Pegasus Research Consortium

The U.S. Is Unable To Account For 36k Pounds Of Weapons Grade Uranium And Plutonium

The U.S. Is Unable To Account For 36k Pounds Of Weapons Grade Uranium And Plutonium
Robert Johnson
September 15, 2011|

Under special nuclear cooperation agreements, the United States sent 38,580 pounds of enriched uranium and plutonium to more than two-dozen foreign agencies and is unable to account for 36,000 pounds of the material.

The Government Accountability Office report says these 27 cooperation agreements, set up to facilitate cross border research, have no accountability and the U.S. has no way to enforce control.

Because there is no reporting process in place, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has been visiting nuclear storage sites overseas when permitted, but has not regularly visited countries with the greatest risk of proliferation.


The U.S. Is Unable To Account For 36k Pounds Of Weapons Grade Uranium And Plutonium (http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-09-15/politics/30158991_1_nrc-global-threat-reduction-initiative-grade-uranium-and-plutonium)

:o  ???

U.S. Can't Track Tons of Weapons-Grade Uranium, Plutonium

President Obama has repeatedly said his top counterterrorism goal is to prevent terrorists from acquiring the building blocks to make nuclear or "dirty" bombs. In April of 2009, Obama announced a new international effort to "secure all vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years." Since then, the Department of Energy has dispatched scientists around the globe to collect hundreds of pounds of the stuff.

But according to a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), issued late last Friday afternoon to little fanfare, thousands of pounds of highly-enriched uranium and separated plutonium remain. American officials may never get a chance to ensure its security.

That's because the U.S. can't track or fully account for 5,900 pounds of "weapons usable" nuclear material that it once shipped overseas. Instead, U.S. officials have to rely on foreign governments' assurances that the potentially cataclysmic stuff is safe. And when those officials occasionally visit the sites holding the nuclear material, nearly half the places "did not meet International Atomic Energy Agency security guidelines," according to the GAO, Congress' investigative arm.

U.S. Can't Track Tons of Weapons-Grade Uranium, Plutonium (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09/uranium-mia/)


Way to go OBAMA ... keep us all safe  :o

Okay so just a minute here...

I looked for more articles on this missing plutonium and got a little confused.. Just HOW much is missing?  ??? It seems a LOT more plutonium is 'unaccounted for'

Quote from: spacemaverick58 board=general thread=10822 post=319842 time=1316785041Ah yes, the missing plutonium!  It's like here we go again.

Plutonium??  MISSING??   ???  :o

Missing plutonium 'just on paper'

Almost 30kg of plutonium apparently missing from the Sellafield nuclear plant is simply an auditing issue, it has been announced.

Missing plutonium 'just on paper'  (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4272691.stm)

OH Whew... just an auditing error.. nothing to worry about...

'Missing' plutonium leaves nuclear industry red-faced

About 200 kilograms of plutonium produced by a Japanese nuclear plant - enough to make 25 nuclear bombs - have technically gone "missing", Japanese authorities have revealed.

But Tokyo and the United Nations' nuclear watchdog maintain that the shortfall is the result of miscalculation and measuring errors, rather than the plutonium being diverted for weapons production.

'Missing' plutonium leaves nuclear industry red-faced (http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/End%20of%20the%20World/Nuclear%20War/missing_plutonium.htm)

Ah see? No problem... "miscalculation and measuring errors" (nevermind all the crap coming out of Fukushima  :P )

Los Alamos Missing Plutonium for 150 Nuclear Bombs
Watchdog groups claim 765 kilograms unaccounted for

The beleaguered Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is unable to account for 765 kilograms of plutonium -- enough to make 150 nuclear weapons -- according to a letter from nuclear watchdog groups to LANL Director G. Peter Nanos.

According to the letter, "The Department of Energy (DOE) reported a discharge to waste from LANL of 610 kilograms of plutonium; Los Alamos indicates a figure of 1,375 kilograms . . . a discrepancy of 765 kilograms,  the equivalent of 150 nuclear weapons. This is unacceptable by any imaginable standards and constitutes a crucial safety, environmental, and security issue."

Los Alamos Missing Plutonium for 150 Nuclear Bombs (http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/consumerawareness/a/missingpluto.htm)

meh... no concern... probably just another 'discrepency'... it's not like these nuclear scientists need to know math or anything...

::)

Wow 30kg in UK, 200kg in Japan and 765kg in Arizona and the 16,364kg (36K Lbs) from the OP... so who is stock piling?   :o  Better check NASA see if they are missing any for their sace ship power units that they smash all over the solar system

Seems not only can we not keep track of the waste plutonium (waste? ??? ) but they can't even keep control of the missiles

Communication With 50 Nuke Missiles Dropped in ICBM Snafu
October 26, 2010

(http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2010/04/keyturn-660x438.jpg)

The Air Force swears there was no panic. But for three-quarters of an hour Saturday morning, launch control officers at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming couldn't reliably communicate or monitor the status of 50 Minuteman III nuclear missiles. Gulp.

Backup security and communications systems, located elsewhere on the base, allowed the intercontinental ballistic missiles to be continually monitored. But the outage is considered serious enough that the very highest rungs on the chain of command — including the President — are being briefed on the incident today.

Communication With 50 Nuke Missiles Dropped in ICBM Snafu (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/10/communications-dropped-to-50-nuke-missiles-in-icbm-snafu/)

The Air Force swears there was no panic.... uh huh

Doesn't all this make ya feel warm and toasty?

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/04images/Bluebird/greenstars.gif)

A Little History

Missing Nukes: Treason of the Highest Order

QuoteMissing Nukes on August 29-30, 2007

According to a wide range of reports, several nuclear bombs were "lost" for 36 hours after taking off August 29/30, 2007 on a "cross-country journey" across the U.S., from U.S.A.F Base Minot in North Dakota to U.S.A.F. Base Barksdale in Louisiana. Reportedly, in total there were six W80-1 nuclear warheads armed on AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missiles (ACMs) that were "lost." The story was first reported by the Military Times, after military servicemen leaked the story.

Missing Nukes on August 29-30, 2007 (http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7158)

Transnistria Trafficking Arms

100 missing suitcase nukes from Tiraspol   :o

Video Documentary, the missing nukes are at the beginning of Part 3. These were designed for 'sleeper'  I wonder if they were ever recovered or are still out there?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6kub-Ehbd4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RB9U4_f9Ug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqUyM4i-c9w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIaA0k-7_NM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOip16BoYv8

Related Links:

1. 25 Missing Nukes - Posted 2004 (http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread46672/pg1) - 29-4-2004
2. Tiraspol - Moldova - Mafia in Uniform (http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread134436/pg1) - 14-4-2005
3. The World's Most Accessible Nuclear Facility (http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread229777/pg1) - 14-10-2006
- "10 miles south of the Serbian capital, Belgrade, is a nuclear reactor which was shut down in 1984. More than two tons of uranium are stored there, and it is protected by just a handful of underpaid guards with light weapons. MI6 agents have learned that two Al Qaeda operatives have recently visited the site. The Al Qaeda operatives was accompanied by an organization run by Semion Mogilevich, who has expertise to carry out theft of such materials."
4. Al-Qaida recons nuke storage site (http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52114) - September 24, 2006
5. Barksdale Missile Number Six: The Stolen Nuclear Weapon (http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread302187/pg1) - 11-9-2007
6. US B-52 in nuclear cargo blunder (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6980204.stm) - September 2007
7. Air Force investigates mistaken transport of nuclear warheads (http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/09/05/loose.nukes/index.html) - September 2007

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/09/28/libyan-missiles-go-missing.html

I think we could add 20,000 missing surface to air missiles to missing weapons.  These are from Libya and it is thought that these weapons are headed for Hamas.  But are they headed for Hamas?

Thousands  :o 20,000 missing... from unguarded warehouses  :o

Nightmare in Libya: Thousands of Surface-to-Air Missiles Unaccounted For

QuoteSept. 27, 2011

The White House announced today it planned to expand a program to secure and destroy Libya's huge stockpile of dangerous surface-to-air missiles, following an ABC News report that large numbers of them continue to be stolen from unguarded military warehouses.

Currently the U.S. State Department has one official on the ground in Libya, as well as five contractors who specialize in "explosive ordinance disposal", all working with the rebel Transitional National Council to find the looted missiles, White House spokesperson Jay Carney told reporters.

"We expect to deploy additional personnel to assist the TNC as they expand efforts to secure conventional arms storage sites," Carney said. "We're obviously at a governmental level -- both State Department and at the U.N. and elsewhere -- working with the TNC on this."

ABC News reported today U.S. officials and security experts were concerned some of the thousands of heat-seeking missiles could easily end up in the hands of al Qaeda or other terrorists groups, creating a threat to commercial airliners.

Nightmare in Libya: Thousands of Surface-to-Air Missiles Unaccounted For - ABC News (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/nightmare-libya-20000-surface-air-missiles-missing/story?id=14610199)

Report: 20,000 missiles have disappeared in Libya  (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44685978/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/#.ToP0U-ysWuI)

Abandoned sites in Libya hold unguarded weapons

(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-110907-weapons-jb-01.photoblog900.jpg)
Scott Peterson / Getty Images Contributor
Peter Bouckaert, the emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, examines anti-tank mines hidden in a peach orchard as Libyans examine unguarded weapons stockpiles from which sophisticated SA-24 and other shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) have disappeared on September 7, 2011 in Tripoli, Libya. Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) is trying to secure sites where loyalist forces of former Libyan leader Moammar Ghaddafi shifted ordnance away from military bases, to protect it from NATO airstrikes. The missing SAMs have raised concerns about the weapons falling into the hands of Al Qaeda in the Maghreb or regional rebel groups.

