical Assistance Grant  (EPA TAG) to explore these issues and contracted with CPC for technical assistance in evaluating whether the health and safety of workers is ensured by adequate cleanup of the facility. CPC is incorporating participatory research methods to develop relevant, sufficient, and useful information on the cleanup. CPC will also assist ORCA in developing strategies for using this information in their advocacy activities.

In 2001 the CPC initiated the second phase of this collaborative research project with ORCA, a qualitative study of workers’ experiences in the K-25 facility. We are analyzing worker interviews and will be comparing workers’ responses with the remediation documents in the next few months. A final report will be completed in Fall, 2002.

This project is a unique combination of research and regional outreach. The ORCA coalition, consisting of Save Our Cumberland Mountains, American Environmental Health Studies Project, Oak Ridge Health Liaison, and Coalition for a Healthy Environment, have participated in making all research decisions, and our product for them will be written to assist their public education program.

Download and view the final ORCA report.