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Page added on February 16, 2014
Radiation leak at New Mexico military nuclear waste site
Unusually high levels of radioactive particles were found at an underground nuclear waste site in New Mexico on Saturday in what a spokesman said looked like the first real alarm since the plant opened in 1999.
U.S. officials were testing for radiation in air samples at the site where radioactive waste, such as plutonium used in defense research and nuclear weapon making, is dumped half a mile below ground in an ancient salt formation.
“They (air monitors) have alarmed in the past as a false positive because of malfunctions, or because of fluctuations in levels of radon (a naturally occurring radioactive gas),” Department of Energy spokesman Roger Nelson said.
“But I believe it’s safe to say we’ve never seen a level like we are seeing. We just don’t know if it’s a real event, but it looks like one,” he said.
It was not yet clear what caused the air-monitoring system to indicate that radioactive particles were present at unsafe levels, Nelson said.
No one was underground at the Department of Energy Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, in New Mexico’s south east, when the alarm went off at 11:30 p.m. MST on Friday, and none of the 139 employees working above ground at the facility was exposed to radioactive contaminants, he said.
Workers were asked to shelter where they were until the end of their shifts and were allowed to leave the facility at 5 p.m. local time on Saturday, Nelson said. No air exchange with the surface was occurring after the ventilation system automatically switched to filtration, he said.
Nelson said the facility may have accurate measurements as early as Sunday on the number of airborne alpha and beta particles, which can be harmful if inhaled or ingested.
A team could be sent below ground before the end of the weekend and Nelson said the plant was “not in active operations. We’re in a period we have normally reserved for shutting down the facility for maintenance”.
A different part of the site was evacuated this month after a truck used to haul salt caught fire. Several workers suffered smoke inhalation, an agency statement said.
11 Comments on "Radiation leak at New Mexico military nuclear waste site"
J-Gav on Sun, 16th Feb 2014 11:55 pm
Leaks, explosions, fires … I expect to see more and more of this shite in the coming years. If that makes me a “doomer” then so be it – Papa Smurf and MSN(BC?) will have another target to go after …
Northwest Resident on Mon, 17th Feb 2014 12:20 am
J-Gav — I prefer to be called “realist” instead of “doomer”. But in reality, doom is what we are faced with, so I guess “doomer” will just have to do.
MSN fanboy on Mon, 17th Feb 2014 12:43 am
What do you want me to say J-Gav.
I actually agree… reading is having a bad influence on me… lol.
No no, when it comes to nuclear radiation with half-life’s over 10,000 years (Possibly longer than Human agriculture) I do think its a bad idea. Once the profit (Energy) is made who will pay to look after it for 10,000 years….
We ought to put the poison on rockets and shoot it into space.
Even you(Doomers) must admit, out of coal or nuclear, what would you rather be used? Exactly coal.
I can accept global warming/climate chaos MAY be bad now.
But nuclear (poison) ends EVERYTHING.
Besides if a COLLAPSE DOES OCCUR you can (Ruthlessly) survive. With Nuclear its just straight to death.
So J-Gav. I agree.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Mon, 17th Feb 2014 1:38 am
@GAV – yeap, get ready. I purchased a gieger counter few months ago. I am into gadgets and survival tools etc. I may get to use it soon. I do believe even if this contraction is soft (relativity) I foresee more and more breakdowns from lack funds to do what is necessary. We all no corners get cut when there is no choice? You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip!
@N/R – I prefer to be called “realist” instead of “doomer”. But in reality, doom is what we are faced with, so I guess “doomer” will just have to do.
My thoughts too. Please guys prove me wrong. Tell me some good news. I would love to hear it. I am not reveling in some doomer joy.
Makati1 on Mon, 17th Feb 2014 1:40 am
I agree J-Gav. But much of it will be covered up until the volume is too great. Then the BS avalanche will destroy the world as we know it. But for those like us, who see the signs, it will be easier to prepare for it now. I would love to live another few decades to see what happens. It is a once-in-a -a-geologic-era event, never to be repeated. ^_^
Kenz300 on Mon, 17th Feb 2014 2:01 am
How much does it cost to store nuclear waste FOREVER?
Makati1 on Mon, 17th Feb 2014 2:02 am
“We ought to put the poison on rockets and shoot it into space.”
I thought of that also, MSN. But then I realized that it is impossible.
1. Rockets DO fail and fail spectacularly, spreading the refuse over a very large area, depending how high they are when they explode. The US shuttle failure rate was 2+%.
2. The payload of a Saturn rocket is 120 tons. (Shuttle with payload)
3. That is 2,000 payloads of 120 tons each for spent fuel rods alone. (Having over over 40 failures on average per statistics.) That does NOT count other nuclear materials …”In the OECD countries, some 300 million tonnes of toxic wastes are produced each year … In the UK, for example, the total amount of radioactive waste (including radioactive waste expected to arise from existing nuclear facilities) is about 4.7 million m3, or around 5 million tonnes” (World Nuclear Assoc.)
4. There are over 250,000 tons of spent fuel rods alone at this point. And growing by the thousands of tons every year.
Get the point? And I did not even get into the cost …
Northwest Resident on Mon, 17th Feb 2014 3:09 am
“We ought to put the poison on rockets and shoot it into space.”
Why go through all the trouble when you can just use my idea — encase it in concrete, drop it into the Mariana Trench, 6.831 miles down, and be done with it. Eventually it will recycle into the earth’s mantel, get melted down and dispersed.
But as usual, my idea isn’t an original one. Or a very bright one.
The Mariana Trench was once considered a likely place to dump nuclear waste. But then a the bottom of “the Mariana Trench was explored by Jacques Piccard and US Navy Lt. Donald Walsh on January 23, 1960. The men descended 10, 900 meters (35,810 feet) to the bottom of the trench in a bathyscaph called Trieste. There, they discovered nearly 5000 new species of sea creatures over a 4 year expedition.”
In short, finding life in the Mariana Trench put an end to the plans to use it as a nuclear waste dump.
There’s even better reasons not to shoot it into space, as Makati1 points out. We’re stuck with it.
Dave Thompson on Mon, 17th Feb 2014 3:43 am
Humans are very short sighted.
GregT on Mon, 17th Feb 2014 4:59 am
MSN,
“I can accept global warming/climate chaos MAY be bad now.
But nuclear (poison) ends EVERYTHING.”
Global warming/ climate chaos may be starting to be bad now, but nothing compared to how bad it is going to get. It is believed that we are seeing the effects of the 70s right now. In the next 40 years, climate change is expected to accelerate. There is a very real possibility that climate change is already going to end everything. For those that make it through climate change, nuclear poison will be the icing on the cake.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Mon, 17th Feb 2014 12:42 pm
I don’t think you can separate the nuke issues from the climate change issue. The nuk ponds are dispersed around the world. Climate change effects will be everywhere. Extreme weather events are not good for nuk ponds. I think we had a near failure possibility in Nebraska during the MO river flood a few years ago. I do think you can argue for a slow end of BAU for both climate change and nuke issues. Both are problems and part of the predicament. Problems and predicaments need energy, capital, and expertise to solve. In a collapsed world having these three variables in place may be problematic. If we know the ship is going down we need to secure the life vests. We don’t just jump in the water and hope for the best. Yea, sharks, dehydration, and sunburn may do us in but life vests solve the initial problem of drowning.