(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/pb-110907-weapons-jb-02.photoblog900.jpg)
Scott Peterson / Getty Images Contributor
Libyans examine an unguarded weapons stockpile from which sophisticated SA-24 and other shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) have disappeared on September 7, 2011 in Tripoli, Libya. Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) is trying to secure sites where loyalist forces of former Libyan leader Moammar Ghaddafi shifted ordnance away from military bases, to protect it from NATO airstrikes. The missing SAMs have raised concerns about the weapons falling into the hands of Al Qaeda in the Maghreb or regional rebel groups.

Abandoned sites in Libya - Photo Blog (http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/07/7656435-abandoned-sites-in-libya-hold-unguarded-weapons)

Missing weapons from Libya arms caches raise fears  (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44430946/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/t/missing-weapons-libya-arms-caches-raise-fears/#.ToP17uysWuI)

Main quote:

"I myself could have removed several hundred if I wanted to, and people can literally drive up with pickup tricks or even 18-wheelers and take away whatever they want," Bouckaert said.

Laser Defense Systems for Commercial Flights

QuoteNow there are calls in Congress to give jets that fly overseas the same protection military aircraft have.
Libyan Missiles Missing: White House Meets Watch Video

"I think we should ensure that the wide-bodied planes all have this protection," said Sen. Boxer, who first spoke to ABC News about the surface-to-air security threat in 2006. "And that's a little more than 500 of these planes."

Boxer sent a letter today to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano urging the two to establish a joint program "to protect commercial aircraft from the threat of shoulder-fired missiles."

According to Boxer, it would cost about a million dollars a plane for a system that has been installed and successfully tested over the last few years, directing a laser beam into the incoming missile.

Boxer: U.S. Passenger Jets at Risk - ABC News (http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/nightmare-libya-20000-surface-air-missiles-missing/story?id=14610199&page=2)

Commercial Jet Liner Missile Targeting System
{More in the new weapons threads}

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/45jack_files/04images/Laser_Planes/Laser_004.png)

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/45jack_files/04images/Laser_Planes/Laser_003.png)

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/45jack_files/04images/Laser_Planes/Laser_002.png)

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/45jack_files/04images/Laser_Planes/Laser_001.png)

Their all idiots, 95% of them.

I gave never even heard of Transnistria till tonight. I watched the whole documentary. You know damned well the guy named Dmitri who works for their Govt met with the reporter who was undercover trying to sell him 3 Dirty Rockets fro 5000grand. My hats off to that reporter he could had easily been killed.
My question is how come we don't hear anything about this or are just hearing about it now?? This is completely insane!!
Thanks Zorgon for bringing this to our attention i had no clue of the country and or the weapons they are producing and selling to who ever!
                                                               Bigpappy51

 :-\

unfortunitly lossing stuff is nothing new..and neither is the guessing game that goes on :-\


Government agencies investigated missing uranium, NUMEC
By Mary Ann Thomas and Ramesh Santanam, VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Sunday, August 25, 2002


Read more: Government agencies investigated missing uranium, NUMEC - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/specialreports/buriedlegacy/s_87948.html#ixzz1alsh5yqW


The reason for all the cloak-and-dagger actions was an innocuous acronym - MUF.

MUF stands for "Materials Unaccounted For," and, in the case of NUMEC, referred to large quantities of weapons-grade uranium that went missing from the Apollo plant in the 1960s.

The unaccounted for uranium piqued the curiosity of the FBI, the CIA, Congress, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and its successor, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Carter presidential administrations.

"Each White House took this and treated it like a hot potato," said Henry Myers, a former aide to the late U.S. Rep. Morris Udall, D-Ariz., who led a congressional probe into the affair in the late 1970s.

........


NUMEC did business with at least a dozen nations, including Japan, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, England and Israel.

..................................


The AEC gave approval for the Israelis to visit NUMEC, according to a Sept. 20, 1968, memo from Walsh to Rice.

The four visitors were: Avraham Hermoni, Ephraim Beigon, Abraham Bendor and Raphael (or, Rafael) Eitan.

FBI and NUMEC documents listed Hermoni as a scientific counselor with the Israeli Embassy; Beigon, group leader of the electronics department in the Israeli defense ministry; Bendor, also in the electronics department; and Eitan, a chemist in the defense ministry

.............

Eitan's exploits are legendary. .....and there is a long list at the link

..........


Soon after the men's visit, 587 pounds of weapons-grade uranium reportedly went missing from NUMEC, according to Udall's papers.

The actual amount is a matter of some debate. Scholars have put the amount between Udall's high of 587 pounds to as little as 132 pounds.




this happened just down the road from me..but before i moved here..however there are still stories being told of all the "agents" who hung out for the duration

8)

Remember the 20,000 Libyan surface to air missiles lost in Libya?

US says terrorists seeking missing Libyan missiles

"Libya was largest non-producing country holding MANPADS," he said, referring to the weapons by their official designation of Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems.

The United States and other Western nations have been trying for decades to reduce the global stock of portable missiles, fearing they could fall into the hands of terrorists. The small, easily concealable SAM-7s are considered obsolete by modern military standards but could pose a threat to civilian airliners or helicopters.

Weighing just 14 kilograms (31 pounds) and only 1.40-meters (4-feet) long, the 1960s-era missile can reach an altitude of over 3,000 meters (10,000 feet).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9895149

Z..if this doesn't not fit..toss it

this is a follow up on the apollo nuclear waste that was buried at the site of numec in the 60's..
that's what they did then..just put it in drums and buried it in trenches on the property..
for years they have fought about who got cancer and who's going to move the stuff out of there
tons of money has been spent on both sides..finally  it was settled as to what was to be done
they made the gas company come in and move a pipe line
they cleared an area set back from the road ..dug down and made a deep foundation bed
then they built a huge structure  and transport area and a long paved , gated road up to the structure
and fnally start to dig trenches and remove the drums to Utah

this is the article in todays paper ..they halted the whole thing ...

article here
       http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/s_762643.html



some highlights :


By Michael Aubele, VALLEY NEWS DISPATCH
Wednesday, October 19, 2011


PARKS -- In the wake of news that removal of nuclear waste from a dump in Parks township recently came to an abrupt halt because of a safety violation, those who live near the site sought assurances Tuesday from the Army Corps of Engineers the error won't happen again.

"It's just that if this project is going to go on for the next eight to 10 years ... you want to make sure they're competent," Gilpin resident Anita Navarro said of the contractor hired to handle the cleanup. "You don't want to 'poke the bear,' as they say."

Corps officials told Navarro and roughly 50 other area residents that "human error" forced them to immediately stop work at the dump on Sept. 30. The corps accuses contracted employees of failing to do their jobs.

The error didn't create a public health risk, corps officials said.

The corps hired contractor Cabrera Services of East Hartford, Conn., to handle excavation of radioactive materials at the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) waste dump. Ten trenches at the 44-acre site eventually will be unearthed. NUMEC dumped radioactive and chemical waste there that was produced at its Apollo plant in the 1960s. The dump closed in 1970.

Numerous 55-gallon drums containing radioactive waste are buried in the trenches.

The error that led to shutting down the operation allegedly involved failure to check the contents of 10 of those drums at the trench site.

"The complete check of what was inside was missing," said Col. Butch Graham, commander of the corps' Pittsburgh District.

Corps officials said the drums' contents are supposed to go through a series of inspections, or "scans," before they leave the trenches and are taken to a processing building located at the dump. The final scan wasn't performed before the drums were taken to the processing facility, they said.

"This allowed a window of opportunity where harm could occur," Graham said. "No harm came."

Without going into detail, he indicated workers at the site could've been hurt because of the oversight, although none were.

The colonel said work won't resume until corps officials "are assured the contractor can do it safely." The corps still is investigating, he said.

An official with Cabrera Services couldn't be reached last night.

With only about a month left during the construction season, corps officials said it's possible that work might not resume until next year.

Thomas Booker, who lives about 150 yards from the dump, asked why the mistake was made. Corps officials responded that two people are responsible for checking the drums in the trenches -- a primary inspector and a backup -- and that neither did the job.

Leechburg environmentalist Patty Ameno commended the corps for its response, saying, "There is no room for deviation, and I'm impressed by that."

Recognizing the potential for a harmful situation, Ameno offered suggestions for putting residents at ease. Among them, scheduling an emergency drill so that residents know what to expect and how to react if a disaster unfolds.

Calling the error "unacceptable," Graham sought to reassure residents that the job will be done properly.

"We know how to get this material out of your back yard," he said.

More on Libyan missiles:

Iran 'steals surface-to-air missiles from Libya'
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have stolen dozens of sophisticated Russian-made surface-to-air missiles from Libya and smuggled them across the border to neighbouring Sudan, according to Western intelligence reports.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8782103/Iran-steals-surface-to-air-missiles-from-Libya.html

Sudan and Iran have a defense pact.  Elite troops stationed in Sudan from Iran slipped over into Libya during the confusion and stole some missiles.

What a world we live in.  Plutonium missing, missiles missing, what's next?

