The Site, Kidney Specialist of Savannah Clinic, is a business housed within a single story, brick building located at 500 E 66th Street, Savannah, GA. Geographical coordinates for the Site are North Latitude 32.03029 x West Longitude -81.09736. In response to NRC Report #874319, and at the request of Savannah Fire Departments' Hazardous Materials Division (Hazmat), EPA mobilized to the clinic to provide air monitoring at the incident involving the release of elemental mercury inside the clinic. The release originated from a Sphygmomanometer. Savannah Hazmat, first responder to the Site, recovered and staged the mercury but lacked the specialized equipment needed to provide adequate screening for mercury vapors.
June 25th
- After initial morning Lumex scan of the north and south parts of the building (exclusive of the isolated/contained source rooms),it was determined that wall sockets and the plywood barrier were bleeding mercury vapors from the affected source areas. Expandable foam was used to seal these openings and lumex retests were conducted.
- Initial lumex screenings indicated that 90% of the building would be able to undergo confirmation testing. After removing the polyvinyl barriers separating the north and south part of the building, the confirmation testing commenced at approximately 2 pm and was conducted by START thru the early evening. All rooms are confirmed being below the ATSDR attainment goal of 1000 ng/m3 except for the doctor's office adjacent to the 2 source rooms. Potential source screening indicates the rug should be removed. This will be done first thing in the morning and then the room will be retested for confirmation.
- The PRPs contractor stopped work today at 2 pm due to extreme heat conditions. PRP contractor start times have shifted to 4am in order to adjust to the extreme heat and minimize the risk of heat stress.
- The exhaust pipe for the 2 source rooms was temporarily shut down to perform the confirmation test. When reactivated, the exhaust pipe for the negative air system measured at approximately 2000 ng/m3. While the negative air pressure system is operating, the contractor conducts demo and decon work in level C. The lower wall of the exam room continues to exceed 100,000 ng/m3 so further demolition is needed.
- The perimeter continued to be monitored for mercury vapors using the Lumex.
The contractor has submitted a transportation and disposal working plan for review.
The offsite disposal facility has been selected by the contractor. Notification and compliance checks for the facilty have been verified in accordance with the CERCLA Off-site Rule. The facility has received approval. This approval is valid until August 22nd for the wastestream described in the transportation and disposal workplan.
A spatially oriented perimeter air monitoring report has been prepared and is available in the documents section of this website.
Due to the pressing nature of providing health care to kidney compromised patients, the OSC is providing oversite aimed at achieving acceptable air quality in the building while simultaneously isolating/containing and remediating the 2 source areas.
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