THERE IS AN "ANOMALY" IN THE WASTE STACK AND THERE ARE STILL RADIATION LEAKS THERE.
JUST A FEW OF THE NEWS ITEMS OUT THERE, BUT NOT MUCH ON MAINSTREAM MEDIA...YET.
AT SOME POINT IN TIME, THEY WILL HAVE TO WARN LOCAL RESIDENTS OF THE CONTINUED LEAKS!
IT ISN'T JUST THE BAGS THAT POSE A HAZARD, IT'S ALSO THE DRUMS.
SOME ABOVE GROUND DRUMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN MOVED OFF-SITE BY NOW.
Tammy Reynolds, Deputy Recovery Manager at WIPP, May 1, 2014 (at 11:45 in): Some of these bags along the wall here… the form of those bags is not the same. They’re not upright… and also they look like they’ve been disturbed and don’t necessarily look like the material is contained in the bags… this bag has been grossly disturbed… the material on the outside of the bag looks almost like it’s been disintegrated or destroyed and you’re seeing the magnesium oxide sitting there without the bag around it… It looks like the material on the bag is no longer intact… It tells us that something has disturbed these bags, something has degraded the material on the outside… The roof of the mine looks good… we’re still not ruling out any possibilities at this point.
Video: WIPP nuclear site may close for several years — Explosion in multiple drums suspected — “Very much a cause for concern” — Top official gives ‘fiery speech’ calling for public to be told what has happened — DOE refuses to name source of nuclear waste May 9, 2014
WIPP announced Monday night that photos
taken over the weekend showed evidence of melted plastic and rubber on 55-gallon drums, indicating that the production of heat likely occurred
in the underground area where waste is stored, according to a news
release.
Jim Conca, who worked with WIPP from 2000
to 2010, said last week he believes a chemical reaction involving the
kitty litter caused a small explosion inside a waste drum. New Mexico
Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn confirmed on Monday that he
has heard Department of Energy officials discuss the possibility that
kitty litter may have been to blame for the radiation leak. Flynn said
it is just one of many theories the DOE is exploring and nothing is
certain at this time.
Reuters, May 16, 2014: An official with the New Mexico city near [WIPP] urged managers of the facility to remove improperly packaged drums of toxic debris to prevent another accident like a leak in February that released high levels of radiation. John Heaton [...] pressed officials [...] to remove potentially hazardous drums of refuse stored there. “Are we going to play footsie for another three months?” Heaton asked [...] “How much longer before you make a decision to go get a forklift and go get those drums?” [...] More containers of improperly packaged waste from Los Alamos pose potential hazards that should be addressed, Heaton said.
Albuquerque Journal,May 9, 2014: The head of the recovery effort at the federal government’s nuclear waste repository in southern New Mexico said Thursday it could be up to three years before full operations resume at the underground facility. [...] the focus has turned to a set of waste drums that came from Los Alamos National Laboratory. Officials at the meeting reiterated the possibility that there may have been a chemical reaction inside the drums. [...] New Mexico Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn said the theory of a chemical reaction is based on limited knowledge, and he urged officials during the meeting not to withhold any information. Flynn said he’s concerned the public will lose faith [...] “We need to know what happened. We absolutely need to know,” he said. [...] Los Alamos is under a tight deadline to get the plutonium-contaminated waste off its northern New Mexico campus before wildfire season peaks. [...] Lab Director Charlie McMillan said Thursday during a news conference in Albuquerque that the recent developments “are very much a cause for concern.”
Officials: “Grossly disturbed… disintegrated.. destroyed” bags found above nuclear material inside WIPP — “Anomaly in waste stack” — Chemical reaction suspected based on recent findings (PHOTO & VIDEO) May 2, 2014
Dept. of Energy, May 16, 2014: Visual evidence that shows a damaged waste container [...] “In the new pictures, the [ Los Alamos National Laboratory] container has a cracked lid and shows evidence of heat damage. Workers will continue investigating [...] if any other containers were involved or damaged,” said a DOE spokesperson.