Libya's missing weapons being smuggled into Gaza
Israeli intelligence is increasingly concerned about the quantity of Libyan arms flowing into Gaza.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/israel-and-palestine/111008/libya-missing-weapons-arms-smuggling-gaza-hamas

JERUSALEM — Israel's military intelligence is increasingly concerned about the quantity of Libyan arms flowing into the Gaza strip through its increasingly volatile southern border.

Egypt has a northwestern border point with Israel, at the top of the Sinai desert, and a long eastern boundary with Libya. The fall of Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli represents a new source for weaponry, and has opened up a new land route, enabling smugglers to bring "thousands" of weapons into Gaza by way of tunnels that run from Rafah, in northern Egypt, into the Hamas-run territory, according to numerous Israeli military sources.

Before the influx of Libyan contraband, Israeli assessments have been that most of the weapons coming into Gaza, albeit also illegally, have been from Iran, transported by ships crossing the Mediterranean Sea or over land via Sudan.

more at above link.....

well well well..the clean up at numec has taken a very interesting turn..as you will see if you want to check out these articles that were in our local paper this morning
seems that the clean up efforts were shut down last fall..and now the place has home land securitiy guards with big guns patroling ..highly visible guns
seems some of that missing stuff and more has been found in the trenches that were bing dug up..
this is so totally wild.. and damn just a few miles down the road...yikes
abiting by the rules i will only post the lead ins..you hafta go read if you're interested

several articles here  http://triblive.com/news/armstrong/

Pennsylvania
...
Homeland Security guards nuke dump site By Mary Ann Thomas
Heavily armed guards from the Department of Homeland Security are patrolling a former nuclear waste dump in Parks as the Army Corps of Engineers rethinks its cleanup there after finding more "complex" nuclear material than expected, officials said. "The elevated security measures were put in place at the request of ...
http://triblive.com/news/armstrong/2024141-74/nuclear-security-site-corps-material-waste-cleanup-department-dump-guards

Security grows tighter at nuclear waste dump By Mary Ann Thomas
No one wants to discuss details of security at the nuclear waste dump in Parks, but if you drive by the site, it's hard to miss. Before the Army Corps of Engineers started prepping the 44-acre nuclear waste dump along Route 66 several years ago, a chain-link fence and nuclear ...
http://triblive.com/news/armstrong/2025353-74/security-nuclear-site-waste-corps-material-army-dump-materials-sites

'Complex' material throws wrench into Park plans By Mary Ann Thomas
The rethinking of who and what program will handle the Parks cleanup began when contractors unearthed greater than expected quantities of "complex" nuclear materials last fall. But just what are those "complex" materials? Nobody is saying. Complex materials are materials that are difficult to analyze, said David McIntyre, spokesman for ...
http://triblive.com/news/armstrong/2025232-74/materials-site-material-cleanup-complex-nuclear-corps-expected-studies-uranium

Corps of Engineers ponders next step at nuke dump By Mary Ann Thomas
After finding greater quantities of "complex" nuclear material than was expected at the former NUMEC nuclear waste dump in Parks, the fate of the Army ...
http://triblive.com/news/armstrong/2025104-74/corps-nuclear-cleanup-project-waste-army-dump-fusrap-agency-ameno

Mystery surrounds discrepancies in amount of lost uranium By Mary Ann Thomas
Probably the biggest question about the former NUMEC nuclear waste disposal site in Parks is this: What's in the ground there? Robert Alvarez, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington and former senior policy adviser to the secretary of the Department of Energy during the Clinton administration, ...
http://triblive.com/news/armstrong/2024746-74/nuclear-waste-alvarez-materials-235-government-snm-weapons-lost-parks

"Complex" material?  :o

Weapons grade mayhaps? Hence all the fuss?

hah hah
think what you want...
the place was torn down long ago and there is just a big field there
..
not much growin there..looked real ordinary till they put a big road in last year
then a fence and then  building and now men with guns..


i sorta laugh when i think about the little restuant called veado's
that was at the edge of one of thir parking lots...
and the dairy ..parks dairy that was right down the road and sold milk forever..

the spooky part is the official men with big guns patrolling...
brings up all the old stories...

you wanna do a map search type in apollo pa and then follow 66 til you hit kiskimere road
that blank spot is the 44 arces......the storage units are right past where the restuarant was
of couse the maps are old so you won;t see any of the current stuff

but we're not that far as the crow flies and my idea of here a safe place has changed
damn

and now the white wash/cover up/ avoidance/ it never happened-not a problem..now it starts by whatever name you care to give it
this is the latest newspaper article and if you can read between the lines you will get a sense there is a lot more..and there is..but i have nothing but hearsay about that..yet


Army Corp:  Feds will clean up nuke site
By Mary Ann Thomas

Published: Monday, June 25, 2012, 11:24 p.m.
Updated 14 hours ago


The Army Corps of Engineers announced Monday evening that while the fate of the continued cleanup of the nuclear waste site in Parks Township is unknown, the federal government still plans to remove the radiological contamination from the 44-acre site.

A public meeting is set for 6. p.m. today at the Parks Township Volunteer Fire Department, 1119 Dalmatian Drive, solely to take comments from residents and others about the progress of the cleanup.

Leechburg environmental activist Patty Ameno, who drafted a letter signed by a dozen local elected officials and others demanding that the borps complete the cleanup, was not impressed by the announcement.

"Any other agency put in charge of the cleanup might mandate further delays and further insulate the companies that own the site," she said.

"It's kind of scary that the Washington, D.C., 'beltway shuffle' is trying to be pushed onto this community."

Cleanup operations ceased last year when a contractor allegedly mishandled some nuclear waste and unexpected quantities of "complex" materials were dug up on site.

With the prospect of a more complicated cleanup that could take a decade, costs for the project could soar from $170 million to a range of $250 million to $500 million.

Given the increase in the project scope and cost, officials from the Army Corps headquarters in Washington are deciding what agency and program can best handle the job.

The public meeting was set up by the corps so residents could give comments about the cleanup to submit to corps officials who are reviewing the cleanup program.

"Our primary concern remains safeguarding your community and our workers," said Col. Butch Graham, commander of the corps' Pittsburgh District, in a statement issued yesterday evening. "We recognize the importance of having the community involved in these discussions."

The Parks nuclear waste dump is one of 24 active sites in 10 states in the corps' Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP).

It's a cleanup program for low-level radioactive contamination from the Manhattan Project, the top secret project that produced the world's first atomic bombs, and early Atomic Energy Commission operations.

Ameno and some local elected officials in Parks Township, Leechburg and Gilpin want to stay the course with the corps and the FUSRAP program, which has provisions to recoup cleanup costs from the owners of contaminated properties.

"With over two decades of experience of other agencies involvement, Jack Murtha -- for damn good reason -- legislated that site to the Army Corps of Engineers," Ameno said.

After more than two decades of delays and plans of leaving the waste on site under the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the late U.S. Rep. John Murtha entered legislation in 2002 for site to be cleaned up by the Army Corps' FUSRAP program.

"It's the Pittsburgh District of the Army Corps of Engineers that this community wants and that this community needs," Ameno said. "That is the only agency that we have had any semblance of trust with."

Coming up
Who: Army Corps of Engineers

What: Meeting to accept public comments on the cleanup of the Parks Township nuclear waste dump site

When: 6 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Parks Township Volunteer Fire Department, 1119 Dalmatian Drive, Parks Township

To submit comments:

Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District, will accept written comments on the future of the nuclear waste dump in Parks Township until 5 p.m. July 6. Residents can send comments to the corps via email: CELRP-PA@usace.army.mil. Or mail: The Army Corps of Engineers Public Affairs Office, 1000 Liberty Ave,, Room 2202, Pittsburgh, PA 15222-4186.

On the Web:
For more on the Shallow Land Disposal Area — Parks Township — cleanup, go to the Army Corps of Engineers web page.
http://www.lrp.usace.army.mil/fusrap/slda.htm

About the Shallow Land Disposal Area:

The waste dump along Route 66, owned by BWX Technologies (Babcock & Wilcox), was active from about 1960 to the early 1970s. It received radioactive and chemical waste from the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) in Apollo and Parks, which produced nuclear fuel for submarines and a range of nuclear products for the federal government and private industry.

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/2097124-87/corps-cleanup-army-parks-nuclear-site-township-waste-engineers-comments


:(

here's where the 24 sites are..go to the site and you can click on any for more info

http://www.lm.doe.gov/land/sites/fusrap/fusrapmain2.htm


(http://i45.servimg.com/u/f45/13/55/53/83/fusrap10.jpg)

 :-[ well i screwed up.. i thought today was tuesday..sigh..and missed this meeting last night
but just as an exmaple of how most think
i spoke to a boro sec this morning and her exact words were.. well i am more concerned about the mosquitoes carrying west nile virus than numec..it's been there forever and hasn't been a problem
i just said ok....
now that attitude is scarier to me than anything


Army Corps to decide fate of nuclear cleanup
About Mary Ann Thomas
Gateway Newspapers Staff reporter
Mary Ann Thomas can be reached via e-mail or at 412-782-2121 x1510.   
By Mary Ann Thomas

Published: Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Updated 12 hours ago


About 150 residents and government officials filled the Parks Township Volunteer Fire Department hall last night to demand that the Army Corps of Engineers continue its cleanup of the nuclear dump along Route 66.

