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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

5 TYPES OF PLUTONIUM RELEASED AT NUCLEAR ACCIDENT SITE IN NEW MEXICO




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YOU MAY ALSO SEE HOW THE WIND CARRIED  RADIATION IN EACH DIRECTION ...
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Immediately after the leak was discovered, the public should have been given a detailed explanation of what was released, said Dr. Bob Neill, who received his degree in radiological medicine.  Americium 241 and plutonium 239 were mentioned. “But there are four other radio-isotopes of plutonium, namely the 238, 240, the beta and 241,” he said. “They’re all bone-seekers. So you want to be able to report all the values—how each one may have contributed. It’s just essential.”
The director of an organization that evaluated the WIPP site for over 25 years said officials aren’t doing enough to inform New Mexicans.
Dr. Neill led the Environmental Evaluation Group, which provided independent technical evaluations of the WIPP project for more than two decades. He retired a year after the plant opened in 1999, and the group disbanded in 2004.
He said it’s essential for the government to not only perform analyses and acquire data but to communicate those results to the public.

FROM A COMMENT ON WHAT HE SAID:
"The problem in communication occurred when the public was not communicated the information they are entitled, by federal law, to receive in regards to their public health and safety. Given data in radioactivity values rather than dose values was their first deception. Not explaining to the public in Carlsbad and the nation the limits of dose exposure they are allowed to be subjected to by federal law was the next deception. Not giving the public a time table of "when" an evacuation would be ordered by federal law under current release data calculated into projections of necessity and again that is "when" not "if" as Neill speculates, was the worst deception of all. When you have increasing release trends a timetable becomes a valuable tool for aiding the public in making life changing decisions on relocation. Franco stating that it will take "several years for cancer" to develop was honest however not given in full context of the information the public was entitled too. In addition, those public meetings are not for WIPP public relations purposes they are for the emergency management of a community after a nuclear accident and not once were they conducted "

DR. HELEN CALDICOTT March 2014: One of the repositories for very, very dangerous radioactive waste plutonium, americium, etc. has just leaked radiation all around the area in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
One microgram of plutonium, a millionth of a gram of plutonium, if inhaled will induce lung cancer. It’s extraordinarily radioactive.
So they thought this would be safe storing radiation in salt mines, but something happened, one of the casks blew up or part of the ceiling fell on the casks, we do not know.
But I predict that that facility will never be able to be used again, it will be so contaminated.

WE KNOW NOW THAT THERE WAS A SECOND RELEASE.
CARLSBAD, N.M. —New air sampling data from southeastern New Mexico's troubled nuclear waste dump indicates there has been another small radiation release.
Department of Energy officials say a monitoring station picked up elevated radiation readings around the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad on March 11. That's nearly a month after a Valentine's Day leak contaminated 17 workers and shut the only repository for toxic waste from the nation's nuclear bomb-building program.
The plant has been shuttered since early February. Shipments were halted after a truck hauling salt through the repository's tunnels caught fire. Nine days later, the plant's alarms were triggered by the radiation release.
LET'S EXPLORE THIS PLUTONIUM THING...
As the Argonne National Laboratory noted:
Essentially all the plutonium on earth has been created within the past six decades by human activities involving fissionable materials.
UNDERSTAND, PLEASE, THAT MAN HAS CREATED PLUTONIUM AND MAN HAS UNLEASHED IT ACROSS THE GLOBE.
YOU REALLY NEED TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE FACTS IN ORDER TO LOOK FOR SOLUTIONS.
Atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, which ceased worldwide by 1980 , generated most environmental plutonium. About 10,000 kg were released to the atmosphere during these tests.
Average plutonium levels <PUT THERE BY NUCLEAR TESTING, ETC)  in surface soil from fallout range from about 0.01 to 0.1 picocurie per gram (pCi/g).
Accidents and other releases from weapons production facilities have caused greater localized contamination. 

So like radioactive cesium and iodide, plutonium doesn’t exist in nature in any significant quantity, and so “background radiation” is a meaningless concept.
[BURN THAT INTO YOUR MINDS..."BACKGROUND RADIATION" IS A MEANINGLESS CONCEPT!
ALL RADIATION IS HAZARDOUS TO HUMAN HEALTH AND EVERYONE IN MEDICINE AND SCIENCE KNOWS THIS!


