Nukewatch

Working for a nuclear-free future since 1979

by Leave a Comment

Global Warming Could Disperse US Rad Waste Buried in Greenland Ice

Nukewatch Quarterly Fall 2016

A recent study led by Canada’s York University shows that radioactive and other hazardous wastes buried and abandoned by the US military in Greenland’s melting ice cap could be exposed by 2090. Built in 1959 at a depth of up to 115 feet under the ice surface, “Camp Century” housed 200 military personnel in facilities powered by an on-site nuclear reactor. Code named “Project Iceworm,” its mission during the Cold War was to determine whether the area could support launch sites for nuclear missiles aimed at the Soviet Union.

When the Pentagon decommissioned Camp Century in 1967, researchers estimate it left behind 52,800 gallons of diesel fuel, 63,400 gallons of sewage and other waste water, toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and an unknown volume of highly radioactive reactor coolant. According to a news source from Denmark—which controlled Greenland at the time—the US promised to clean up the site, but officials left the hazardous materials, assuming they would stay contained within the ice forever. Now Greenland’s ice sheet is melting at a rate of 8,000 tons per second, or 280 billion tons of ice entering the ocean each year. Once the melted ice reaches the pollutants, it could potentially transport them to the sea.

Now that Greenland is a self-governing territory, determining state responsibility for the cleanup could cause political conflict between the three governments. While Denmark gave permission for the US to use the 136-acre Camp Century site near Thule Air Force Base, its post-World War II policy prohibited nuclear weapons on its territory—a rule that the US broke by keeping at least 50 nuclear warheads at Thule between 1958 and 1965.

—USA Today, Aug. 4; IANS (independent newswire, India), Aug. 5; Copenhagen Post, June 29 & Aug. 15, 2016

by Leave a Comment

Groups File Lawsuit for Injunction to Keep Liquid Radioactive Waste Shipments Off Highways

Nukewatch Quarterly Fall 2016

At least 150 truckloads of extremely dangerous liquid radioactive waste are slated to drive through Canadian and US communities and across major waterway crossings, from Chalk River, Ontario, in Canada to the Savannah River Site, in South Carolina.

Seven nonprofit organizations challenged these unprecedented, high-risk shipments in federal court in Washington, DC Aug. 15, requesting preliminary and permanent injunctions to prevent the import and transport which violates US federal environmental, atomic energy and administrative procedure laws.

The coalition lawsuit charges that the Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) failed to provide a thorough public process as required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to fully analyze the hazards of shipping liquid highly radioactive waste on roads. An Environmental Impact Statement must be prepared and made available for other federal agencies and citizens to review and comment on, including a discussion of alternative ways to deal with the nuclear waste.

Experts from the international coalition testify that the shipments are unwarranted, ill-advised and entirely unnecessary. Allowing highly radioactive liquid wastes from Canada to be shipped through communities and over major waterways in Canada and the United States, without the deliberative NEPA procedures, would set a dangerous precedent, and it would also intensify pressure on South Carolina to become an international nuclear sacrifice area.

US Rep. Brian Higgins, D-NY, has said that the proposed shipments raise significant homeland security questions. The US House of Representatives unanimously passed Higgins-sponsored legislation requiring a NEPA Environmental Impact Statement for the proposal.

The liquid high-level nuclear waste in question is a corrosive acidic mixture of dozens of highly dangerous radioactive materials including cesium-137, strontium-90, iodine-129, plutonium-239, and weapons-grade uranium-235, left over from the production of medical isotopes at Chalk River, Ontario, northwest of Ottawa.

Although it was previously determined that this highly dangerous liquid waste would be solidified and stored in Canada, the DOE now plans to truck 6,000 gallons of the extremely radioactive waste, in liquid form, to the Savannah River Site, in exchange for $60 million from Canada.

“Liquid high-level nuclear waste is known to be among the most dangerous materials on the planet, as we have seen at the Savannah River Nuclear Weapons Site and the nuclear power and weapons reprocessing site at West Valley, New York. There is a good reason why no one has ever tried to move this stuff over public roads before,” said Diane D’Arrigo of Nuclear Information & Resource Service.