TV: “Imminent situation” at U.S. nuclear site — Emergency operations center evacuated due to fire deep underground — “One of most serious incidents” on record — Anonymous footage of thick black smoke coming from ground (VIDEO) February 6, 2014
WIPP Expert: Nuclear waste is getting out above ground — Plutonium / Americium found in “every single worker” on site when leak began — New Mexico officials ‘totally unsatisfied’ with lack of info from Feds — “We don’t know how far away it’s gone” — Continuing threat for long time to come (AUDIO) March 5, 2014
TV: Radioactive waste containers may be “smashed and opened” after roof collapse at leaking U.S. nuclear site — Official: We believe there’s been a breach… “It’s a very serious thing” — ‘Seismic event’ mentioned — High levels of alpha and beta radiation detected (VIDEO) February 21, 2014
‘Container fire’ at WIPP may have resulted from ‘spontaneous combustion’ — Expert: “Could’ve crapped up a whole lot of real estate down there” — U.S. radioactive waste disposal system crippled? — Potential radiological consequences for public, City of Carlsbad “affected greater than any other section” March 8, 2014
Radiation leak at nuclear waste dump raises questions New York Post, May 16, 2014 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A radiation leak at the government’s troubled nuclear waste dump has been linked to a waste container shipped from Los Alamos National Laboratory, officials said Friday, raising questions about the safety of other barrels being stored on the lab’s northern New Mexico campus and at a temporary site in West Texas…….. watchdog Don Hancock of the Southwest Research and Information Center in Albuquerque said that until more is known about the breach, “we can’t have assurances.”
In a statement, the U.S. Department of Energy
said pictures from the latest entry into the half-mile deep Waste
Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico
confirm that a container from Los Alamos has a cracked lid and evidence
of heat damage.
Officials last week zeroed in on the
containers from Los Alamos, prompting officials to suspend shipments of
waste from Los Alamos to the temporary site in West Texas. In a
statement, the U.S. Department of Energy said pictures from the latest
entry into the half-mile deep Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near
Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico confirm that a container from Los
Alamos has a cracked lid and evidence of heat damage.
http://nuclear-news.net/category/1-nuclear-issues/safety/WIPP: NM Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn calls for immediate closure of waste panels [Current-Argus News]
05/12/2014
EIGHTY-FOUR DAYS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE FEBRUARY RADIATION LEAK AT THE WASTE ISOLATION PILOT PLANT AND COMMUNITY LEADERS IN CARLSBAD AND NEW MEXICO GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS HAVE BEGUN TO REVEAL THEIR IRRITATIONS.
New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn capped the weekly WIPP town hall with a fiery speech about the Department of Energy’s latest theory of what caused the Feb. 14 accident in Panel 7 of the underground nuclear waste facility located 26 miles east of Carlsbad. Flynn called for the immediate closure of all waste panels except Panel 7 at WIPP, as well as complete public transparency.
“I agree that these panels need to be closed and they need to be closed immediately,” Flynn said.
Seven panels have been mined underground at WIPP for nuclear waste storage and three of them remain opened, including Panel 7 where the DOE believes the radiation leak originated. According to the contractual obligations, DOE must now close all open panels where the radiation leak is not suspected to have occurred.
The DOE halted shipments of nuclear waste containers from Los Alamos National Laboratory to the Waste Control Specialists private facility in Andrews County, Texas last week after investigators narrowed the likely cause to the waste makeup from LANL.
Nuclear Waste Partnership Recovery Manager Jim Blankenhorn announced on Thursday that WIPP officials believe the radiation leak was likely caused by nuclear waste that contained nitrate salt which gave off some sort of a chemical reaction. The waste with nitrate salt matched waste stored in drums that originated from three separate waste streams: two of the waste streams originated from LANL and the source of the other was unknown because DOE and NWP refused to name the source. WIPP has stored waste streams from LANL, Savannah River, and Idaho National Laboratory in the past
ONCE AGAIN, YOU CAN TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY OR IGNORE IT, FOR, AFTER ALL, IT IS JUST ONE OF LITERALLY HUNDREDS OF LEAKS IN AMERICA'S AGING NUCLEAR FACILITIES, BUT WIPP HANDLES PLUTONIUM WASTE. ONE GRAM OF THAT CAN KILL MILLIONS.
NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT, RIGHT?
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