“internal emitters” (radioactive substances which get inside our bodies) are more dangerous than “external emitters”. Plutonium is deadly as an internal emitter.
AGAIN, as Argone National Labs notes:
When plutonium is inhaled, a significant fraction can move from the lungs through the blood to other organs, depending on the solubility of the compound. Little plutonium is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract after ingestion, and little is absorbed through the skin following dermal contact. After leaving the intestine or lung, [ONLY] about 10% CLEARS the body. The rest of what enters the bloodstream (90%) deposits about equally in the liver and skeleton where it remains for long periods of time, with biological retention halflives of about 20 and 50 years, respectively, per simplified models that do not reflect intermediate redistribution. The amount deposited in the liver and skeleton depends on the age of the individual, with fractional uptake in the liver increasing with age. Plutonium in the skeleton deposits on the cortical and trabecular surfaces of bones and slowly redistributes throughout the volume of mineral bone with time...
There is an external gamma radiation hazard associated with plutonium-244 from it short-lived decay product neptunium-240m.
Inhaling airborne plutonium is the primary concern for all isotopes, and cancer resulting from the ionizing radiation is the health effect of concern. The ingestion hazard associated with common forms of plutonium is much lower than the inhalation hazard

PLUTONIUM IS HEAVY BUT CAN TRAVEL HUNDREDS OF MILES FROM ITS RELEASE SITE AS HAS BEEN PROVEN BY CHERNOBYL AND WILL BE PROVEN BY FUKUSHIMA.
Although plutonium is a long-lived emitter of radiation, it is also quite heavy, so it is not likely to move very far downwind from its source. However, plutonium from Chernobyl has been discovered in Sweden and Poland.
So plutonium might be heavier than other radioactive materials, but it is not so heavy that it can’t travel hundreds of miles in the right circumstances.
Plutonium is a particularly long-lived and toxic material. The half-life of plutonium-239 is 24,000 years, so if it escaped in smoke from a burning reactor and contaminated soil downwind, it would remain hazardous for tens of thousands of years.

FROM THE U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION ITSELF...
Nearly all plutonium is man-made. It does occur naturally in very small amounts in a type of ore called pitchblende. Once the main source of uranium and radium, pitchblende contains one part per trillion of natural plutonium.
Plutonium emits alpha particles—a type of radiation that does not penetrate and has a short range so it is easy to contain. But plutonium can be long-lived. It can deposit in the bones and lungs, and could increase an individual's cancer risk. Therefore, exposure limits are set very low.
There are 15 different forms, or isotopes, of plutonium. Each has a different number of neutrons, so the isotopes are identified by different numbers to indicate their mass. Some isotopes are "fissionable"—which means the atom's nucleus is unstable and can easily split apart if it is struck by a neutron. Pu-239 and Pu-241 are the most abundant of the fissionable isotopes of plutonium.
The different isotopes of plutonium have different "half-lives" – the time it takes for one-half of a radioactive substance to decay. Pu-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years and Pu-241's half-life is 14.4 years. The plutonium isotope with the shortest half-life, 20 minutes, is Pu-233. Naturally occurring Pu-244 has the longest half-life—80 million years. Substances with shorter half-lives emit stronger radioactive energy, so they decay more quickly than those with longer half-lives.
When radioactive isotopes decay, they transform. They might become different plutonium isotopes or different elements, such as uranium or neptunium.
The most common form of plutonium is plutonium oxide. If plutonium oxide is inhaled, some of it remains in the lungs. Between 20 and 60 percent can remain, depending upon the size of the particles and other factors. If plutonium oxide gets into an open wound, it may move directly into bones and other organs, mainly the liver.
. A commercial power reactor creates plutonium in its many isotopic forms, including Pu-239, Pu-240, Pu-241, and Pu-242. This is known as "reactor-grade" plutonium. In contrast, "weapons-grade" plutonium is almost pure Pu-239 (over 90 percent). This form requires a specially designed and operated reactor. Plutonium production reactors operated by the U.S. government during the Cold War have all shut down.
With the end of the Cold War, the United States and the former Soviet Union began dismantling thousands of nuclear weapons. This work created a surplus of high enriched uranium and plutonium. To keep the surplus from falling into the wrong hands, the U.S. and Russia agreed to mix their plutonium with uranium to make mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for power reactors. Irradiating the "weapons-grade" plutonium in a commercial reactor makes it "reactor-grade" and no longer useful for weapons. There would be no reprocessing or subsequent reuse of the MOX spent fuel. It would be disposed in a deep geologic repository along with other high-level nuclear waste. -January 2014>>