“Our organization has fought against the needless and heedless transport of solid waste uranium fuel over public roads, rails, and waters,” said Kevin Kamps, nuclear waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear. “The only thing worse than solid irradiated uranium is the liquid variety. It is a Mobile Chernobyl. It cannot be contained when spilled due to crash, fire, or deliberate attack,” he said.

Dr. Gordon Edwards, president of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, said, “Chalk River has been solidifying exactly the same kind of liquid waste for over 10 years already. In 2011 Chalk River promised to handle all this material on site… making the high-risk transport of this material over public roads completely unnecessary.”

The lawsuit is being filed against the DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration on behalf of a number of organizations whose individual members live along likely transport routes who could suffer significantly in the event of an accident.

—Beyond Nuclear, Nuclear Information & Resource Service, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Savannah River Site Watch

by Leave a Comment

Accident at Deep Underground Test Project Dispersed Plutonium, Exposed Workers

Nukewatch Quarterly Fall 2016
Cleanup to Cost Over $2 Billion

In 1989, the renowned undersea explorer Jacque Cousteau said, “A common denominator in every single nuclear accident—a nuclear plant or on a nuclear submarine—is that before the specialists even know what has happened, they rush to the media saying, ‘There’s no danger to the public.’ They do this before they themselves know what has happened because they are terrified that the public might react violently, either by panic or by revolt.”

On Feb. 14, 2014 a barrel of plutonium-contaminated waste blew apart deep underground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP), near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The WIPP experiment was an attempt to discard some plutonium wastes left from 60 years of nuclear weapons production. The uncontrolled explosion spewed plutonium particles throughout the deep underground chambers and dispersed them up and down the 2,150-foot elevator and ventilation shafts, closing the dump site indefinitely. The Los Angeles Times reports that it will cost at least $2 billion to repair the damage and to attempt decontamination.

Plutonium-contaminated smoke and dust was blown throughout the entire Waste Isolation Pilot Project Feb. 14, 2014 when a barrel exploded, reaching the outside and contaminating at least 22 workers.

Ventilation shaft filtration systems failed to keep the contamination underground, and plutonium-laden dusts were pulled up the deep shafts by the huge ventilation fans on the surface contaminating at least 13 workers on site that day. A federal investigation found two dozen violations of safety procedures. Yet even 2.5 years later the government doesn’t know why the barrel exploded. “And [$2 billion] does not include the complete replacement of the contaminated ventilation system or any future costs of operating the mine longer than originally planned,” the Times reported.

At WIPP, Cousteau’s ‘common denominator’ kicked in as usual. As the LA Times said: “When a drum containing radioactive waste blew up in an underground nuclear dump in New Mexico two years ago, the Energy Department [DOE] rushed to quell concerns in the Carlsbad desert community and quickly reported progress on resuming operations. The early federal statements gave no hint that the blast had caused massive long-term damage to the dump, a facility crucial to the nuclear weapons cleanup program that spans the nation…”

The DOE says the 13 workers doused with radioactive smoke and dust “were tested for internal radioactive contamination” (emphasis added) and that “initial fecal samples measured some radioactivity above normal background levels.” A serious admission for the victims, because internal decontamination is not possible.

The DOE also says 140 workers were exposed to radiation the following day, and that “… 22 were notified that their exposure was below the 10 millirem level, which is about the same exposure a person would get from a chest X-ray.”

This standard comparison of internal radiation exposure to X-rays (which deliver only an external dose) is deliberate and sophisticated disinformation. The nuclear industry and many government agencies often use this disinformative comparison, prompting readers to treat the exposure as trivial. Because X-rays only dose the target with external radiation, the difference is significant. Dr. Chris Busby of the Low Level Radiation Campaign (llrc.org) in Wales says it’s the difference between sitting in front of a warm fire and popping a hot coal from the fire into your mouth.

