OSHA 2016 FORM 300A ONLINE SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS DECEMBER 15, 2017

Some establishments are coming up on an important OSHA deadline for online submission of their 2016 OSHA Form 300A. That deadline is December 15, 2017. Please note that on November 22, 2017, OSHA issued a press release stating that the previous December 1, 2017 deadline had been pushed back to December 15, so if this new date looks weird to you, that's why.

You can upload and submit your information here on OSHA's site.

Which establishments have to submit online, you ask? Good question:

• Establishments with 250 or more employees that are currently required to keep OSHA injury and illness records

• Establishments with 20-249 employees in certain industries with historically high rates of occupational injuries and illnesses

There are some exceptions for establishments covered by OSHA-approved state plans that have not yet adopted the requirement to submit injury and illness reports electronically. Those states are:

• California

• Maryland

• Minnesota

• South Carolina

• Utah

• Washington

• Wyoming

In addition, state and local government establishments in the following states are also not currently required to submit their data electronically:

• Illinois

• Maine

• New Jersey

• New York

For additional information on these exceptions, contact your State Plan with the contact information available here.

This December 15, 2017 deadline is only for the 2016 300A forms and only for the establishments defined above. However, for those of you who are forward-thinking, you might want to know about following upcoming deadlines as well:

• July 1, 2018, for all covered establishments with 250 or more employees: 2017 Forms 300A, 300, and 301

• July 1, 2018, for all covered establishments with 20-249 emplyees: 2017 Form 300A

• March 2, 2019 and future years: Online submissions must be made by March 2

EPA Determines that Update to Standards for “Small Manufacturers and Processors” is Warranted for TSCA Reporting

On November 30, 2017, EPA will publish a final determination, as required under the amended TSCA, that an update is warranted to the size standards for small manufacturers and processors currently used to determine which small businesses are exempt from reporting regulations under TSCA Section 8(a).

As required by the amended TSCA, EPA reviewed the adequacy of the existing standards that define what constitute small manufacturers and processors used in connection with reporting regulations under TSCA section 8(a). After reviewing public comments and consulting with the Small Business Administration (SBA), EPA has determined that a revision to the existing standards is warranted.  The future revisions to the standards will occur by subsequent rulemaking, which allows for further opportunities for consultation with the SBA and public notice and comment.

Read the Federal Register notice announcing EPA's determination.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/11/30/2017-25822/toxic-substances-control-act-reporting-and-recordkeeping-requirements-standards-for-small

Read the May 9, 2017, notice requesting public comment on the necessity for an updated standard.

https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0675-0016

Learn more about the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act.

https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/frank-r-lautenberg-chemical-safety-21st-century-act-5

Russia finds 1,000-times normal level of radioactive isotope after nuclear incident claims

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's meteorological service said on Tuesday it had measured pollution of a radioactive isotope at nearly 1,000 times normal levels in the Ural mountains, the first official Russian data supporting reports that a nuclear incident had taken place.

The data appears to back up a report by the French nuclear safety institute IRSN, which said on Nov. 9 a cloud of radioactive pollution over Europe had indicated some kind of leak had taken place at a nuclear facility either in Russia or Kazakhstan in the last week of September.

Neither Russia nor Kazakhstan has acknowledged any accident.

Russian state weather service Roshydromet said in a statement it had found "extremely high pollution" of ruthenium 106 in samples from two meteorological stations in the southern Urals region in late September and early October.

At the Agrayash weather station the levels were 986 times those of the previous month, while at the Novogorny station they were 440 times higher. The weather service did not rule out that the radioactive isotope could be absorbed into the atmosphere and reach Europe.

Western scientists said the ruthenium 106 levels disclosed did not by themselves indicate any major health threat, although it was still unclear what had happened.

"Ruthenium is very rare and hence its presence may suggest that an event of some nature has occurred. That being said, the natural abundance is so low that even a factor of 900 up on natural levels is still very low," said Malcolm Sperrin, director of the Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at Oxford University Hospitals in England.

Professor Paddy Regan at the University of Surrey said the fact that the ruthenium was found in isolation, rather than with other radioactive materials "suggests a leak from a fuel/reprocessing plant or somewhere they are separating the ruthenium" rather than a bigger nuclear accident.

