FGD and DeNOx
NEWSLETTER       

February 2011
No. 394

TVA Kingston Must Replace Liner at Leaky Gypsum Pond

Two years after the Tennessee Valley Authority’s coal ash spill, environmental officials have ordered a synthetic liner be installed in a leaky gypsum storage pond at the same coal-powered plant, Kingston. The gypsum pond seepage is not related to the TVA’s ongoing $1.2-billion cleanup of the 5.4 million cubic yards of ash spilled two years ago into the river and the surrounding landscape.  Tennessee Dept. of Environment and Conservation spokeswoman Tisha Calabrese-Benton said that in addition to TVA interrupting use of the storage pond until it is fixed, the utility must provide a “detailed corrective action plan.”

A TVA statement said the pond built in 2006 covers an area of about 50 acres and has a capacity to hold about 5.7 million cubic yards of gypsum but has been used only a short time and contains about 22,000 cubic yards of gypsum. She said the gypsum “had settled in the far end of the pond away from the leak.” TVA spokeswoman Barbara Martocci said there was not yet any estimate on the cost of the synthetic liner or a timetable to get it installed. She said the existing liner — a 3-foot-thick layer of clay and a layer of bentonite — was required when the gypsum pond was built.

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