WIPP’s worker doses were breathed-in exposures, after which hot particles can lodge in tissue or bone and then for long periods of time bombard surrounding cells with deadly radiation.

All radiation exposures shorten our lives and even low doses have been shown to cause dozens of debilitating diseases and disorders short of death including nose bleeds, bleeding gums, joint pain, hair loss, liver disorders, elevated blood pressure, gastrointestinal problems, muscle pain, headaches, fatigue, skin rashes, respiratory problems, heart problems, miscarriages, stillbirths, infant mortality, birth abnormalities, and cancers.

The so-called Pilot Project at Carlsbad has been promoted as the answer for disposing of plutonium-tainted nuclear weapons waste, and it was “designed to last 10,000 years.” But as Santa Monica, California activist Myla Reson reported, “The dump failed 9,985 years ahead of schedule.”

And we’re safer for it, Reson says, “because justification for approval of the dump relied on a fabricated site characterization and analysis” which made continued use of the dump potentially catastrophic—either through onsite explosions, long-term ground water contamination, or transportation disasters involving crashes en route to the dump.

—John LaForge

by Leave a Comment

“Waste Isolation Pilot” Becomes $2 Billion Waste Dispersal Site

In 1989, the renowned undersea explorer Jacque Cousteau said, “A common denominator in every single nuclear accident — a nuclear plant or on a nuclear submarine — is that before the specialists even know what has happened, they rush to the media saying, ‘There’s no danger to the public.’ They do this before they themselves know what has happened because they are terrified that the public might react violently, either by panic or by revolt.”

On Feb. 14, 2014 a barrel of plutonium-contaminated waste blew apart deep underground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP), near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The WIPP experiment was an attempt to discard some plutonium wastes left from 60 years of nuclear weapons production. The uncontrolled explosion spewed plutonium particles throughout the vast, mine-like underground chambers and scattered them all up and down the 2,150-foot deep elevator and ventilations shafts, closing the dumpsite indefinitely. This week the Los Angeles Times reports that it will cost at least $2 billion to repair the damage and to attempt decontamination.

Ventilation shaft filtration systems failed to keep the contamination underground, and a federal investigation found two dozen violations of safety procedures, yet even 2.5 years later the government doesn’t know why the barrel blew. “And [the $2B] does not include the complete replacement of the contaminated ventilation system or any future costs of operating the mine longer than originally planned,” the Times reported.

At WIPP, Cousteau’s ‘common denominator’ kicked in as usual. As the LA Times said: “When a drum containing radioactive waste blew up in an underground nuclear dump in New Mexico two years ago, the Energy Department [DOE] rushed to quell concerns in the Carlsbad desert community and quickly reported progress on resuming operations. The early federal statements gave no hint that the blast had caused massive long-term damage to the dump, a facility crucial to the nuclear weapons cleanup program that spans the nation…”

Dispersed plutonium-laden dusts were pulled up the deep shafts by the huge ventilation fans on the surface and at least 13 workers on site that day were exposed.

The DOE now says 13 workers present during the radioactive release “were tested for internal radioactive contamination” (emphasis added) and that “Initial fecal samples measured some radioactivity above normal background levels.” This admission is vanishingly rare and extremely serious for the victims, considering the inability to decontaminate your insides.

The DOE also says that 140 workers were exposed to radiation the following day (it doesn’t use the word “plutonium” much), and that “… 22 were notified that their exposure was below the 10 millirem level, which is about the same exposure a person would get from a chest x-ray.”

Regular readers will recall that for the government to compare internal radiation exposure to X-rays is deliberate, sophisticated disinformation, because X-rays only dose the target with radiation externally. The difference is highly significant. Dr. Chris Busby, of the Low Level Radiation Campaign (llrc.org), says it’s the difference between sitting in front of a warm fire, and popping a hot coal from the fire into your mouth. (The Energy Department, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the National Nuclear Security Administration all use this magician’s trick: getting us to look at the wrong thing.)