"If it was a reactor leak or nuclear explosion, other radioisotopes would also be present in the 'plume' and from the reports, they are not," Regan said.

He said any health effect would be negligible.

"The measurement of its presence in the amounts reported suggest that any biological effects of exposure to this source are essentially similar to that of the normal, naturally occurring radiation background," he told Reuters.

Russia's Consumer Rights Protection service said in a statement that the ruthenium 106 posed no threat to public health.

Read full from Reuters Staff

The Guardian: Russian nuclear facility denies it is source of high radioactivity levels

The Guardian: A secretive Russian nuclear facility has denied it was behind high atmospheric concentrations of the radioactive isotope ruthenium-106, after Russia's meteorological service confirmed levels several hundred times the norm were found in several locations in the country during tests in late September.

Greenpeace has called for an investigation into a potential cover-up of a nuclear accident after Russia's nuclear agency had denied European reports of increased ruthenium-106 levels. Rosgidromet, the weather monitoring service, released test data on Monday that showed levels were indeed much higher than normal. The most potent site was Argayash in the south Urals, where levels were 986 times the norm.

Argayash is about 20 miles from Mayak, a facility that reprocesses spent nuclear fuel. The plant facility issued a denial on Tuesday. "The contamination of the atmosphere with ruthenium-106 isotope registered by Rosgidromet is not linked to the activity of Mayak," a statement said.

It went on to reassure people that the measurements were well below dangerous levels: "The measurements which Rosgidromet has released suggest that the dose people might have received is 20,000 times less than the allowed annual dose and presents no threat at all to health."

Nuclear experts also said there was no evidence to suggest the leak posed a significant hazard to human health or the environment.

A report earlier this month from France's Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) said ruthenium-106 had been detected in France between 27 September and 13 October.

In mid-October, the state nuclear agency Rosatom issued a statement saying that samples from across Russia during the same period showed no trace of ruthenium-106 after European agencies had reported levels that were higher than usual.

Read full from The Guardian: 

87 Percent of Newborns Have Chlorpyrifos (Neurotoxic Pesticide) in Their Cord Blood

​NY Times​: The pesticide, which belongs to a class of chemicals developed as a nerve gas made by Nazi Germany, is now found in food, air and drinking water. Human and animal studies show that it damages the brain and reduces I.Q.s while causing tremors among children. It has also been linked to lung cancer and Parkinson's disease in adults.

Even if you haven't heard of it, it may be inside you: One 2012 study (intro summary below) found that it was in the umbilical cord blood of 87 percent of newborn babies tested.

The Environmental Protection Agency actually banned "the Pesticide" for most indoor residential use 17 years ago — so it's no longer found in the Raid you spray at cockroaches.... The E.P.A. was preparing to ban it for agricultural and outdoor use this spring, but then the Trump administration rejected the ban.

Introduction (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4309544/)

Organophosphorous pesticides are widely used in agriculture in the United States(DPR, 2008); despite the voluntary phase out of residential uses of chlorpyrifos and diazinon between 2000 and 2004 (U.S. EPA, 2000; U.S. EPA, 2001), some organophosphate pesticides are still registered for home garden use (U.S. EPA, 2006). Acute exposure to organophosphate pesticides can lead to neurotoxic effects through inhibition of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (Costa et al., 2008). Recent epidemiologic studies suggest associations of low dose chronic prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides with adverse birth and neurodevelopmental outcomes including reduced birth weight and length (Whyatt et al., 2004), shorter gestational duration (Eskenazi et al., 2004), increased number of abnormal reflexes in neonates (Engel et al., 2007; Eskenazi et al., 2008), higher risk of reported attention problems (Marks et al., 2010), and lower intelligence in 7 year olds (Bouchard et al., 2011).

Although the majority of animal data provide evidence of organophosphate toxicity through cholinergic pathways, some studies suggest potential mechanisms for the adverse effects of organophosphate pesticide exposures, even at dose levels below the threshold for acetylcholinesterase inhibition (Costa, 2006). For instance, exposures to low doses of diazinon and/or chlorpyrifos in rat and or mouse models were associated with changes in neuronal cell development (Slotkin et al., 2008), changes in emotional behaviors (Roegge et al., 2008), up regulation of serotonin neurotransmitters(Aldridge et al., 2003; Slotkin et al., 2006), and changes in thyroid hormone levels and the reproductive system(Buratti et al., 2006; De Angelis et al., 2009; Haviland et al., 2010). Recent studies also provide evidence that organophosphate pesticide exposure induces oxidative stress (Samarawickrema et al., 2008; Slotkin and Seidler, 2009), a condition associated with common diseases like cardiovascular disease and diabetes (Bhattacharyya et al., 2008; Li et al., 2003).