After the Corps started the cleanup last year, digging stopped at the site -- known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA) -- after a contractor allegedly mishandled waste and unexpected amounts of "complex" nuclear materials were found.

Corps headquarters in Washington is deciding if the Corps and their cleanup program will finish the job.

And according to local Corps officials, although it's not clear what agency or program will handle the project, the federal government still plans to clean up the site.

"Our primary concern is safeguarding your community," said Col. Butch Graham, commander of the Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District.

"There is a lot of interest in the community, and it's evident by the turnout tonight," he said.

Corps officials had few answers for the crowd, as they had said in announcing the meeting. Residents' comments were recorded to be heard by Corps decision-makers in Washington.

Residents and local officials are concerned about finishing the cleanup, safety and the future of their community.

"Our homes have been devalued, the very existence of our businesses threatened," wrote state Rep. Joe Petrarca, D-Washington Township, in a statement read by his wife, Elise Glenn.

Petrarca's mother, Madeline Petrarca of Vandergrift, grew up in the village of Kiskimere next to the nuclear waste dump currently owned by BWX Technologies (Babcock & Wilcox), Glenn said.

"This site must be cleaned up in such a way as to safeguard our people and restore out economic health," Joe Petrarca wrote.

"If this cannot be accomplished, then the parties responsible must make us whole. These companies made their money at the expense of the health and even the very lives of the people we love who came before us. We should not still be footing the bill, nor should our children."

Residents and local government officials wanted the Corps to keep the project. They slammed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and site owner BWX Technologies.

A call to BWX following last night's meeting was not immediately returned.

"We're confident in the ability of the Army Corps to do the job safely," said Bob Monheim, a Parks Township supervisor who spoke for all three Parks supervisors in attendance.

Before the Corps was put in the charge of the cleanup by legislation drafted by the late Rep. John Murtha in 2002, the NRC and the BWX Technologies and former site owner the Atlantic Richfield Co. proposed to leave the nuclear waste buried at the 44-acre dump.

As the Corps decides the fate of the cleanup, many residents and Leechburg environmental activist Patty Ameno are afraid that the NRC and the companies could be back in charge and the cleanup could be in jeopardy.

"We have dealt with torturing issues at the hands of the companies and the AEC/NRC, who failed to regulate, especially with safety in mind," Ameno said. She submitted a statement purportedly signed by a dozen local elected officials and others from Parks, Gilpin and Leechburg demanding that the Corps continue the cleanup.

Bob Kossak, who is president of the Roaring Run Watershed Association and manager of the Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority, said, "We don't want any migration from the SLDA going into the Kiski River."

Kossak worked with the NRC to clean up a nuclear contaminated lagoon from operations of Babcock & Wilcox and predecessor companies. "Personally, I'd be a lot more comfortable with the Corps handling the project," he said.

Not everyone agreed that the nuclear waste should be excavated from the site.

Raymond Kramer, of Lower Burrell, a retired chemist from Alcoa, said, "I believe this move will cause more exposure to radiation and radioactivity than leaving it in place in perpetuity at a cost the nation cannot afford."

Zeke Summerhill, who owns about 120 acres of land next to the waste dump, said that he wants to see the cleanup complete but had questions: "How 'hot' (radioactive) is the material? Are there contingency plans? Are there monitors at the fence?

The Corps will be in a position to answer more questions after its headquarters reaches a decision on the cleanup plan.

A Corps spokeswoman from Washington said that her agency wants to resolve the cleanup issues soon.

To submit comments
Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District, will accept written comments on the future of the nuclear waste dump in Parks Township until 5 p.m. July 6. Residents can send comments to the corps via email: CELRP-PA@usace.army.mil. Or mail: The Army Corps of Engineers Public Affairs Office, 1000 Liberty Ave., Room 2202, Pittsburgh, PA 15222-4186.

On the Web
For more on the Shallow Land Disposal Area -- Parks Township -- cleanup, go to the Army Corps of Engineers web page.

About the Shallow Land Disposal Area
The waste dump along Route 66, owned by BWX Technologies (Babcock & Wilcox), was active from about 1960 to the early 1970s. It received radioactive and chemical waste from the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) in Apollo and Parks, which produced nuclear fuel for submarines and a range of nuclear products for the federal government

Excuse me if I have this wrong, this meeting did not accomplish anything?  Everyone agreed there is a problem.  Some think the Corp should clean it up.  Some think the original offender. Some think remove, some cap and that is it?

Am I missing something?  I am frustrated.  Is the hope to let it go because no decisions can be made?  Is the Corp going to clean it up?  Is there a schedule?

Where is Erin Brockovich when you need her?

Am I missing something?  I am frustrated.  Is the hope to let it go because no decisions can be made?  Is the Corp going to clean it up?  Is there a schedule?

Where is Erin Brockovich when you need her?


ditto..ditto.. ditto


i'm kinda in shock but i shouldn't be..this is the way the system seems to work

but really i have to say something about this and the et stuff or ufo stuff
in the 70's this place was a hot bed...almost everybody saw something
then it got quiet..not gone just not as everyday occurance

i'm wondering about all kinds of things now..

just plain ass wild...totally
::)

the saga continues here..and i have to wonder about the other 23 sites like this....underlining is mine





Casey wants nuke cleanup investigated

By Mary Ann Thomas

Published: Thursday, June 28, 2012, 12:58 a.m.
Updated 3 hours ago


U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is calling for an investigation of the federal government's handling of the cleanup of the Parks Township nuclear waste dump along Route 66.

Casey is asking Hubert T. Bell, inspector general of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), to investigate the work stoppage at the nuclear waste dump last fall and whether all the federal agencies are working together to finish the job, according to John Rizzo, Casey's press secretary.

In his letter to Bell, sent Wednesday, Casey said, "I want to ensure that the NRC is cooperating fully, properly and in a timely manner with (the Army Corps of Engineers), particularly because NRC previously oversaw decommissioning of the site."

Casey is requesting the investigation from the NRC inspector general because it's an independent office that investigates Nuclear Regulatory Commission programs and operations.

"That inspector general has basic authority on nuclear issues," Rizzo said.

The waste dump, known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area, is owned by BWX Technologies.

More than a decade ago, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and BWX Technologies proposed not cleaning up the nuclear waste dump, instead keeping the radioactive waste on site next to the village of Kiskimere, the Parks Bend industrial park, Route 66 and the Kiski River.

Disgusted with the prospect of no cleanup and fueled by public outcry, the late U.S. Rep. John Murtha convinced Congress to move jurisdiction of the cleanup from the NRC to the Army Corps of Engineers.

Then last year, digging at the waste dump stopped six weeks into the 10-year excavation project when an Army Corps contractor allegedly mishandled some nuclear waste and greater than expected amounts of "complex" nuclear material was found at the 44-acre site.

After digging up an estimated 10 percent of the waste from the site and finding greater amounts of "complex" nuclear materials, the corps revised its scope of work and budget to increase from $170 million to a range of $250 million to $500 million.

The corps put the project on hold as the brass at its Washington headquarters decide if their agency and cleanup program will finish the job.

About 150 residents attended a public meeting held by corps on Tuesday night to give comments.

Most of the residents and local government officials said they wanted to keep the corps at the helm to complete the cleanup.

"We want to make sure that all of the federal agencies are working together in concert to come up with a game plan to clean up the site," Rizzo said.

Casey's letter to the inspector general focuses on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's current role and history at the Parks waste dump and asked questions including:

• Is NRC fully complying with a 2001 memorandum of understanding between the NRC and the Army Corps of Engineers on the cleanup?

• Has the NRC properly evaluated the Army Corps' work plans to determine if they are meeting regulatory requirements?

Rizzo said that he hopes to hear from the general inspector soon.

"Senator Casey is hopeful that the inspector general will heed the call and do a full investigation," Rizzo said.

"The senator believes there is an urgency in this and it needs to take place as quickly as possible," he said.

About the Shallow Land Disposal Area

The waste dump along Route 66, owned by BWX Technologies (Babcock & Wilcox), was active from about 1960 to the early 1970s.

It received radioactive and chemical waste from the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) in Apollo and Parks, which produced nuclear fuel for submarines and a range of nuclear products for the federal government and private industry


http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/2113695-87/nuclear-waste-corps-casey-nrc-cleanup-dump-general-inspector-army


.................................................

just a side note to this  and the talk of his passing from such an ordinary surgery in a gov facility
i'm not saying it is anything..but some others have


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/08/AR2010020802352.html

REP. JOHN P. MURTHA 1932-2010
John Murtha dies; longtime congressman was master of pork-barrel politics

Gallery
John Murtha dead at 77; Pennsylvania congressman served 19 terms
Pennsylvania congressman John P. Murtha has died after complications from surgery.
» LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY
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By Carol D. Leonnig and Martin Weil
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a Vietnam War veteran who staunchly supported military spending and became a master of pork-barrel politics, died Monday at Virginia Hospital Center. The 19-term lawmaker died from complications of gallbladder surgery. He was 77.

This Story
REP. JOHN P. MURTHA 1932-2010: A military hawk skilled in pork-barrel politics
WhoRunsGov: John Murtha -- Why he matters

The Fix: What does this mean for Pennsylvania?
77-year-old Rep. John Murtha dies

Paul Kane discusses Murtha's life and legacy

Lives Remembered on Murtha
John Murtha dead at 77; Pennsylvania congressman served 19 terms
Murtha Quietly Becomes a House Legend, Post, 11/26/1985 (PDF)

View All Items in This Story

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When I worked out on the base at 29 Palms, I worked with a GS worker named "Mary Ann..."  "Thomas" sounds very familiar.  I wonder if She is the Mary Ann I worked with.  Can't remember what the last name was of "Mary Ann" I worked with.