FROM THE ABOMINABLE CDC:
Where does [PLUTONIUM] come from?
Plutonium is created from uranium in nuclear reactors. It is a by-product of nuclear weapons production and nuclear power operations.
How can it hurt me?
Because it emits alpha particles, plutonium is most dangerous when inhaled. When plutonium particles are inhaled, they lodge in the lung tissue. The alpha particles can kill lung cells, which causes scarring of the lungs, leading to further lung disease and cancer. Plutonium can enter the blood stream from the lungs and travel to the kidneys, meaning that the blood and the kidneys will be exposed to alpha particles. Once plutonium circulates through the body, it concentrates in the bones, liver, and spleen, exposing these organs to alpha particles.
What are the immediate health effects of exposure to radiation?
Exposure to large amounts of radiation over a short period of time can cause Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS). If you have symptoms of ARS (skin burns, nausea, or vomiting) seek medical attention as soon as it is safe to leave your building or shelter. If you were exposed to a small amount of radiation, you will not see any health effects right away.
YOU WILL SEE THE EFFECTS, BUT NOT RIGHT AWAY!!!

Short-Term Health Effects of Radiation Exposure and Contamination
  • Acute Radiation Syndrome Radiation sickness, known as acute radiation syndrome (ARS).
  • Cutaneous Radiation Injury (CRI) Happens when exposure to a large dose of radiation causes injury to the skin.

    Long-Term Health Effects of Radiation Exposure and Contamination

    ~Cancer
    People who receive high doses of radiation could have a greater risk of developing cancer later in life, depending on the level of radiation exposure.
  • Prenatal Radiation Exposure It is especially important that pregnant women follow instructions from emergency officials and seek medical attention as soon as emergency officials say it is safe to do so after a radiation emergency.
  • Mental Health Any emergency, including those involving radiation, can cause emotional and psychological distress.
WHAT COULD BE WORSE THAN PLUTONIUM?
MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, POLONIUM?
POLONIUM IS ALSO FOUND AT NUCLEAR REACTORS, YOU SEE, AND ALSO BECOMES A "WASTE PRODUCT" THAT IS SELDOM SPOKEN OF.

IT'S LETHAL DOSAGE IS SO LOW THAT 1 GRAM OF THE STUFF CAN POISON 20 MILLION PEOPLE AND HALF OF THOSE WILL DIE QUICKLY....BUT IT IS FOUND AT NUCLEAR REACTORS.
According to United Nuclear, they typically sell between four and eight sources per year.
In the United States, polonium was produced as part of the Manhattan Project's Dayton Project during World War II. It was a critical part of the implosion-type nuclear weapon design used in the Fat Man bomb on Nagasaki in 1945. Polonium and beryllium were the key ingredients of the 'urchin' detonator at the center of the bomb's spherical plutonium pit. The urchin ignited the nuclear chain reaction at the moment of prompt-criticality to ensure the bomb did not fizzle.
The Atomic Energy Commission and the Manhattan Project funded human experiments using polonium on 5 people at the University of Rochester between 1943 and 1947. The people were administered between 9 and 22 microcuries (330 and 810 kBq) of polonium to study its excretion.
Polonium-210 is typically used in static elimination devices employed in various industries.

