Remember That Nuclear Dump Site That 'Was Never Supposed to Leak'?

www.commondreams.org...

"There's been radioactivity from nuclear waste released on the surface into the environment," said Don Hancock, Director of the Nuclear Waste Program at the Southwest Research and Information Center, in an interview with Common Dreams. "This was never supposed to happen. That's a very serious thing. We don't know yet what caused this release, or how much has been released."

Samples taken near the federally-run Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), 25 miles east of the town of Carlsbad, showed "slightly elevated levels of airborne radioactive concentrations, which are consistent with the waste disposed," according to the DOE.

This is very disturbing. This is a 'state-of-the-art' underground nuclear disposal facility. Just how is it 'venting' into the atmosphere?

There was an accident there on February 5th, an underground truck fire:

The revelation of airborne radiation comes one week after the DOE announced detection of what they said was likely was an underground radiation leak at the facility — a leak that was later confirmed. Radioactive shipments to WIPP have been halted since February 5th when a vehicle caught on fire underground, forcing the evacuation of the facility.

reply to post by FyreByrd


Complely ignore all these people that have protested the dangers of nuclear power, see cash signs everywhere and just go ahead and use it anyway. Fracking, ignore all the people that protested the environmental damage it causes, see cash signs everywhere and go ahead and use it anyway.

There's definite patterns here

Yes, this seems to be fairly big news, should be the top headline in the US now, maybe only behind the Ukraine for the current international headline, yet very few seem to know about it or are talking about, the threads even started on ATS, two of which I saw and both contained the word "possible leak", have died a quick death.

Just more confirmation of the Oligarchy which controls amongst other sectors nuke power and the media.

Why do you think all those radiation sensor whent dead between 21 and 24
just by accident technical problem my a$$

One more reason to leave Carlsbad [besides drought, dust, noisy trucks], hopefully late March...

we have a society that is not sure about things that happened a 1000 years ago but will leave waste that can last 100.000 years with some of it in drums that will rust in 30 years what is the worst that can happen

well all those kicked cans are now coming back

Seriously it is about time to start having that discussion.

You know...

The one where we seriously start to globally discuss the idea of just shipping all of our spent fuel, out-dated crap, disaster remnants, etc. to the sun.

In my personal opinion, the future of the planet and the species on it far outweighs the cost of heavy pay-load rockets that completely disintegrate before even contacting the sun.

From Thom Hartmann:

According to RadCast.org, there are major issues at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Energy Department officials continue to claim that the leak poses no threat to human health, but some scientists disagree. Russell Hardy, the director of the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center, said that the levels of americium and plutonium were the highest ever recorded at that site. Dan Hancock, the director of the Nuclear Waste Safety Program in Albuquerque, posed the questions, "Does anybody really know what happened in the underground [site] and how much [radiation] was released or is continuing to be released? And therefore, how much is being captured by the filters and how much is getting into the environment?" In addition, one of RadCast's contributors reported levels spiking to 108 counts per minute yesterday, despite being 200 miles down-wind of that plant. It appears this leak may be more serious than officials are letting on, and RadCast will continue monitoring this situation closely. You can find more information and all the latest updates on the Carlsbad leak at RadCast.org.

truth-out.org...

reply to post by OatDelphi


I often used to think of this as a solution myself but then someone
pointed out the fact that one single rocket failure with a payload
of nuclear waste could realistically make life on this planet very
unpleasant. While i agree that method of disposal should be our
goal i do not think rockets are the proper method for transport.

Maybe when we can get a space elevator to orbit then blast them
from there to the sun it will be viable.

Butt there again why are we not pouring every spare penny on
the planet into developing this tech so it will be available in
time to make a difference. People would rather just pretend
we are all just gonna be fine even though the reality of those
claims are tested again and again at great cost.

What if that "truck fire" is actually an entire underground chamber that went up in flames?
That would be pretty nasty. Would also explain a lot.
Just posing a 'what if' since we don't know anything for sure.

I find it very disturbing to know that the Government actively ignores the population on these topics.

So this pollution is like 'radioactive tyranny' in a way, because the populace by in large disagrees with being dumped on.
Yet the dump upon us continues unabated. And we are lied to about it as well as suffering so others can profit $$$.

I really think it would be fair if all Gov't officials shown and proven to have 'Lied to the people about this' should have to go to that facility and put in 1 or 2 weeks of clean up duty. Their lies got radioactive waste on us and our environment while they profit $$$, we need to flip this system of rewards around pronto.