;D

Gateway Newspapers Staff reporter
Mary Ann Thomas can be reached via e-mail or at 412-782-2121 x1510.   

;D

I'm saving My phone minutes...  Where's that email...?  Is it available at the original?

..didn't want to leave ya hangin..here's some or the rest of the story


Decades later, nuclear workers' families compensated

By Mary Ann Thomas

Published: Sunday, July 1, 2012, 10:14 p.m.
Updated 11 hours ago


It took eight years of finding paperwork and waiting on government reviews, but Helen Sobotka, 68, of Springdale got a lump-sum, tax-free payment from the federal government for $150,000.

The government paid the money, which went to her late mother, because her father, Paul "Shorty" Pastierik, died of lung cancer that likely was caused by his work around nuclear weapon components at the former C.H. Schnorr Co. in Springdale.

He was a machinist there from about 1935 to 1954.

Like many workers, Pastierik didn't know about the dangers of radiation exposure.

The Department of Labor recently sent fliers alerting Springdale residents to the compensation program.

"They do these mailings regularly in many areas," said Jesse Lawder, a Labor Department spokesman.

C.H. Schnorr provided metal fabrication services for the Manhattan Project -- which produced the United States' atomic bombs during World War II -- and machined uranium for the nuclear reactors at the government's Hanford nuclear research site.

Workers for Schnorr and its successor companies, Conviber, Premier Manufacturing from 1943 to 1994, might be eligible for a $150,000 lump sum, medical expense reimbursement from the federal government if they meet eligibility criteria and have one of 22 cancers or beryllium disease.

Survivors can get benefit

The federal government established the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA) program more than a decade ago to pay sick former workers of atomic weapons employers $150,000 and provide coverage of related medical expenses.

A number of businesses, including steel mills, nuclear fuel-processing plants and small manufacturing shops such as C.H. Schnorr, were subcontracted by the federal government to develop and produce the components for nuclear weapons.

The program has paid more than $8 billion to claimants nationwide so far, according to the EEOICPA website.

"I think this is great," Sobotka said.

"Even those guys who are dead -- their families can go after this money," she said. "There is no time limitation."

So far, the EEOICPA program has paid five workers or their families $750,000 from the Schnorr Co.

In the Alle-Kiski Valley, the employees most frequently receiving the money worked at the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) and its successors, with a total payout plus medical expense of more than $40 million.

According to Springdale Councilman John Molnar, there are few Schnorr workers still around.

C.H. Schnorr was named after Charles Schnorr who started the company, a small tool-and-die shop, in the late 1930s at 643 Railroad St. -- an address that was later changed to 644 Garfield St.

Schnorr was part of the "Little Businessmen's Congress" convened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 and his company grew from there, according to "The History of Springdale, Pennsylvania," published in 2006.

The company helped tool the B-19 and B-26 aircraft at the outbreak of World War II.

During the peak of the war, Schnorr employed about 400 people.

The Schnorr site was cleaned up in 1994 by the Department of Energy after the agency found elevated radiation levels "over a small area" inside the building where uranium was machined, according to the DOE's Legacy Management Department.

Independent surveys detected no residual contamination and the DOE has released the site for unrestricted use.

Cash, benefits paid out
Former workers from these nuclear weapon vendor facilities during the time periods listed could be eligible for federal benefits:

• Aluminum Research Laboratories, New Kensington Works of Alcoa; 1944-1945 ($2.4 million paid out so far).

• C.H. Schnorr, Conviber, Premier Manufacturing; Springdale; 1943-1951; residual radiation 1952-1993; DOE 1994. ($750,000)

• Carnegie Institute of Technology; Pittsburgh; 1942-1946 ($300,300)

• Heppenstall Co., Tippins Inc.; 1955; residual radiation 1956-1989. ($302,000)

• Koppers Co., Inc.; Verona; 1956-1957; residual radiation 1958-1996. ($453,000)

• Nuclear Material and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC), Atlantic Richfield Co., Babcock & Wilcox; Apollo; 1957-1983; residual radiation 1984-1995 (more than $30 million), and Parks Township; 1957-1980; residual radiation 1981-2004 ($9.6 million).

• Shippingport Atomic Power Plant, Shippingport; 1984-1995. ($1.45 million)

• U.S. Steel Co., National Tube Division, McKeesport; 1959-1960. ($1.6 million)

• Westinghouse Atomic Power Development Plant, East Pittsburgh Plant; 1942-1944. ($6.5 million)

• Westinghouse Nuclear Fuels Division, Westinghouse Commercial Manufacturing; Cheswick; 1971-1972; residual radiation 1973-1979. ($2.1 million)

For more information
• Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program help line: 1-800-941-3943.

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/2136025-87/schnorr-nuclear-million-radiation-government-residual-workers-program-springdale-federal

For anyone eligible for care and compensation under the EEOICP, my experience, and some of the recipients agree with me, the Dept of Labor seems to just be waiting for these people to die.  The care and compensation for the occupation diseases is not inexpensive.

Shasta

well there ya go..pat on the head and the whole thing  being swept under the carpet for who knows how much longer...typical..sad


Toxic waste cleanup in Parks Twp. 'a good while' away

By Mary Ann Thomas

Published: Saturday, July 14, 2012, 8:16 p.m.
Updated: Sunday, July 15, 2012


Don't expect removal of radioactive and chemical toxic waste any time soon at the BWX Technologies dump along Route 66.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., who on Wednesday met with Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army in Washington, said digging at the site likely will not resume until late next year.

Casey met with Darcy to push for action on Congress' mandated cleanup by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the 44-acre site, which stalled last fall.

"It's going to take a good while to have a new contractor in place and do the work," Casey said. "The main thing is that they move forward to get started."

Candice Walters, a spokeswoman for the corps, which has headquarters in Washington, said: "It is going to depend upon who the lead agency is for the project and when a contract is awarded. At this point, we are not sure."

Known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area, radioactive and chemical waste from Babcock & Wilcox (now BWX) and formerly from Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) was buried in 10 trenches from 1960 to the early 1970s.

After decades of wrangling, excavating of the buried waste pits began last year but stopped six weeks later because a contractor allegedly mishandled some waste and greater-than-expected quantities of "complex" nuclear material were found.

Federal officials in Washington are trying to decide what to do with the site. As the complexity of the project increases, costs for the cleanup and disposal off site could escalate from the current $170 million to an estimated $500 million.

Who's in charge?

Complicating matters further is the number of federal agencies weighing in on the cleanup.

For example, the National Security Council hosted a June 21 meeting on the status of the Parks dumpsite at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. The meeting included representatives from the corps, Department of Energy, the CIA and FBI, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Management and Budget, Department of Justice, the National Security Council and the National Security Administration.

Walters confirmed the meeting, and Casey said he is concerned about whether all of the agencies can work together to allow the project to move forward.

"I'm urging every agency, including the White House itself, to make sure that all the various entities are working together," Casey said. "And we have to make sure that everything is being done to keep a focus on the cleanup and to make sure they are taking precautions to protect public health."

Leechburg environmental activist Patty Ameno is glad to see the waste dump getting "appropriate government attention."

She said, "I think at this point, all of the burners are on the stove."

Last month, Casey called on Hubert T. Bell, inspector general of the NRC, to investigate whether all government agencies involved in the cleanup are cooperating.

The inspector general's office is reviewing Casey's request, according to Joseph McMillan, NRC assistant inspector general for investigations.

In the meantime, more public officials continue to get involved in getting the cleanup resolved.

U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey has been in "constant contact with local and federal officials" about the SLDA, according to Toomey spokeswoman Rebecca Neal.

Toomey has scheduled a meeting to discuss the cleanup project with the corps next week, Neal said.

And local communities, such as Leechburg, are passing resolutions calling for the corps to stay at the helm to continue the cleanup.

Last month, about 150 residents and elected officials attended a corps meeting in Parks Township to give comments to send on to Corps decision-makers in Washington.

http://triblive.com/news/2207208-74/cleanup-casey-corps-waste-meeting-washington-officials-project-site-agencies

Quote from: zorgon on September 25, 2011, 03:37:04 AM
The U.S. Is Unable To Account For 36k Pounds Of Weapons Grade Uranium And Plutonium

The U.S. Is Unable To Account For 36k Pounds Of Weapons Grade Uranium And Plutonium
Robert Johnson
September 15, 2011|

Maybe the plutonium was siphoned off into a black project with no paper trail?  Someone without the clearance followed up and thinks it went missing?

well in today's paper is a little blurpm about  this man speaking about his book at the Vol Fire Dept wherethe  NUMEC problems are..i will definetly go hear his speal on thursday
new one on me to hear about this org..here's the link

http://www.irmep.org/Defaults.asp



Grant F. Smith is director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington DC. He is author of the books Spy Trade, America's Defense Line, Foreign Agents, Deadly Dogma, and Neocon Middle East Policy. Jeff Stein of the Washington Post calls Smith "a Washington, D.C. author who has made a career out of writing critical books on Israeli spying and lobbying." Mondoweiss.com blogger Philip Weiss says "the best investigative work is being done by Grant Smith at IRmep..."