Estimating the internal dose of organophosphate pesticide exposure in biological specimens is particularly challenging because organophosphate pesticides have relatively short half-lives and are quickly metabolized and excreted from the body (Wessels et al., 2003). Organophosphate metabolites, including dialkyl phosphates, in urine have been used as biomarkers of organophosphate pesticide exposure in many studies (Bouchard et al., 2010; Eskenazi et al., 2004; Fenske et al., 2002; Grandjean et al., 2006; Lacasana et al., 2010; Ye et al., 2009). Collection of urine specimens from study participants is relatively noninvasive and methods for analyzing organophosphate pesticide metabolites are well established (Bradman and Whyatt, 2005). Analysis of organophosphate pesticide levels in blood allows for direct measurement of parent compounds rather than metabolites and may more accurately represent the dose that reaches the target tissue (Bradman and Whyatt, 2005). Although the rate of clearance from the blood is initially quite rapid, chlorpyrifos and diazinon are lipophilic so the portion of compound that partitions into body fat may be eliminated more slowly (Eaton et al., 2008). Therefore, levels in blood may represent a steady state concentration (Needham, 2005). However, since concentrations of organophosphate pesticides in blood are much lower (by orders of magnitude) than metabolite levels in urine, very sensitive analytical methods are required to measure them (Perez et al., 2010). Thus far, only a small number of studies have measured prenatal organophosphate pesticide exposure in maternal or umbilical cord blood (Neta et al., 2010; Whyatt et al., 2003). Only one study has compared chlorpyrifos levels in blood and urine from the same subjects (mothers and infants) and reported no association between chlorpyrifos in maternal or cord blood and levels of the chlorpyrifos metabolite 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol in urine (Whyatt et al., 2009). Additionally, there are no published analytical methods for some organophosphate pesticides in blood, such as oxydemeton methyl and thus, blood measures may not fully capture exposure especially in populations exposed to multiple organophosphate pesticides. As there are strengths and weaknesses in using either of the two biological matrices, it remains unclear which measures will be more useful in epidemiological studies of prenatal organophosphate pesticide exposures and adverse health effects.

Read on at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4309544/

Regulatory Alert: EPA holds public meetings on toxic chemicals

Public Meeting on New Chemicals

EPA is holding a public meeting to update and engage with the public on its  progress in implementing changes to the New Chemicals Review Program as a result of the 2016 amendments to Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA), including discussion of EPA's New Chemicals Decision-Making Framework on Monday, December 6, 2017.  During the meeting, EPA plans to provide an overview of its review process for new chemicals and will provide an opportunity for interested parties to discuss their experiences and ask questions regarding the New Chemicals Review Program.

View the agenda and meeting materials here.

Register to attend the meeting either in-person or remotely here.

Public Meeting on Approaches for Identifying Potential Candidates for Prioritization for TSCA Risk Evaluation

EPA is holding a public meeting to discuss the possible approaches for identifying potential candidate chemicals for EPA's prioritization process under the Toxic Substance Control Act on Monday, December 11, 2017.  During the meeting, EPA plans to describe and take comments and questions on the number of possible approaches that the agency has identified in its discussion paper. EPA has also provided a public docket to accept written comments until January 25, 2018.

View the agenda and meeting materials including EPA's discussion paper here.

Register to attend the meeting either in-person or remotely here.

$1.8 Million in OSHA proposed Fines Against a Wisconsin Corn Milling Facility After Fatal Grain Dust Explosion

CAMBRIA, WI – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed $1,837,861 in fines against Didion Milling Inc. following a May 31, 2017, explosion that killed five workers and injured 12 others, including a 21-year-old employee who suffered a double leg amputation after being crushed by a railcar.