WIPP’s worker exposures were internal or breathed-in exposures, in which hot particles can lodge in tissue or bone and then for long periods of time bombard surrounding cells with deadly radiation.

The pro-nuke lobby will chant that ‘nobody died at WIPP’ because of the 2014 disaster. But radiation shortens lives and causes dozens of debilitating diseases and disorders short of death including nose bleeds, bleeding gums, joint pain, hair loss, liver disorders, elevated blood pressure, gastro intestinal problems, muscle pain, headaches, fatigue, skin rashes, respiratory problems, heart problems, miscarriages, stillbirths, infant mortality, birth abnormalities, and cancers.

The so-called Pilot Project at Carlsbad had been promoted as the disposal answer for plutonium-tainted nuclear weapons waste, and was “designed to last 10,000 years.” But as Santa Monica, Calif. activist Myla Reson reports, “The dump failed 9,985 years ahead of schedule.”

And we’re safer for it, Reson says, “because justification for approval of the dump relied on a fabricated site characterization and analysis” which made continued use of the dump potentially catastrophic — either through onsite explosions, long-term ground water contamination, or transportation disasters involving crashes en route from Hanford, Washington and the Idaho National Lab, and a dozen other H-bomb production sites from Livermore, Calif., to Oak Ridge Tenn.

by Leave a Comment

Waste Fuel Fire at Fukushima Avoided by Luck; US Waste Vulnerable, Panel Says

Nukewatch Quarterly Summer 2016
By Richard Stone

Two weeks after the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami devastated the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power [complex], causing three nuclear reactors to melt down and release radioactive plumes, officials were bracing for even worse. They feared that [waste] fuel … would catch fire and send radioactive smoke across a much wider swath of eastern Japan, including Tokyo.

Thanks to a lucky break detailed in a report released May 27 by the US National Academies, Japan dodged that bullet. The near calamity “should serve as a wake-up call for the industry,” says Joseph Shepherd … who chaired the academy committee that produced the report. … A major [waste] fuel fire at a US nuclear [reactor] “could dwarf the horrific consequences of the Fukushima accident,” says Edwin Lyman, a physicist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., who was not on the panel….

[At Fukushima] Unit 4 … the entire reactor core—all 548 assemblies—was in the spent fuel pool, and was hotter than fuel in the other pools. When an explosion blew off Unit 4’s roof on March 15, plant operators … feared it had come from fuel in the pool that had been exposed to air.…The blast had destroyed instrumentation for monitoring the pool. … [and] the possibility that the fuel had been exposed was plausible and alarming enough for then-NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) Chair Gregory Jaczko on March 16 to urge more extensive evacuations than the Japanese government had advised…

The pool’s water was boiling away because of the hot fuel. As the level fell perilously close to the top of the fuel assemblies, something “fortuitous” happened, [chairperson] Shepherd says. As part of routine maintenance, workers …allowed water from the reactor well to leak into the spent fuel pool, partially refilling it. … Only good fortune … averted that disaster, the academy panel notes.

At US nuclear plants, [waste] fuel is equally vulnerable. … The panel recommends that NRC take another look at the benefits of moving spent fuel to other storage …”

—Richard Stone oversees Science magazine’s international coverage. This is a heavily edited version of his May 27, 2016 article in Science Online.

—Take Action! Hundreds of environmental and public interest groups have called for Hardened On-Site Storage (HOSS) of highly radioactive irradiated waste fuel at reactor sites, as an interim measure to improve safety and security. The first step in HOSS is to empty the densely packed vulnerable cooling pools, which are at risk of catastrophic fires. The waste must then be placed in hardened on-site dry casks (current dry cask models are not good enough). Tell Congress that HOSS must be required at all power reactors. See BeyondNuclear.org for details.

 

Contact Us

(715) 472-4185
nukewatch1@lakeland.ws

Address:
740A Round Lake Road
Luck, Wisconsin 54853
USA

Donate To Nukewatch

News & Information on Nuclear Weapons,
Power, Waste & Nonviolent Resistance

Stay Connected