  Divert!: NUMEC, Zalman Shapiro and the diversion of US weapons grade uranium into the Israeli nuclear weapons program
Paperback: $15.11 Kindle Edition: $9.95

a u-tooby on him talking to James Corbett is here if any are interested

http://information-machine.blogspot.com/2012/10/israels-nuclear-smuggling-with-grant-f.html
....................................................

also the senator is still trying to get something done..but no one here seems to think it willhappen in our lifetime



Casey calls for new Parks nuke dump study

Read more: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/3341928-74/casey-dump-information#ixzz2JOY81sZt



By Mary Ann Thomas

Published: Wednesday, January 23, 2013, 12:21 a.m.
Updated: Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Sen. Robert Casey is asking for a new federal study on the risk and potential for exposure to radioactive and chemical waste to residents and businesses near the nuclear waste dump in Parks.

Known formally as the Shallow Land Disposal Area, the dump received radioactive and chemical waste from the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) in Apollo and Parks. It was later owned and operated by BWX Technologies (also known as Babcock & Wilcox) and its predecessor, Atlantic Richfield Co.

The Parks site, which sits next to the village of Kiskimere, an industrial park, and the Kiski River, which is a major tributary of the Allegheny River, had been active from 1960 into the early '70s.

Currently, the Army Corps of Engineers is trying to excavate radiological and chemical contaminants at the 44-acre site and ship the contamination off-site to another state.

Casey has been calling for several government investigations and cooperation among a number of federal agencies on the cleanup, which was halted in 2011 because a contractor allegedly mishandled some nuclear waste.

The project stalled because greater than expected amounts of "complex" nuclear materials were found in the waste trenches and cleanup costs soared.

Now, after a 2012 study on the well water and ground water near the dump by the Environmental Protection Agency, Casey is calling for a new study to address the community's concerns of exposure to radiation and contaminants found on the SLDA site.

"Principally, we're calling for this because we believe that a larger study needs to take place for the simple reason that there are gaps in the information," Casey told the Valley News Dispatch in a phone interview Tuesday.

He sent a letter requesting the study on Tuesday to Lisa Jackson, administrator of the EPA; Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army; and Christopher Portier, director of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

Although the 2012 EPA study didn't find chemical or radiological contamination above federal standards in ground and surface water near the dump, the agency says it needs more information to ensure that residents and nearby workers aren't getting contaminated.

The agency identified "data gaps," such as lacking information on wells at the SLDA and the need to test in other areas.

Environmental activist Patty Ameno of Leechburg said that she thinks there has been mischaracterization of information in some of the government reports over the years.

For example, a number of federal studies state that since there's public water service in Kiskimere, the village of about 50 homes next to the dump, residents there don't drink well water, according to Ameno.

"The EPA report made it clear that people are using their well water for drinking and irrigating their gardens," she said. "And this is one piece of information that can affect public safety.

"I think it's striking that the EPA cannot determine at this juncture if people are being exposed, and they need more testing to be able to say that," Ameno said. "And I am curious to why any public health impact study has not been done up until now, even though there's been a push from the public for it over the decades."

Casey said: "It is hard to pinpoint why there are these (data) gaps.

"Sometimes, it can be lack of coordination, or something as simple as when you did a particular study that you didn't get the all the information," he said.

"I think the most important point is that we're asking three agencies to work together to address those questions," Casey said. "And if they do this, there will be another measure of peace of mind for the residents."

Dan Jones, spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in Pittsburgh, said that they have reviewed the EPA report with the agency.

"We are aware of the request from Senator Casey and we will cooperate with any direction given to us by our senior leadership," he said.

"No matter what happens," Jones said, "we're going to continue to work with the EPA and (the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry) to ensure that we are all on the same page, sharing information, getting as much information as we can and using that information to safeguard the community."

The corps, which is looking for a new contractor for the cleanup, is committed to finishing the job.

But it's still reviewing the project because the cleanup costs have substantially exceeded its original cost estimate from $45 million in 2007 to up to $500 million now.

Mary Ann Thomas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at  mthomas@tribweb.com.

ok..not going ..sigh..should have paid closer attention to the news blurp..you have to sign up on line to get in
and in doing that give them your personal info..which i don't do >:(

here's the link  http://www.irmep.org/numec131.htm

7 Trillion missing dollars? Missing Plutonium?
'We don't know where it has gone'???????

Of course we do!
The 'Moon' Base  ;D

Its not cheap maintaining a space fleet  :D

(http://www.thelivingmoon.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10005/Divert_COVER.jpg)

Divert!:
Numec, Zalman Shapiro and the Diversion of Us Weapons Grade Uranium Into the Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program

Based on an exhaustive review of formerly classified government documents-as well as previously unexplored corporate filings, office diaries and unguarded interviews, Grant F. Smith has written a riveting story of the 1960s diversion of US weapons-grade nuclear material from an Israeli front company in Pennsylvania into the clandestine Israeli atomic weapons program.

The talented but highly conflicted founder of the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC)-Dr. Zalman Mordecai Shapiro alongside his close friend and financial backer David Lowenthal-engaged in a ferocious clandestine drive to funnel the most valuable military material on earth that forever tilted the balance of power between Israel and the world.

Divert! chronicles Zalman Shapiro's journey from crafting ingenious innovations for the Nautilus nuclear submarine in the 1950s to his costly pursuit of America's most advanced hydrogen bomb designs in the 1970s. Tasked during secret summits with high-level Israeli intelligence agents, guided by Israel's top nuclear arms designers, and defended by Israel and its US lobby, Shapiro and NUMEC drove the CIA and FBI from furious outrage to despair.

Presidents from LBJ to Jimmy Carter secretly grappled with how to respond to Israel's brazen theft of American nuclear material before finally deciding to bury the entire affair in classified files. But NUMEC's toxic secrets have refused to be buried alive. Newly declassified wiretaps have risen from the grave, detailing Shapiro's utter contempt for worker and nuclear safety.

David Lowenthal's role as an international refugee smuggler between the US, Europe and Israel-before organizing financing for NUMEC-is placed under new scrutiny.

This explosive story emerges even as the US Army Corps of Engineers struggles to quietly clean NUMEC's toxic waste near Apollo, Pennsylvania with $170 million in taxpayer funding.

At a time when America is coming under intense pressure to attack on the mere suspicion that Iran is diverting nuclear material, Divert! stands as the ultimate cautionary tale of how US Middle East policy is continually undermined from within by corruption, immunity, deceit and unwarranted secrecy.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlPsC8sOmRA


The NUMEC Cover-up: The Diversion of U.S. Weapons Grade Uranium from NUMEC to Israel - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlPsC8sOmRA)

Published on Feb 11, 2013
On January 31, 2013 the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy hosted a public education event just north of Apollo Pennsylvania. Author Grant F. Smith discussed key findings from his 2012 book, "Divert! NUMEC, Zalman Shapiro, and the Diversion of US Weapons-Grade Uranium into the Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program" at the Parks Township Volunteer Fire Hall.

Smith's talk covered the corporate histories of NUMEC and Apollo Industries, how regulators dealt with the plant's massive losses of bomb-grade nuclear material, the FBI's investigation of NUMEC's joint venture with a front for Israel's nuclear weapons program, and the ongoing clandestine interactions of NUMEC executives with Israeli intelligence and covert nuclear weapons program operatives.

Smith also unveiled a major new effort to declassify all remaining CIA, NSA, Justice Department and National Security Council files revealing how American presidents quietly grappled with NUMEC as a proliferation and safeguards issue from the LBJ to the Carter administrations.

in the continuing saga of bullshi t

they are never going to actual give true info on this site..it is the original missing stuff  site
..and i will bet that what is really buried is a note that says what other countries got stuff that was consistered 'waste'..

ggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrr

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/5422524-74/corps-nuclear-groundwater#axzz2qd6hGIPm

Meeting set to discuss NUMEC groundwater contamination
By Mary Ann Thomas

Published: Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014, 1:45 p.m.
Updated 10 hours ago


The Army Corps of Engineers will hold a meeting on Jan. 29 on groundwater testing results from the nuclear dump in Parks.

The Corps and the Environmental Protection Agency did not find nuclear or chemical contamination above drinking-water standards for the groundwater tests conducted last year.

The Corps is leading the cleanup project, estimated to cost $250 million to $500 million. It could take up to a decade to complete.
Formally known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area, the 44-acre dump received radioactive and chemical waste from about 1960 to the early 1970s from the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. in Apollo and Parks, and its successor, the Atlantic Richfield Co.

BWX Technologies, known as Babcock & Wilcox, owns the site.

At the meeting, the Corps will present an overview of its testing results to the public.

It will provide representatives for residents to meet with one-on-one, said Dan Jones, Corps spokesman for the Pittsburgh District.

A number of government agencies have long been concerned about the potential for groundwater contamination from the 54-year-old nuclear waste dump, which is next to a residential community and an industrial park.

Although many of the 50 or so homes in the neighboring village of Kiskimere are connected to a public water system, some residents use well water for drinking and to water vegetable gardens.