OSHA found that the explosion likely resulted from Didion's failures to correct the leakage and accumulation of highly combustible grain dust throughout the facility and to properly maintain equipment to control ignition sources. OSHA cited Didion's Cambria facility with 14 willful – including eight willful per-instance egregious– and five serious citations, most involving fire and explosion hazards. The company has been placed in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

"Didion Milling could have prevented this tragedy if it had addressed hazards that are well-known in this industry," said OSHA Regional Administrator Ken Nishiyama Atha, in Chicago. "Instead, their disregard for the law led to an explosion that claimed the lives of workers, and heartbreak for their families and the community."

The egregious willful citations were issued for violating OSHA's Grain Handling standard by failing to perform required maintenance on operating equipment and implementing a housekeeping program to control dust accumulations. Willful citations were issued for failure to shut down ignition sources, prevent static electricity discharge, provide adequate personal protective equipment to employees, correct malfunctioning dust collection systems, maintain equipment safety controls, and have an emergency alarm system. Serious citations addressed hazards associated with fires and explosions, and the lack of employee training.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education, and assistance. 

For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

EPA: TSCA Risk Evaluation Public Meeting materials available

EPA is making available the agenda and other meeting materials for its planned December 11, 2017 public meeting to discuss ongoing implementation activities under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

View the agenda and meeting materials:

https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/possible-approaches-identifying-potential-candidates

Background:  The December 11th meeting will focus on possible approaches for identifying potential candidate chemicals for EPA's prioritization process under TSCA. As amended, TSCA required that EPA establish processes for prioritizing and evaluating risks from existing chemicals. EPA will describe and take comment on a number of possible approaches that could guide the Agency in the identification of potential candidate chemicals for prioritization. EPA will accept questions from the public in advance of the meeting if such questions are received by November 20, 2017, and will respond to these questions at the meeting as time allows.  Additionally, EPA will be accepting written comments in the docket until January 25, 2018.

To register to attend, submit questions, and learn more:

https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/meetings-and-webinars-amended-toxic-substances-control.

Arkema documents show planning, mechanical failures led to chemical fires during Harvey

HoustonChronicle - Poor planning and a series of cascading equipment failures led to dangerous chemicals erupting into flame in late August during the height of Hurricane Harvey. The miscalculations indicate the company's lack of preparation for more than 3 feet of flooding, reflected by an emergency management plan that barely addressed how to handle such a storm.

Those judgments led to the burning of nine trailers containing the company's stockpile of organic peroxides. The resulting inferno exposed first responders and local residents to dangerous fumes and pulled emergency staffers away from hurricane recovery at a critical time.

Arkema officials argue that unprecedented floods made it impossible to prevent its chemicals from catching fire. The site had only seen up to 2 feet of flooding in the past, company officials said.

Photo: Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle

A list of chemicals at the Arkema plant was passed around to people who live near the chemical plant on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017, in Crosby.

The Chronicle obtained Arkema's internal records from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and conducted interviews with government employees with knowledge of ongoing investigations of the events at the plant. The emerging picture reveals nine days of chaos, culminating with the decision to intentionally burn chemicals that posed a danger to the public.

The records, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and interviews show that:​

Arkema's emergency response plan provided employees with little direction for how to handle major flooding events. It contained one paragraph about flooding but a page and a half on handling bomb threats, records show.

Arkema's main power transformers and its powerful backup generators were not high enough off the ground, causing them to become submerged with floodwaters, Arkema records show. Without power, the company could not keep its stash of organic peroxides at a safe temperature inside its refrigerated buildings.

The company's last resort for keeping organic peroxides cool - refrigerated trailers - also was destined to fail. The diesel-powered trailers had fuel tanks that ran along the bottom of the vehicle. More than 3 feet of water compromised the fuel tanks, causing the freezers to die.

Arkema had a tank of an extremely dangerous chemical, isobutylene, located about 40 yards from six trailers that had been relocated during the storm, according to interviews and satellite images. Government officials were concerned about a chain reaction with that chemical that could have led to catastrophic results.

Arkema officials said again Tuesday that no amount of planning could have protected its site from the storm.​​

​"Many of your conclusions fail to recognize that Hurricane Harvey was unlike any rain event Houston ever experienced," company spokeswoman Janet Smith said in an email. "FEMA's 500-year flood map doesn't address the situation that occurred during Hurricane Harvey."

Four days after Harvey made landfall in Texas, the Arkema plant was under 7 feet of water. The last employees to evacuate the site left by boat, floating over a 6-foot chain-link fence topped by barbed wire, the records show.

