http://www.spiderbomb.com/blog/?p=2722
These people are insane
In a previous post I was banging on about what appears to be quite a serious radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Program (WIPP), in the New Mexico desert. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is a Department of Energy (DoE) ‘experimental’ nuclear waste dump (mostly the crap left over from the manufacture of nuclear weapons). The waste is stored 2000 feet below ground in vast salt mine caverns. The WIPP has been in operation for 15 years now, apparently without any incidents. Then, on 5th February, dense black smoke was seen coming from a mine ventilation shaft. It was announced that one of the vehicles in the mine had caught fire, which seemed plausible at the time. However, the plot thickened when it was announced that on 14th February a “puff” of unfiltered radiation came up one of the mine’s vent shafts, and contained isotopes of plutonium and americium. Apparently no one was in the mine at the time, although a number of workers above ground were contaminated. Since then things have become very confused. It would seem that no one has been down the mine since the vehicle fire on 5th February, and that there is a continuous release of radiation.Much of the stuff stored at WIPP is transuranic waste (‘TRU’), which consists of man-made radionuclides, alpha emitters like plutonium. It’s lethal stuff, both at a chemicle level and an atomic level, which is why they have to put it half a mile underground. Ever since the 14th February radiation release, to allay concerns the Department of Energy and the WIPP have been holding a public meeting every week in the town of Carlsbad, which is 26 miles to the west of WIPP and the nearest large population centre. Fran Williams is a WIPP technical advisor. At a 6th March public meeting she came out with the following quite astounding statement…
You can find the complete meeting here.
To try and explain why Ms Williams’ statement is somewhat astounding, let’s take two of the better known isotopes: cesium-137 and plutonium-239. Imagine if you were sitting at your dining table, and a pea-sized piece of plutonium-239 was placed in the centre of the table. You’d be relatively safe because plutoium-239 is an alpha emmitter, and alpha rays can’t penetrate very far; a sheet of paper or clothing or your skin will stop them. If we replace the plutonium-239 with a pea-sized piece of cesium-137 you’d be in trouble, because cesium-137 is a beta emmitter and beta rays can penetrate much further than alpha rays, and can certainly go through a sheet of paper and clothing and skin, thus doing damage inside the body.
So, as an external source of ionising radiation, cesium-137 is much more dangerous than plutonium-239; but when it comes to internal ionising radiation (ie, if this stuff gets inside your body) the opposite is the case, because alpha rays, whilst they don’t penetrate very far, are much more energetic than beta rays, and in the case of plutonium-239 are very long lasting (plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years, making it dangerous for 240,000 years). Cesium-137 has a decay energy of 1.2 electron volts, whilst plutonium-239 has a decay energy almost five times higher at 5.2 electron volts. This decay energy translates into damage done to body cells. To put it simply, plutonium-239 is much more carcinogenic than cesium-137; although don’t underestimate cesium-137, because it’s a nasty as well.
Now, getting back to the public meeting in Carlsbad, there’s two scenarios here: either these officials are complete ignoramuses, or else they are fully aware of how dangerous transuranic waste is and are deliberately misleading the public. Either way, you have to call into question the psychology of these people, and whether they should be allowed to hold the positions they do. Likewise, there’s now more than 80,000 cubic meters of nuclear waste at WIPP (here) and you have to question whether it’s sensible to put all this crap together in one place, because if anything goes wrong you could be in big trouble (I could also add that there’s oil and gas drilling right up to the boundries of WIPP; fracking as well). WIPP is designed to store nuclear waste for 10,000 years, but much of these radionuclides have very long half-lives and need to be stored safely and securely for hundreds of thousands of years. No one really knows how to do this; and worldwide there are more than 400 nuclear reactors, and each year they produce tons and tons of nuclear waste. Remind me again, what’s the definition of insanity…
But getting back to WIPP, these last few weeks there’s been hardly any news at all. The latest comprehensive stuff I can find is a Nuclear Hotseat podcast from 1st April. Incidentally, also in the last few weeks many of the anti-nuke web sites have been hacked, including Nuclear Hotseat -
http://www.nuclearhotseat.com/
More about WIPP can be found in my previous post
carlsbad radiation
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NewsDaily: No signs of radiation in water near nuke dump
www.newsdaily.com/.../no-signs-of-radiation-in-wat...Traducir esta páginahace 2 días - CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) — Water samples from three reservoirs near the federal government's underground nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico show no signs of contamination after a radiation leak at the plant. Waste Isolation ...New reports show no detectable contamination at New ...
