Possible radiation leak at New Mexico military nuclear waste site

Unusually high levels of radioactive particles were found at an underground nuclear waste site in New Mexico on Saturday in what a spokesman said looked like the first real alarm since the plant opened in 1999.

U.S. officials were testing for radiation in air samples at the site where radioactive waste, such as plutonium used in defense research and nuclear weapon making, is dumped half a mile below ground in an ancient salt formation.

It was not yet clear what caused the air-monitoring system to indicate that radioactive particles were present at unsafe levels, Nelson said.

Possible radiation leak at New Mexico military nuclear waste site

It seems the reading could have been a faulty equipment but its something to look for, especially if you live in the area.

A team could be sent below ground before the end of the weekend and Nelson said the plant was "not in active operations. We're in a period we have normally reserved for shutting down the facility for maintenance".

A truck got on fire in an unrelated part of the plant early this week.

WP report


the anomalous measurement was detected at 11:30 pm Friday

reply to post by Indigent


It's all gonna catch up to us someday that's for sure.
Good heads up!

The story's a bit misleading. Well, in places it's Godawfully wrong, but that's modern science journalism.

Case in point:

Nelson said the facility may have accurate measurements as early as Sunday on the number of airborne alpha and beta particles, which can be harmful if inhaled or ingested.

Bwa ha ha ha! Really? Airborne beta particles you can inhale? (facepalm.jpg)

At any rate, that line ought to be a warning sign about the rest of the article. The article also wants to imply that they're storing high level nuclear waste -

...where radioactive waste, such as plutonium used in defense research and nuclear weapon making, is dumped half a mile below ground in an ancient salt formation.

WIPP stores contaminated trash. Crap like gloves that have been used to handle material. Or machine tool parts, or wipe-down rags. Old protection suits. Wash water from people or equipment that has transuranics in it.

No barrels of waste. No Blinky the three-eyed fish. No Hanford level crap. It's trash with transuranics on it. Grant you, it has to be contaminated enough to measure, WIPP doesn't take run-of-the-mill gloves and paper suits that were used and might have been exposed and might not. It has to actually have something on it. But it's not boiling 50 gallon drums of plutonium waste.

reply to post by Bedlam

WIPP stores contaminated trash. Crap like gloves that have been used to handle material. Or machine tool parts, or wipe-down rags. Old protection suits. Wash water from people or equipment that has transuranics in it.

Sand and more with a minimum 100nC of radioactivity and no upper level specified, I for sure wont like to be rubbed all over with a glove or a rag of that place

randyvs
reply to post by Indigent

 

It's all gonna catch up to us someday that's for sure.
Good heads up!

They're on it. They got it covered.

Channel 9 (WGN) ran a news story two weeks ago, saying that cancer will skyrocket 57% in the near future, because people are living longer, or some such clap trap. There was no mention of the big FU. The causes that were finally cited were held off till the end of the story, sort of a pregnant pause. They know what we are waiting for, expecting to hear, sort of....

# 168

reply to post by Indigent


100nC is pretty piddly though. And while I wouldn't want to pick it up barehanded, it's not like they've got heaps of pits and reactor rods.

reply to post by Bedlam


You miss that is the minimum value to be stored there, not the average or anything

Indigent
reply to post by Bedlam

 

You miss that is the minimum value to be stored there, not the average or anything

No, no, I understand it's the minimum, but this is a storage site for tool parts and clothing, not buckets of simmering plutonium chloride or green glowing spent rods or the like. To call it a "nuclear waste dump" is a bit misleading, IMHO.

Indigent
...and no upper level specified

They're not permitted to store high level waste so there's an upper limit specified somewhere. I'll give a look for the requirements, although I'm pretty busy the next five days.

eta: if I'm reading it right, there's a limit of 7.5 million Curies of total storage on site at any one time.

I think its a very serious event that is taking place. There is talk of plutonium clouds traversing US, and I take it that would mean N. America.


Prep To Evacuate!! USAF Base Orders 1200 Radiation Suits in Albuquerque, NM

An event without much coverage and also, the monitors were taken off recently, to accomodate???