"Flooding in Houston is a perfectly foreseeable event," said Paul Orum, an independent Washington, D.C., consultant and longtime chemical safety advocate. "Facilities should be prepared when it comes to several different layers of flooding."

Lines laid low

Arkema, a French multinational company, manufactures chemicals used to create plastic products. Many of its proprietary compounds are classified as organic peroxides, which must be kept at temperatures well below freezing to prevent the chemicals from catching fire.

With Hurricane Harvey bearing down on Southeast Texas and the National Hurricane Center warning of potentially "catastrophic" or "life-threatening" flooding, the company's plans for protecting its product were simple: keep the chemicals cold on-site.

The company had multiple freezer buildings, six backup generators, and, as a last resort, refrigerated trucks. Documents provided to the Chronicle did not indicate any plans to drive the organic peroxides away from Harvey's impact.

But Arkema's plan for Harvey was based on one flawed assumption: that the site would never experience floods higher than 3 feet. By the end of the weekend, the rain had exceeded that total.​

Read on from:

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Arkema-documents-show-planning-mechanical-12358188.php​

FREE: Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Web Academy Webinar: Preventing Food Waste Upstream

EPA will host this webinar on Thursday, November 16 from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Eastern Time.

Please register for this free webinar here. 

The top tier of EPA's Food Recovery Hierarchy is source reduction, which is reducing the volume of surplus food generated.  Source Reduction can be challenging to understand, quantify and implement. Businesses and organizations can learn to effectively prevent wasted food by taking source reduction steps such as inventorying supplies, changing processes and buying less.  Looking through a Sustainable Materials Management lens, preventing wasted food provides the greatest potential for cost savings and resource conservation relative to the other Food Recovery Hierarchy activities, as demonstrated by the US EPA Waste Reduction Model (WARM). This webinar will introduce progressive examples from a state agency and the business community that prevent wasted food at the source.

Top of Page

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Speakers

David Allaway, Senior Policy Analyst, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's (DEQ) Materials Management Program

Mr. Allaway currently addresses sustainable consumption and production, materials (including waste) management, and greenhouse gases (GHGs). He has led efforts to develop and update Oregon's consumption-based GHG inventory, contributed to the ICLEI US GHG accounting protocols for communities and recycling, and served as an invited science advisor to Wal-Mart. Before joining DEQ in 2000, David worked for 11 years in the solid waste consulting industry. A native of Oregon, David has a B.A. in physics from Carleton College, Minnesota.

Stephanie Barger, Director of Market Transformation & Development, TRUE Zero Waste Programs – U.S. Green Building Council

Ms. Barger formed the U.S. Zero Waste Business Council (USZWBC) in January of 2012 to meet the growing need for educational resources, peer-to-peer networking and third-party certification for businesses across the nation. In November of 2016, USZWBC merged with Green Business Certification, Inc. and the U.S. Green Building Council. She brings over 25 years of experience in environmental stewardship, employee training, management consulting and business relationship development. She received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from San Diego State University. In her spare time, Ms. Barger raises guide dog puppies for the blind, and advocates for humane treatment of all creatures great and small.

Brian Balukonis, Solid Waste Process Owner, Raytheon Company

Mr. Balukonis has worked for over 32 years in the Environmental Health, Safety and Sustainability Group.  He has developed many unique and innovative resource management programs for Raytheon. These programs were recently recognized by the US Zero Waste Business Council, which certified six Raytheon sites as Zero Waste in Massachusetts.  Mr. Balukonis is a recognized subject matter expert in Zero Waste and has presented for many years at national and local conferences and colleges. 

 

Marc Wincott, District Manager, Eurest Thompson Hospitality

Mr. Wincott has worked for Compass Group for 21 years, joining the Eurest in 2004 as General Manager of Georgia-Pacific where he was quickly promoted to Area Manager and named "Manager of the Year."  From there, Marc became the GM of Sikorsky in Stratford, CT before being promoted to District Manager for the Raytheon enterprise for National Accounts.

André Villaseñor, Sustainable Management of Food Coordinator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Mr. Villasenor began his career fulfilling EPA's mission to protect human health & the environment in 2005, following his service in the U.S. Peace Corps in Ecuador. He holds an M.S. from State University of New York and an M.A. from Syracuse University. He resides in Los Angeles.