www.kcbd.com/.../new-reports-show-no-detectable-...Traducir esta páginaDe KCBD Staffhace 4 días - New details released about the radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant outside Carlsbad, NM report that no contamination levels have been detected.Ace Hoffman's Nuclear Failures Reports: Re: [New post ...
acehoffman.blogspot.com/.../re-new-post-nrc-scienc...Traducir esta páginahace 20 horas - But in general, medical doses have been significantly reduced over the past few decades because radiation is so incredibly dangerous, and because better and better radiation detectors are now available. Sincerely, Ace Hoffman Carlsbad ...wolfblitzzer0: The Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle | Lots of hard to ...
wolfblitzzer0.blogspot.com/.../the-louisiana-sinkhole...Traducir esta páginaDe Tony Ryalshace 6 días - 21 hours ago - S E A R C H. Search. Carlsbad ... Car Filter Radiation Test · More on Old Miss. ... Crew suffered massive radiation doses, dozens now have cancer — Report: ... The Louisiana Sinkhole Bugle. Lots of hard to find news on the big ...Past Tense: Recipe: Long-haired Jim and Little Luke ...
www.currentargus.com/carlsbad.../past-tense-recipe-l...Traducir esta páginaDe By Drew Gomber For the Current-Argus Sources: "The Shooters," by Leon Metz, and "Classic Gunfights," by Bob Boze Bell.hace 2 días - Carlsbad Family Fellowship to hold last service; Calvary Assembly church buying Church Street building · NMSU's small business development ... helps business owners grow · WIPP: New report shows no signs of radiation in water samples ...Nuclear hotseat hacked again! Its just that good! Plus some ...
https://nuclear-news.net/.../nuclear-hotseat-hacked-a...Traducir esta páginaDe arclight2011part2hace 7 días - Latest details on WIPP site radiation release in Carlsbad, NM w/Don Hancock; new anti-nuclear “holiday” on April 10: Bequerels Awareness Day (BAD – because Radiation is BAD to eat!) to contact your Senators and Congressional Reps to ...These people are insane | The Burgundy Blog
www.spiderbomb.com/blog/?p=2722Traducir esta páginaDe Rob Godfreyhace 22 horas - Ever since the 14th February radiation release, to allay concerns the Department of Energy and the WIPP have been holding a public meeting every week in the town of Carlsbad, which is 26 miles to the west of WIPP and the nearest large ...Decision expected in Pecos River water fight - Carlsbad ...
www.currentargus.com/carlsbad.../decision-expected...Traducir esta páginaDe By Zack Ponce zponce@currentargus.com @zackponce12 on Twitterhace 6 días - The state had been pumping from March 2011 until the floods that occurred last fall to fulfill its obligations to deliver water to farmers and ranchers of the Carlsbad Irrigation District. "We expect a hearing officer recommendation really anytime now," said Estevan Lopez, director of the Interstate Stream ... church buying Church Street building · NMSU's small business development center helps business owners grow · WIPP: New report shows no signs of radiation in water samples ... News - No More Lies - The Honest Intelligence Gathering of ...
thehonestintelligence.blogspot.com/.../lt-greg-d-raels...Traducir esta páginahace 18 horas - And with dozens of U.S Navy personnel falling sick from radiation contamination, new questions are arising over what Tokyo's electric power company and the U.S Navy may have known about the extent of radiation exposure. RT's Ameera ...The Ongoing Saga 21: News, Updates, Tidbits & Trivia ...
https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/.../the-ongoi...Traducir esta páginaDe miningawarenesshace 4 días - EPA is in daily contact with DOE, the New Mexico Environment Department and the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center. To date, EPA's review of the data collected indicates: That the radiation releases do not ... Radiation is classified as either high linear energy transfer (high LET) or low linear energy transfer (low LET), based on the amount of energy it transfers per unit path length it travels. Alpha radiation is high LET; beta and gamma radiation are low LET.
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