I am not vouching for this video, but think its important to look at and assess the situation.


enenews.com... -santa-fe-briefing-serious-incident-involving-radi

Official: 4.4 mil disintegration of alpha radiation detected at leaking U.S. nuclear site, includes Plutonium; Highest recorded level — Santa Fe Briefing: “Serious incident involving radiation at the WIPP site” — Gov’t “reaching out to employees who are worried” about exposure

enenews.com... obility-expert-fuel-materials-may-be-flowing-in-o

NPR: Scientists test for Fukushima plutonium being transported in Pacific — Study: Plutonium particles found to have “high environmental mobility” — Expert: Fuel materials may be flowing from plant, “What is actually contained in releases?” (AUDIO)

I remember finding government and scientific pdf's on plutonium traveling far. Its not supposed to be that portable being such a heavy element but apparently thats not accurate.

This is the latest i have seen on this subject

Almost two weeks after an unexplained puff of radioactive materials forced the closing of a salt mine in New Mexico that is used to bury nuclear bomb wastes, managers of the mine are planning to send workers back in and are telling nearby residents that their health is safe.

There was some small release of radiation, however. The Carlsbad research center registered the materials — plutonium and americium — on filter materials installed on air monitors in the surrounding desert. These filters must be collected and then dissolved in acid so the material they trapped can be analyzed. They can detect amounts far smaller than the device that registered the initial alarm, but the process takes many hours.

The materials registered on the surface are consistent with the material buried at the plant, but the quantities released are far below the levels at which the Environmental Protection Agency would recommend any action, officials said.

Even in the desert, the danger to humans was small, the mine’s operators said. The highest reading from the monitors indicated that a person could have inhaled radioactive material that would emit a dose, over the person’s lifetime, of 3.4 millirem, an amount roughly equal to three days of natural background radiation. But to get the dose, the person would have had to stand for hours in the desert, on the downwind side of the plant.

Nuclear Waste Repository Set to Reopen After Leak

From what I can see digging through some links, the basis is on this:

www.fbo.gov...

An ordering of the suits.

enenews.com... n-travel-a-long-way-in-wind-tv-reporter-they

US Official: Large amounts of radioactive particles were released during initial ‘puff’ event at leaking nuclear site — Expert: Plutonium can travel ‘a long way’ in wind — TV: “They’re saying we shouldn’t worry… yet; Yet is the key word” (VIDEOS)

Repeat of this, but I don't think what they are saying is accurate at this point, because an event occurred, and they can sing safety songs till the cows come home, an event with plutonium just occurred, that doesnt go away.

Fire At Carlsbad Nuclear Waste New Mexico

DoE spokesman Roger Nelson, cited by the Carlsbad Current Argus, said: "It's safe to say this is the most serious fire we've ever had underground."

According to the DoE, the New Mexico site is "the nation's first repository for the permanent disposal of defense-generated transuranic radioactive waste left from research and production of nuclear weapons."

The plant, some 270 miles (434 kilometers) southeast of Albuquerque, is used to dispose of material including plutonium-contaminated waste from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, about 300 miles (483 kilometers) away, also in New Mexico

Under the video. Its also close to Area 51.

I don't understand nuclear waste so could the vehicle starting on fire have to do with this leak?

Carlsbad, NM close to area 51?

roadgravel
Carlsbad, NM close to area 51?

Yeah I don't know why this is getting in here but it's a 1400 km road trip, As close to any point in 8 other states

Update:

Home> Technology Air Testing at Nuclear Dump Shows No Contamination

New air testing in the nation's only underground nuclear repository showed no detectable radioactive contamination from a leak last month, the U.S. Department of Energy said Sunday.

Officials at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad said in a statement that the results came in as four more employees tested positive for low levels of radiation. The Energy Department earlier reported that 13 other workers were exposed, but they say all 17 aren't likely to face any serious health effects and that there appears to be no danger aboveground.

Investigators sent instruments used to measure air quality and radioactivity underground Friday and Saturday in the first step toward resuming operations at the plant, which has been shut down since early February when a truck caught fire in a separate incident.

Air tests were done on a shaft and elevator system used to take personnel underground as well as the shaft that provides ventilation below the surface. Initial results indicate no contamination in the air or on the measuring equipment, officials said.

All clear (For real hope so)