Pegasus Research Consortium

http://intellihub.com/doe-spokesman-n-m-radiological-event-safe-say-weve-never-seen-level-like-seeing/

Ultra-high levels of radiation have been detected and may still be spewing into the air as crews try to prevent the further spread of radioactive particles

Astonishingly, a U.S. government operated facility which haphazardly dumps weapons grade plutonium and other radioactive waste into a one-thousand foot deep naturally formed salt mine, has suffered a "radiological event" of some type.

"[...] 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", said a Dept. of Energy spokesman.


THIS IS NOT GOOD!!  OUR FUKUSHIMA?  At least this one is buried.....

ok i am  not sure if i have this right
but salt is not a conductor unless water is added..is that right?

so we hope it does rain out there

hey science techie guys...jump in



Spacemaverick


that link was hard to read because of the left side stuff so i found it here:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/16/us-radiation-leak-newmexico-idUSBREA1F06Y20140216

Possible radiation leak at New Mexico military nuclear waste site
Sun Feb 16, 2014 5:34am EST

(Reuters) - 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.

(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman; Additional reporting by Kevin Murphy; Editing by Louise Ireland and Chris Michaud)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

http://intellihub.com/nm-plume-containing-cancerous-radioactive-plutonium-isotopes-engulfs-region-nuclear-event-announced-doe/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zDbmbV0Ous

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zDbmbV0Ous&feature=player_embedded

A plume containing radioactive plutonium isotopes has now made its way at least a half mile away from the nuclear waste storage facility.

By Shepard Ambellas

CARLSBAD, N.M. (INTELLIHUB) — Radioactive plutonium isotopes have now been detected in an air filter located about one-half mile northwest the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant which experienced a "radiological event" as reported by the U.S. Dept. of Energy and Intellihub News early on this week.


We need to keep an eye on these type of events in our back yard.  What can we do?  Not much but maintain a vigil.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-26587349

US nuclear site fire 'was preventable'

14 March 2014 Last updated at 19:49 ET

Maintenance and safety lapses were at the root of a lorry fire that shut down the only US underground nuclear waste repository in February, a report says.

The report also cited problems with emergency response and oversight at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), outside Carlsbad, New Mexico.

The state's two senators called the findings "deeply concerning".

WIPP, which holds specific kinds of defence nuclear waste, remains closed after a radiation leak last month.

It is still unclear if the fire and the leak, which contaminated 17 workers, are related. A separate report on the leak is expected in the upcoming weeks.

The accidents are the first major incidents at the salt repository, which began taking radioactive waste from US defence sites 15 years ago.

'Nuclear versus mine'

In a report released on Friday, the US energy department's Accident Investigation Board (AIB) found the 5 February fire was preventable.

The root cause, the board wrote, was the failure of the current and previous contractors running the site to "adequately recognise and mitigate the hazard regarding a fire in the underground".

Lorries carrying salt were not maintained or cleaned often enough to prevent the build-up of combustible materials and the onboard automatic fire suppression system had been deactivated.

The underground entrance to the lift at WIPP
"A nuclear versus mine culture exists where there are significant differences in the maintenance of waste-handling versus non-waste-handling equipment," the report said.

At a community meeting in Carlsbad on Thursday to preview the report, the lead investigator, Ted Wyka, praised the 86 workers who were half-mile underground in the mine when the fire started, saying they "did everything they could" to tell others to evacuate.

But a number of safety systems and processes failed, Mr Wyka said. Emergency strobe lights were not activated for five minutes and not all workers heard the evacuation announcement.

One worker also switched the air system from normal to filtration mode, which sent smoke billowing through the tunnels.

Six were treated for smoke inhalation after the fire.

Jose Franco, who runs the energy department's field office in Carlsbad, choked up as he addressed the meeting, saying that at first, he took the findings personally.

(http://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/13/55/53/83/_7342010.gif)

"But I think what's important [is] we definitely got away with not ... having anyone seriously hurt," Mr Franco said. "So we need to learn from that. It is what I wanted to hear, and I wanted the truth. We don't need any sugar-coating."

Hours before, the current contractor at the site demoted the facility's president and project manager.

While the report cited the site's contractor and the field office for gaps in oversight, it also recommended the agency headquarters needed to "re-evaluate resources" applied to WIPP.

In February, Eddy County Commissioner Susan Crockett told the BBC there had been "a lag in funding for maintenance at WIPP".

"We've been asking for $10m for the last three years just for maintenance," she said.






Testing of the underground site has continued since the leak and workers are expected to re-enter the site as early as this weekend.
More on This Story
Related StoriesThe town that wants more nuclear waste 05 MARCH 2014, US & CANADA

The storage of nuclear waste remains an
unresolved issue - and as one expert,
interviewed here say, "If we don't have a
place to store it, then we have to stop
making it."

