Original Date: 11/03/1996
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

To comply with Section 608 of the 1990 Clean Air Act and to protect the ozone layer, Oak Ridge changed its method of handling refrigerants. Oak Ridge formed a company/union partnership to identify the best ideas, solutions, and methods for incorporating a safe, efficient, user-friendly refrigeration program. A key component of this program involved aggressive training of personnel.

After becoming certified as an EPA Testing Facility, Oak Ridge developed a three-day training program called Protecting the Environment with Refrigerant Management. To give participants a hands-on situation, Oak Ridge built two refrigeration-unit simulators out of scrap parts. Topics covered by this training include Section 608 of the Clean Air Act; American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 15 standards; Department of Transportation requirements; good service practices; record keeping; handling of refrigerants; refrigerant recovery and recycling; refrigerant containments; leak check and repair techniques; equipment maintenance and retrofitting; and alternative refrigerants.

Oak Ridge has trained more than 130 of its technicians and support staff, and over 700 participants from other Department of Energy (DOE) facilities and private businesses across eastern Tennessee. The training program has now been expanded into an in-depth, interactive, four-day class which is being shown across the Nation via satellite.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.