Survey of Cooling Towers within Oak Ridge Operations for the Presence of the Legionnaire's Disease Bacterium. Environmental Sciences Division Publication No. 1731

摘要

A preliminary survey of Oak Ridge Operations (ORO) facilities was made to determine if the Legionnaire's Disease Bacterium (LDB) was present in cooling tower water. Total numbers of the bacterium per liter of water were determined, and in some cases isolation of infectious bacteria was attempted. Most of the test cooling towers from the X-10 site had concentrations of LDB in excess of 1 x 10 exp 6 /L of basin water. Infectious LDB was isolated from one of the water samples. Some towers from the Y-12 site were also found to contain in excess of 1 x 10 exp 6 LDB/L of water. With two exceptions, tower samples from the K-25, Portsmouth, and Paducah sites had less than 1 x 10 exp 6 LDB/L of water. Except for the ORAU Medical Division cooling tower, ORAU cooling towers also had less than 1 x 10 exp 6 LDB/L of water. The results indicate that chromate treatment is generally effective in preventing high levels of LDB. The results also suggest the desirability of a continuing monitoring program for ORO cooling towers so that concentrations of LDB in the towers can be controlled at reduced levels. (ERA citation 08:052542)