The lack of a real plan for managing the
disposal of weapons-grade waste at Hanford,
WIPP and others have existed since these
plants began being built, over 70 years ago,
as can be seen by the age of this film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5opriA4j1SA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5opriA4j1SA

There's still plenty of stuff buried at Rocky Flats, and leaking into the groundwater.  It's supposed to be a National Wildlife Refuge, but it isn't open to the public.  The National Wildlife Refuge at the old Rocky Mountain Arsenal is open to the public.  I guess exposure to sarin is preferable to exposure to plutonium.  I live downwind of both sites.  Guess I'm sol.

Shasta

Kitty litter explored in nuke dump radiation leak

4 hr ago |By Associated Press

CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) — A mysterious radiation release that has indefinitely shuttered the federal government's only permanent nuclear waste dump may have been caused by a change in the type of kitty litter that is mixed with the toxic waste.

That's one of the theories that officials are exploring as they investigate the Feb. 14 leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project in southeastern New Mexico that contaminated 21 workers with low levels of radiation, the Carlsbad Current-Argus reported Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1iIHsdz ).

Jim Conca, a scientist who worked at the facility from 2000 to 2010, told the newspaper he believes a change from non-organic to organic litter caused a chemical reaction inside a waste drum, releasing the radioactive isotopes.

New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn confirmed to the paper 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.

Officials with the federal agency and the contractor that runs the facility, Nuclear Waste Partnership, did not immediately respond to questions about the report.

The dump 26 miles east of Carlsbad cannot take in liquid waste, so kitty litter is used to absorb any liquid before drums of waste are sealed and shipped to the facility, Conca said. The dump is the federal government's only permanent repository for waste from decades of building nuclear bombs from Los Alamos National Laboratories and other federal facilities.

WIPP Recovery Manager Jim Blankenhorn told a town hall meeting last week that after several trips into the half-mile-deep repository, officials believe the radiation leak was likely caused by a chemical reaction in nuclear waste that was mixed with nitrate salt. Blankenhorn said a switch from a non-organic substance to organic was what triggered the event. The unidentified substance containing elements mirroring nitrate salt is kitty litter, Conca said.

"I'm just dying to know why this happened and who approved it, because it was a dumb idea," Conca said. "You just can't make a change to the procedure without reviewing it."

Investigators on Monday said crews on the latest trip into the mine spotted melted plastic and rubber on some drums and boxes of waste, indicating there was some kind of heat generated in the room where the waste is stored.

Nine days before the release, a truck hauling salt in the mine caught fire. But officials have said the fire was far from the waste-handling area and that the events were likely unrelated.

Initial investigations into both accidents have blamed them on a slow erosion of the safety culture at the 15-year-old, multi-billion-dollar site.



http://news.msn.com/us/kitty-litter-explored-in-nuke-dump-radiation-leak

Is cat litter to blame for nuke dump leak?



(http://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/13/55/53/83/_h353_17.jpg)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The investigation into a February radiation release from the federal government's underground nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico has turned to a seemingly unusual suspect: cat litter.

Federal officials have zeroed in on a barrel of waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory as the source of the leak, and one theory is that a change in the type of cat litter that it was packed with caused a leak that contaminated 22 workers with low levels of radiation on Feb. 14, shuttering the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico, indefinitely.

State environment officials now say more than 500 barrels of waste from decades of nuclear bomb-making at Los Alamos were packed the same way, and they are concerned that the barrels scattered between the underground dump, Los Alamos' northern New Mexico campus and a commercial disposal site in West Texas pose a potentially "imminent and substantial" danger to public health and the environment.

Here are questions and answers about the waste:

WHY WAS CAT LITTER USED IN THE FIRST PLACE?

The cat litter was used to absorb moisture in sealed barrels of nuclear waste at Los Alamos, home to the some of the world's finest scientists. Officials have said cat litter has long been used to pack waste because of its absorption and neutralizing qualities. It's commonly used, for example, by people to soak up oil spills in driveways. But Los Alamos switched from nonorganic to organic litter for packing waste in 2013, and the theory is that some kind of chemical reaction occurred between waste containing nitrate salts and the new litter. Officials said they are investigating who made the decision to make the switch and what process was followed.

HOW CAN CAT LITTER POSE SUCH A DANGER?

Investigators have said the litter theory is just one possible cause being explored, but it is being studied seriously enough to prompt New Mexico Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn this week to order Los Alamos and the underground nuclear dump to put together plans for immediately isolating all 500-plus barrels of waste known to contain nitrate salts and organic cat litter. Based on evidence from crews that have been down in the mine since the release, a barrel of waste from Los Alamos experienced some type of "heat event" that burned the exterior and popped the waste container's lid.

HOW MANY CONTAINERS WERE PACKED LIKE THIS AND WHERE ARE THEY?