Who: The Army Corps of Engineers

What: Discussion of groundwater testing results from the nuclear dump in Parks Township

When: 7 p.m. Jan. 29

Where: Parks Volunteer Fire Department Hall, 1119 Dalmatian Drive

To view the report

The read the report on groundwater tests conducted last year, visit: http://www.lrp.usace.army.mil/Portals/72/docs/SLDA/SLDAGWSWSamplingAbsractFinal9Dec2013Public1.pdf)



>:(

back when this was going on this area was a hotbed for ufo and other activity..and kecksburg is not far away...reading this now and looking back i wonder if the 'ET' activity was  some type of earth activity (i do believe thaqt the earth is an entity) to check on what was happening and protect it's self...hummmmmmmmmm


Decision time yet again on whether to remove nuclear waste from Parks site

(http://i58.servimg.com/u/f58/13/55/53/83/dt_com10.jpg)
Storage drums with unknown contents sit outside the nuclear waste dump site in Parks Township on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014.



By Mary Ann Thomas

Published: Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014, 12:31 a.m.
Updated 22 hours ago


After more than 20 years of wrangling, the federal government has to decide — yet again — whether it will remove and ship out the buried nuclear waste at a dump on Route 66 in Parks.

The Pittsburgh District of the Army Corps of Engineers, the lead agency for a proposed 10-year cleanup that could cost up to $500 million, has not set a date for that decision. But before it does decide, the corps will hold a meeting in the spring to get public testimony on what it should do. The meeting has not been scheduled.

The project has grown much more complicated and expensive, causing the government to rethink what should be done.

"People should be concerned that Congress has little appetite to clean up environmental messes and U.S. Rep. John Murtha is gone," said Robert Alvarez, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington and former senior policy adviser to the secretary of the Department of Energy during the Clinton administration

When the cleanup plans sputtered and stalled in the 1990s, Murtha, the late congressman from Johnstown, initiated legislation in 2002 mandating the Army Corps take over the cleanup and remove the nuclear contamination from the site.

Although that agency is the first to put shovel to ground and remove nuclear contaminants, it had to rethink its role two years ago when workers unearthed greater-than-expected amounts of complex nuclear materials. The project price tag skyrocketed.

Originally estimated at between $21.5 million and $65.6 million in 2002, estimates rose to $170 million in 2010. Those have since ballooned to $250 million to $500 million.



U-235 and U-233

Two volatile types of uranium — U-235 and U-233 — are present on the site. Known as "fissile materials," they can cause a nuclear chain reaction or be used for an improvised explosive.

What's not clear is how much of the material has been found.

The corps refuses to release any information on the variety and quantities of isotopes found so far. The Army denied a Freedom Of Information Act request for documents from the Valley News Dispatch in 2012 regarding the materials.

According to a Sept. 17, 2012, letter to the newspaper, most of the requested documents on the nuclear dump are classified as "Secret" by the assistant secretary of Defense.

The site is protected by the Department of Homeland Security. That could indicate the corps dug up enough fissile materials to reclassify the site to what's called "Category 1" — denoting high security.

The cost for security and removing Category 1 materials dramatically increases the cost of a cleanup — and poses other issues, according to Alvarez.

"If, indeed, there is a sizable quantity of Category 1 material, you can't just leave it there," Alvarez said. "You have people living there. This is not on a federally guarded nuclear enclave or someplace in the middle of the desert.

"That's the conundrum here, of course," he said. "The Corps of Engineers' budgets have been cut like everything else. Something like this blows a hole in their budget. It's a difficult situation."

Sen. Bob Casey is pressing for the needed funding and the cleanup.

"As we move forward, I will continue to press the Army corps and other relevant federal agencies to clean up the SLDA site in a timely manner," Casey said.

For Kiski Valley nuclear activist Patty Ameno, restarting the decision process is frustrating.

In the 1990s, the site owners and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed to keep on-site the buried radioactive materials, some of which last for millions of years. Residents, lawmakers and Ameno railed against the proposal and urged Murtha, who represented the area in Congress, to find another regulatory agency to remove the nuclear waste.



Army corps deja vu

This is the second time in two years the Army corps is reviewing its role in the cleanup.

"Given the increased knowledge of the dangers of that site and the specific kinds of materials that have been brought up, this is absolute insanity and illustrates a total disregard for human health, safety and the environment," Ameno said. "It's quite apparent that the major factor is the money, and having these regulatory decisions again, it just fuels the delays."

"Cost can certainly be a driver, but a cleanup on the order of $250 million to a half- billion dollars is not unusual for a site with challenges," said Tom Clements, the nonproliferation policy director for the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in Columbia, S.C.

The worst Department of Energy nuclear sites are costing billions of dollars to clean up.

"For the Parks site, the problem is, will this have priority in the minds of the appropriators under increasing budget stress?" Clements asked.

The Army corps has said repeatedly that funding has not been a problem for the project.

But that could change.

There are proposed cuts in the 2014 Corps of Engineers budget for the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, which pays for the Parks cleanup.

Mary Ann Thomas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at  mthomas@tribweb.com.



Read more: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/5270680-74/nuclear-corps-site#ixzz2qxXd9Z9I
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Thats kinda scary Otter,

I saw this as a repeat last weekend on ABC News 24 here in Oz in regards to Taiwan's Nuke Waste.  Basically sue to the fact that Taiwan won't be recognised by the UN as something (yet allowed to have own currency go figure that) they have to deal with their own nuke waste.  And in this particular case not so well.

Not sure if this is veiwable in country's outside of Oz though ?

http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2013/s3733236.htm

QuoteBWX Technologies, known as Babcock & Wilcox, owns the site.

a.k.a. British Nuclear Fuels.... ;)

Scary stuff indeed,
( i'm just glad i can log in now & then, these pesky spam-bots have kept us busy for 2 days >:( )

well if you do just a little background on numec and see where the first stuff came up missing you
will go ah-ha..

..isreal...but the story and the connections are more than interesting
do a wiki just to start..

That wouldnt surprise me sky.its been known for a while israel had nukes.its just not known to the general public.i do think it was finally announced last week in an obscure article somewhere.that puzzle piece fits perfectly in the hole whether its correct or not.
Because this issue means alot to me.gold for you sky.

you mean this one?


Military & Defense More: Military Defense How Israel Received Weapons-Grade Nuclear Material From A US Company

Michael Kelley ?????
Aug. 7, 2012, 1:09 PM 11,340


On July 19, 1969, U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger wrote the following about Israel's nuclear weapons program: "There is circumstantial evidence that some fissionable material available for Israel's weapons development was illegally obtained from the United States by about 1965."

In the new book, Divert!: NUMEC, Zalman Shapiro and the diversion of US weapons grade uranium into the Israeli nuclear weapons program, Grant Smith details the circumstantial evidence through hundreds of declassified documents regarding the illegal diversion of U.S. government-owned highly enriched Uranium-235 (HEU-235) – a key material used to produce nuclear weapons – from the NUMEC nuclear processing plant in Pennsylvania to Israel's secret nuclear weapons program.

The story revolves around a brilliant nuclear chemist and professed American Zionist named Zalman Mordecai Shapiro.

Shapiro received a PhD in chemistry from John Hopkins University in 1948 and began working on the USS Nautilus, which would become the world's first operational nuclear-power submarine in 1954. The project was planned and supervised by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, who cited Shapiro as one of the four individuals most responsible for the program's success.

On December 31, 1956, Shapiro incorporated the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC), a nuclear-materials processing facility that began receiving a steady stream of government contracts to produce fuel for the Navy's growing fleet of nuclear-powered vessels.

The company's start-up capital was organized by David Lowenthal, an American citizen who secretly fought for Israel during its 1948 war for independence alongside who would become the country's first head of intelligence (Meir Amit) and its first prime minister (David Ben-Gurion). According to FBI files, Lowenthal traveled "to Israel on the average of approximately once per month."

Many members of NUMEC's venture capital network and board of directors were dedicated Zionists who, like Shapiro, held leadership positions in the Zionist Organization of America – "an American membership organization founded in 1896 dedicated to the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine," according to Divert!.

Between 1957 and 1967, NUMEC received 22 tons (44,000 lbs) of HEU-235. A 2001 Department of Energy audit revealed that NUMEC lost at least 593 pounds of HEU – about 2.0 percent of what it received – before 1968.



Grant Smith/Divert!

Department of Energy 2001 estimates of NUMEC's Material Unaccounted For (MUF)



The losses exceeded the industry average (.2 percent) by several times and still hold the dubious record for the highest losses of bomb-grade material of any plant in the United States.

In June 1966 Shapiro formed a company called the Israel NUMEC Isotopes and Radiation Enterprises Limited (ISORAD) in partnership with the Israeli government. The company was ostensibly created research projects involving exposing agricultural products to radiation to kill microorganisms and extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables.

Smith notes that Shapiro's business partner, Ernest David Bergmann, chaired the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission – "the primary cover organization for Israel's clandestine nuclear weapons program" – from 1954 to 1966.

About the same time that NUMEC sustained unaccountable losses of HEU-235, the FBI notes, NUMEC was developing and manufacturing food irradiators for Israel.

According to Smith there is no single smoking gun that Shapiro diverted HEU-235 to Israel – but many smoking shell-casings. They include:

• In 1965 a NUMEC employee walked near the NUMEC loading dock and encountered people he could not identify loading cans about the size of HEU-235 canisters onto a ship that was headed to Israel. The employee detailed the event in 1980 when interviewed by FBI agents. Based on the number of reported canisters, Smith estimates up to 346 lbs of U-235 could have been shipped to Israel in this single incident.



Grant Smith/Divert!