Shutdown of world’s biggest uranium mine will boost to sustainable prices

A move by one of the world's biggest uranium producers to suspend production will cut global supply by 10 per cent and boost the spot price, according to uranium play Boss Resources.

Cameco last week announced it would temporarily suspend production at its McArthur River uranium mine and Key Lake processing facility in northern Saskatchewan by end of January.

McArthur River accounted for more than 10 per cent of uranium production in 2016. Cameco provides about 17 per cent of the world's uranium from mines in Canada, the US and Kazakhstan.

The move was due to oversupply in the uranium market — which isn't likely to change in the foreseeable future — resulting in continued weakness in the uranium price.

Since the halcyon days a decade ago when its price hit $US130 a pound, uranium has slid to a 12-year low of $US18 a pound in November 2016, recently trading slightly higher at $US20.25 a pound.

In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear incident in 2011, there has been concern over future demand and over oversupply of uranium with three European Union member states – Belgium, Germany and Switzerland – seeking to phase out nuclear reactors.

In the US and Europe, premature retirements of reactors continue to outstrip the rate of capacity addition.

However, managing director Duncan Craib of ASX-listed uranium explorer Boss Resources (ASX:BOE) believes Cameco's cutbacks – along with other cuts by uranium producers including Paladin and Areva – will "bring discipline to the supply side and reduce excess inventories".

"This is further evidence that uranium production is not sustainable at current uranium term and spot prices," he said.

"The cumulative impact of global supply reductions in 2018 should strongly influence the spot market in 2018 and further out, if the suspension period is extended.

"We expect to see the strengthening in spot price reflected in the term price."

Read on from source:

https://stockhead.com.au/resources/cameco-uranium-halt-benefits-industry-boss-resources/

Nuclear incident suspected after radioactive cloud over Europe

​A cloud of radioactive pollution over Europe in recent weeks indicates an unidentified nuclear incident happened at some facility in Russia or Kazakhstan in the last week of September, French nuclear safety institute IRSN said on Thursday.

The IRSN ruled out an incident in a nuclear reactor, saying it was likely to be in a nuclear fuel treatment site or centre for radioactive medicine. There has been no impact on human health or the environment in Europe, the IRSN said.

IRSN, the technical arm of French nuclear regulator ASN, said in a statement it could not pinpoint the location of the release of radioactive material but that based on weather patterns, the most plausible zone lay south of the Ural mountains, between the Urals and the Volga river.

This could indicate Russia or possibly Kazakhstan, an IRSN official said.

"Russian authorities have said they are not aware of an accident on their territory," IRSN director Jean-Marc Peres told Reuters. He added that the institute had not yet been in contact with Kazakh authorities.

A spokeswoman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry said she could not immediately comment. It was not immediately possible to reach authorities in Kazakhstan or the Kazakh embassy in Moscow.

Ruthenium 106

Mr Peres said that in recent weeks IRSN and several other nuclear safety institutes in Europe had measured high levels of levels of ruthenium 106, a radioactive nuclide that is the product of splitting atoms in a nuclear reactor and which does not occur naturally.

IRSN estimates that the quantity of ruthenium 106 released was major, between 100 and 300 teraBecquerels, and that if an incident of this magnitude had happened in France it would have required the evacuation or sheltering of people in a radius of a few kilometres around the accident site.

The ruthenium 106 was probably released in a nuclear fuel treatment site or centre for radioactive medicine, Mr Peres said. Because of its short half-life of about a year, ruthenium 106 is used in nuclear medicine.

Read on from source​:

​https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/nuclear-incident-suspected-after-radioactive-cloud-over-europe-1.3286272

​See map of alerts:

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php​

Free Respiratory Training Protection for Healthcare Workers is Available

A short, self-paced online program preparing healthcare workers to use respiratory protection is available from AAOHN and satisfies the annual Federal OSHA Respiratory Protection Standard's (1910.134 CFR) training requirements. Designed by experts from AAOHN, AOHP and ANA with a NIOSH grant, this online training program prepares you and your staff for respiratory protection in the workplace. This program provides Continuing Nursing Education (CNE) credits and is available for FREE to all healthcare workers at www.aaohn.org/respiratory-protection.