More than 500, according to state regulators. More than 350 of the containers are already at the subterranean dump, in storage rooms carved into ancient salt beds a half mile below the ground. Fifty-seven are still on the campus of Los Alamos, which had been working under orders to remove the last of thousands of such containers from outdoor storage by the end of June. The waste came to the public's attention three years ago as a massive wildfire lapped at the edges of lab property. More than 100 more barrels are at Waste Control Specialists in Andrews, Texas, where they were sent for temporary storage as Los Alamos worked to remove the waste following the radiation leak.

COULD THE OTHER BARRELS BE TICKING TIME BOMBS?

That question has state regulators concerned. Flynn this week ordered Los Alamos to submit plans for ensuring the 57 containers of questionably packed waste still on its campus are isolated and secure. The lab said it has packed them in special containers, placed them under a dome with a fire extinguishing system and is closely monitoring them. Waste Control Specialists has taken similar precautions. As for the more than 350 containers already at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Flynn has ordered the U.S. Department of Energy to expedite plans for sealing off the underground rooms where the waste is stored. Complicating that effort is the laborious investigative process. The cause of the leak has not yet been determined. Crews have been able to make about two trips a week into the area where the leak occurred, but it's a painstaking process and they are still working to see if other containers have been breached.

http://news.msn.com/us/is-cat-litter-to-blame-for-nuke-dump-leak

I keep  hearing that old saw about truth being stranger than fiction..




Mix Of Cat Litter, Salts Caused Nuclear-Dump Mishap, Report Finds



AP      |  By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN 
   Posted:  03/26/2015 5:24 pm EDT    Updated:  03/27/2015 4:59 pm EDT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — An incompatible combination of nitrate salts and organic cat litter is to blame for a mishap that forced the closure of the nation's only underground nuclear waste repository, according to findings released Thursday by an independent team of experts from national laboratories around the country.

The technical team was charged by the U.S. Energy Department to investigate all the possible scenarios that could have led to the release of radioactive material at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in February 2014.

The report comes more than a year after a single container of waste stored at the repository breached and contaminated 21 workers with low-level radioactivity. That container had been packed at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

While it couldn't determine the cause of the breach with absolute certainty, the team said it was clear a thermal reaction inside the container forced the lid to pop.

The contents — which included nitrate salt residues, the organic cat litter and a neutralizing agent — made for a "potentially reactive chemical mixture of fuels and oxidizers," the team said. The way the materials were situated inside the drum also likely played a role, it added.

The salt residue comes from plutonium processing at the laboratory. The cat litter was used to absorb moisture in the waste.

"A series of ever-increasing heat releasing reactions occurred, which led to the creation of gases within the drum," the team wrote in a 277-page report. "The resulting buildup of gases within the drum displaced the drum lid, venting radioactive material and hot matter that further reacted with the air or other materials outside the drum."

The findings are in line with what experts theorized in the months following the mishap. Los Alamos came under fire for not following protocols when it came to handling and packing the waste. A lab spokesman declined to comment on the new findings.

There are other containers that include similar mixtures of chemicals.

"We are reviewing the report and its findings now as we continue working to mitigate the risks of this happening again," the Energy Department said in a statement issued Thursday. "Additional precautions have also been taken to secure other drums with similar nitrate and organic materials as those identified in the report.

The agency also reiterated what Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz told a Senate subcommittee this week: The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is of critical importance to the agency as it works to clean up tons of Cold War-era waste from sites around the country.

A final accident investigation report into the incident is also expected in the coming weeks, department officials said.

The technical team found that the radioactive contamination inside the underground repository came from the drum numbered 68660.

Using modeling, chemical analyses and other methods, the team considered the possibility that something outside the container caused it to breach, such as a reaction between water and magnesium or reduced ventilation that resulted after a fire at the nuclear dump. But the evidence pointed to the reaction happening inside the drum.

The team acknowledged its investigation was hampered by limited and inconsistent documentation regarding the way Los Alamos processed the waste and because access to the drum in question was limited because of safety concerns.

The Energy Department and the contractors that run the repository and Los Alamos lab are facing $54 million in fines from the state of New Mexico for the failures that led to the mishap. Negotiations are ongoing.



?
   
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/cat-litter-nuclear-waste-dump_n_6950934.html

(http://www.vethelpdirect.com/vetblog/wp-content/uploads/Amber-glows1-300x227.jpg)

Greetings:

We smell something other than eau d'kitty.

What moron working in such a high-risk environment would change what essentially was a 'working formula' kitty litter for one that is 'organic' without first looking into possible complications?

This moron has a name and it on a paper somewhere authorizing this change . . . on it.  ;)

And isn't 'organic' usually higher in cost than non-organic?

If One was a Conspiracy Theorist, One might question if this moron has a relative that owns the 'Organic Kitty Litter Company'.  :P

We spoke of this 'de-facto Yucca Mountain' quagmire recently in a couple of our Challenges and Solutions to Nuclear Energy forum here on Pegasus.

I was worried for a moment.  Then I read that it was organic kitty litter.  My cats refuse to use organic kitty litter.  I'm safe.  At least in that respect.   If I forget to buy cat food,  all bets are off.

Shasta