Some prototype Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators, first built in 1958 by the US Atomic Energy Commission, have used Polonium-210. This isotope provides phenomenal power density because of its high radioactive activity, but has limited use because of its very short half-life of 138 days.
WHERE DID THOSE WIND UP?
CHESAPEAKE BAY, OFF THE GULF COAST, WHERE?
I WONDER BECAUSE...
In 1969 the launch of the first Lunokhod lunar rover mission failed, spreading polonium 210 over a large area of Russia


Polonium is a very rare element in nature found in uranium ores at ONLY about 0.1 mg per metric ton. Because of intense alpha radiation, a one-gram sample of 210Po will spontaneously heat up to above 500 °C (932 °F) generating about 140 watts of power. Therefore, 210Po is used as an atomic heat source to power radioisotope thermoelectric generators via thermoelectric materials.
Polonium is highly dangerous and has no biological role.
By mass, polonium-210 is around 250,000 times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide.
The main hazard is its intense radioactivity (as an alpha emitter), which makes it very difficult to handle safely.
The median lethal dose (LD50) for acute radiation exposure is generally about 4.5 Sv.
The committed effective dose equivalent 210Po is 0.51 µSv/Bq if ingested, and 2.5 µSv/Bq if inhaled.
So a fatal 4.5 Sv dose can be caused by ingesting 8.8 MBq (240 µCi), about 50 nanograms
(ng), or inhaling 1.8 MBq (49 µCi), about 10 ng.
One gram of 210Po could thus, in theory, poison 20 million people of whom 10 million would die.

In addition to the acute effects, radiation exposure (both internal and external) carries a long-term risk of death from cancer of 5–10% per Sv.

The general population is exposed to small amounts of polonium as a radon daughter in indoor air; the isotopes 214Po and 218Po are thought to cause the majority.
The maximum allowable body burden for ingested 210Po is only 1.1 kBq (30 nCi), which is equivalent to a particle massing only 6.8 picograms.

Polonium is also found in the food chain, especially in seafood.
IT'S FOUND IN SEAFOOD BECAUSE NUCLEAR TESTING AND NUCLEAR REACTORS AND MAN PUT IT THERE, USING THE OCEAN AS A TESTING SITE, DUMPING WASTE INTO IT, AND ALL THOSE NASTY LITTLE "ACCIDENTS"..

THEY ALSO KNOW THAT POLONIUM IS IN OUR FOOD BECAUSE THEY PUT IT THERE, BY MEANS OF PHOSPHATE FERTILIZERS!
AND THERE IS NO WAY TO REMOVE IT.

Radioactive polonium-210 contained in phosphate fertilizers is absorbed by the roots of plants  and stored in its tissues.

IF OUR AGING NUCLEAR FACILITIES WERE LEAKING POLONIUM, PLUTONIUM, OR ANYTHING ELSE ON A DAILY BASIS, SOMEONE WOULD TELL US, WOULDN'T THEY?
WELL, WOULDN'T THEY?
HOW ABOUT ALL THAT TESTING BACK IN THE 1940s-1960s...DID THEY TELL US THEN?

WHETHER AN ACCIDENT HAPPENS IN NEW MEXICO, WASHINGTON STATE, FUKUSHIMA, RUSSIA, OR ON THE MOON, WE WILL BE THE LAST TO KNOW HOW BAD THINGS ARE.

WE MUST REMEMBER THAT THE "FOUNDING FATHERS" CONSIDERED US COMMON CITIZENS SO STUPID, SO INCAPABLE OF CLEAR THOUGHT THAT THEY DEVISED THE "ELECTORAL COLLEGE" TO SCREW US OUT OF REALLY MAKING THE DECISIONS WHEN WE "VOTE".
<<The average person will lack the ability to recognize who the actual experts in the field are, leaving him vulnerable to political charlatans who will appeal to his emotions and not his reason.>>
WE WOULD HAVE BEEN TOO PANICKED BY NUCLEAR WEAPONS SO THAT WAS HIDDEN FROM US FOR YEARS.
WE'RE TOO SPOOKED BY THOUGHTS OF A LONG, DRAWN-OUT DEATH BY RADIATION POISONING, AND SO....
YOU DECIDE, BUT I'M SURE THE DECISIONS ARE NOT NOW, AS THEY NEVER WERE, OURS TO MAKE.
WE'RE JUST THE "FLOCK" AND THE SHEPHERDS KNOW BEST, RIGHT?













































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