In a lot of ways I feel it's too late to reverse course. Let's hope I'm wrong.

I consider pollution the # 1 problem our species faces.
(why are our biggest problems always ourselves?)

reply to post by FyreByrd


Serious question here but how serious is this, really? The reason i ask is because the quote itself states "slightly elevated levels of airborne radiation".

I do not mean to downplay this, it just doesn't seem that serious - unless they levels themselves are being downplayed and it is actually far worse than that. Obviously, no one wants to hear about radiation leaks but given that specific quote, am i missing something?

FyreByrd
From Thom Hartmann:

According to RadCast.org, there are major issues at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Energy Department officials continue to claim that the leak poses no threat to human health, but some scientists disagree. Russell Hardy, the director of the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center, said that the levels of americium and plutonium were the highest ever recorded at that site. Dan Hancock, the director of the Nuclear Waste Safety Program in Albuquerque, posed the questions, "Does anybody really know what happened in the underground [site] and how much [radiation] was released or is continuing to be released? And therefore, how much is being captured by the filters and how much is getting into the environment?" In addition, one of RadCast's contributors reported levels spiking to 108 counts per minute yesterday, despite being 200 miles down-wind of that plant. It appears this leak may be more serious than officials are letting on, and RadCast will continue monitoring this situation closely. You can find more information and all the latest updates on the Carlsbad leak at RadCast.org.

truth-out.org...

Ahahaha, thanks Fyrebyrd (clearly a fail by me in comprehension there!). Still, this also appears to be a bit "wishy washy". So they have recorded the "highest levels"? But what are those levels? How excessive are they? Or are they within acceptable parameters but still high? I hate it when official statements are put out with next to no information!

reply to post by Flavian


I don't think there is any way to know exactly how much leaked, but rather we can make projections and calculate how much theoretically was released only if we have full declassified data revealing everything that is there and what condition it is in.

If it is a "Containment facility" an airborne leak means "Containment failed".
Some waste held in there will need to be "Contained" for the foreseeable future...
If "Containment" has been breached already, what does that tell you?

The issue is more about "potential dangers", and underlines the fact we need to treat this issue extremely seriously and force the government to open the files and show exactly what is going on so society can help brainstorm ways to solve these problems more effectively. A major problem is that they only have a few guys w/access to the real data who are "thinking about solutions", if even that many.

Think about it, an "Airborne release" of "materials supposedly underground" is a major lapse in containment procedure.
Hopefully the extent of this event is a mere truck fire/accident topside or around the entrance rather than a large underground disaster that got outta hand. I will hope for the least painful potential.

bloodreviara
reply to post by OatDelphi

 

I often used to think of this as a solution myself but then someone
pointed out the fact that one single rocket failure with a payload
of nuclear waste could realistically make life on this planet very
unpleasant.

It is a necessary risk, IMO.

The subsequent dispersal of nuclear waste in the event of a catastrophic rocket failure, is no more a problem than what we are realistically already facing.

reply to post by FyreByrd


If they cannot contain these hazardous materials in a custom designed state of the art facility that was intentionally built for the specific purpose of doing just that maybe it's time to start worrying!

Flavian
reply to post by FyreByrd

 

Serious question here but how serious is this, really? The reason i ask is because the quote itself states "slightly elevated levels of airborne radiation".

I do not mean to downplay this, it just doesn't seem that serious - unless they levels themselves are being downplayed and it is actually far worse than that. Obviously, no one wants to hear about radiation leaks but given that specific quote, am i missing something?

The main problem (other than radiation & ingested or inhaled particulates of radioisotopes being cumulative) this facility was supposted to be leak proof at least as far as atmospheric leaks are concerned.

Not only are these 100,000-year nuclear waste dump sites supposed to be "leak proof", but all the backup generators (in case of a power outage) used in these nuclear power plants are coined as being "fail safe" too.



Just some food for thought as we all sleep cozily in our beds tonight...

CranialSponge

Just some food for thought as we all sleep cozily in our beds tonight...

...and in our graves tomorrow.

And don't even mention people are in serious shape because of H1N1 here in Michigan. Call Uof M hospital for an update on how many are there.

If highway 62/180 (from Carlsbad to Hobbs) closes down, I will try to remember to post it here. If that happens, we KNOW it's serious.