Estimated 1965 HEU diversion to Israel



•In 1968 NUMEC invited and received Israel's elite nuclear weapons development officials and its top spy under the cover of being "thermo electric generator specialists." They included Avraham Hermoni (technical director of Israel's nuclear bomb project), Ephraim Biegun (head of the Israeli technical department of Israel's Secret Service from 1960-70) and Rafael Eitan (long-time Mossad and LAKAM operative who later directed spy Jonathan Pollard's spy program against the U.S.).

Smith notes that in 1986 Middle East operative analyst Anthony Cordesman said there "is no conceivable reason for Eitan to have gone [to NUMEC] but for the nuclear material."

• In June 1978 Department of Energy investigators told former Atomic Energy Commissioner (AEC) Glenn T. Seaborg that traces of Portsmouth U-235 – the government-owned material primarily delivered to NUMEC for processing into fuel – had been picked up in Israel.

Seaborg, who frequently defended Shapiro during his time as AEC chief, later refused to be interviewed by FBI investigators.

Smith's analysis concludes that enough U-235 to produce dozens of nuclear weapons was not lost but diverted directly into Israel's as-yet-to-be-officially-acknowledged nuclear weapons program.

In the 1969 memo, Kissinger noted the general intelligence assessment at the time: "Israel has 12 surface-to-surface missiles delivered from France. Israel has set up a production line and plans by the end of 1970 to have a total force of 24 - 30, ten of which are programmed for nuclear warheads. The first domestically produced missile is expected to be completed this summer. Preparation of launch facilities is under way."

SEE ALSO: DER SPIEGEL: Israeli Nukes Are Deployed Underseas On Subs Bought From Germany >



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-explosive-story-of-how-israel-received-weapons-grade-nuclear-material-from-a-us-company-in-the-sixties-2012-8#ixzz2qyxrdyWM


sorry the graphs didn't come thur.. go to the link



.......................................................

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20111020006146/en/Secret-CIAFBI-files-NUMEC-nuclear-diversions-Israel

Secret CIA/FBI files of NUMEC nuclear diversions to Israel could aid $170 million toxic cleanup October 20, 2011 10:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Recently declassified wiretap transcripts of conversations between Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) founder Zalman Shapiro and venture capitalist David Lowenthal reveal that illegal storage practices led to a dangerous nuclear spill. Obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by IRmep's Center for Policy and Law Enforcement, the files were heavily censored by the Central Intelligence Agency which blocked release of 225 pages.

"NUMEC material had been diverted by the Israelis and used in fabricating weapons."
The transcript, http://www.irmep.org/ila/numec/08292011lowenthal.pdf, details that Shapiro and Lowenthal's interest in completing NUMEC's sale to Atlantic Richfield Company outweighed public safety concerns. The FBI and CIA investigated Shapiro and Lowenthal in the 1960s under suspicion of diverting highly enriched uranium (HEU) from NUMEC into the clandestine Israeli nuclear weapons program. For decades the CIA has blocked release of its files and equity content in other government agency reports about NUMEC.

rest at link

....................................................

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101222005875/en/Obama-Asked-Delay-NUMEC-Founder-Award-Nuclear

.....................................

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Apollo_Affair

.......................................

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ocas/numec.html




i could go on but you get the picture..just down the road from me..wild, huh?


>:(

Solution...

Ship it all to Oz :D

BIG HUGE EMPTY DESERT :P

(http://imgc.artprintimages.com/images/art-print/christopher-groenhout-barren-landscape-on-desert-highway-australia_i-G-29-2968-PR7QD00Z.jpg)

Quote from: zorgon on January 21, 2014, 12:02:53 AM
Solution...

Ship it all to Oz :D

BIG HUGE EMPTY DESERT :P

Yes, that happened at Emu, Maralinga and North West Cape, but we made the English come and clean it up!

It might be a Big Huge Empty Desert, but Skippy lives there.  :)

Are you skippy on lop and glp? Starwarp.

Quote from: robomont on January 21, 2014, 12:26:42 PM
Are you skippy on lop and glp? Starwarp.

Never been on LOP or GLP, Robo.

Was referring to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skippy_the_Bush_Kangaroo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skippy_the_Bush_Kangaroo), and a colloquial name for all Kangaroos  :)

you guys probably aren't real i nterested in the bs with this 50+ year old mistake..so just skip this


http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/5498558-74/corps-nuclear-dump#axzz2rv1mzfCv

Water at Parks nuclear dump site passes scrutiny


By Mary Ann Thomas

Published: Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014, 12:41 a.m.
Updated 4 hours ago


Parks Township residents received good news from the Army Corps of Engineers about safe groundwater in and around the nuclear waste dump along Route 66, but they want more details and progress in the decade-long cleanup.

About 80 people attended the public meeting in Parks held by the corps on Wednesday evening to present the results of their groundwater tests at the nuclear waste dump.

The corps and the federal Environmental Protection Agency found that the groundwater from the site had no significant amounts of chemical or radioactive contamination.

Col. Bernard Lindstrom told the audience that he was their neighbor and he wanted to be a good neighbor.

"My biggest concern is on the safety and quality of the cleanup," Lindstrom said. "Not the time and money. Although time and money are concerns."

With having to amend and revisit its cleanup plan, get more funding and find a new contractor, the corps doesn't expect digging to resume at the site until 2016.

"I hope I have a good neighbor," said Todd Steele of Kiskimere.

"What about my property values?" Steele asked. "Nobody can sell a house here."

Steele is looking for the agency to resume the cleanup soon.

"I believe that you got to do it safe," said Steele. "But you've got to do it."

The corps offered up a lot of resources to residents, including one-on-one discussions with representatives from the Corps, the EPA, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the state Department of Environmental Protection.

But the corps changed its meeting format, moving the public question-and-answer session to the end.

Environmental activist Patty Ameno of Apollo was angry as she complained that people had left the meeting by the time that session came around.

State Rep. Joseph Petrarca said: "This is unacceptable. These people have been waiting."

Some residents like the new format: they met with government officials one-on-one and didn't mind waiting until the end of meeting for the public question period.

Dan Jones, Army Corps spokesman, said that the corps changed the meeting format because some residents said that they couldn't get their questions answered at earlier meetings.

Jones added that the corps is open to other changes residents would like for future meetings.

Ameno got into a spirited debate with corps officials about the agency using or not using a criticality alarm system for the cleanup in the past and questioned if they would use it going forward.

Such a system would alert workers of a dangerous chain reaction if a significant amount of nuclear materials were mishandled.

Ameno was not satisfied with the Army Corps' answer of working within government regulations for the job.



Mary Ann Thomas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at  mthomas@tribweb.com.



Read more: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/5498558-74/corps-meeting-nuclear#ixzz2rv2E2JFY
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yet another update and roadbump.. but progress has been made even if it is small steps


Government agencies agree on roles in Parks nuclear waste cleanup

Read more: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/6088070-74/nuclear-agencies-cleanup#ixzz31VdMfvUz

By Mary Ann Thomas

Published: Monday, May 12, 2014, 12:51 a.m.
Updated 9 hours ago


Four federal government agencies, including one that deals with nuclear weapons materials, have agreed on their collective roles for the cleanup of the nuclear waste dump in Parks Township.

The cleanup, which could cost as much as $500 million, has been mired in red tape as the Army Corps of Engineers, the lead agency for the estimated 10-year cleanup, had to halt the project in 2011.

Skyrocketing costs, problems with contractors and the potential for greater amounts of complex nuclear materials at the site have caused delays in developing a revised action plan.

Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Scranton, has been pushing for an agreement among the federal agencies to get the cleanup back on track.

The details of the agreement have not yet been released.

According to a May 2 letter to Casey from Allison Macfarlane, chair of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agencies have agreed and are in the process of circulating the legal document for signatures.

John Rizzo, Casey's spokesman, said that they need to see the agreement among the federal agencies to comment.

New agency in the mix

A government spokeswoman said the newest twist in the agreement is the inclusion of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages nuclear materials that could be used for nuclear weapons.

The other agencies are the Corps, NRC and Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management.

Calls to the National Nuclear Security Administration for comment were not returned on Friday afternoon.

The Corps contractor unearthed U-233 at the Parks site, which is considered a special nuclear material. In sufficient quantities, U-233 can be used in the production of a clandestine fissile bomb.

There are other special nuclear materials, such as enriched U-235 and plutonium that are known to be at the Parks dump.

According to Maureen Conley, an NRC spokeswoman, special nuclear materials need special handling and control because of a potential nuclear reaction and security concerns.

The Corps have had to make plans to handle any material that they find on site. A recent investigation by the NRC Inspector General's office found that neither the government agencies nor the owners of the dump know for sure what is buried at the site.

"The Corps has the necessary experts on staff and is also leveraging expertise from other federal agencies and the private sector," said Dan Jones, Corps spokesman.

"We are prepared to excavate, characterize and properly dispose of the full spectrum of materials at the site," he said.

Mary Ann Thomas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at  mthomas@tribweb.com.





DetailsToxic dump
The nuclear waste dump on Route 66 in Parks is owned by BWX Technologies (known as Babcock & Wilcox). The dump received radioactive and chemical waste from the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp., or NUMEC, in Apollo and Parks from about 1960 to the early 1970s.

It formally is known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area.

ah yes,,what could stop them now?...how about a  Network of abandoned mines
I mean hell it's only western Pennsylvania..who would have thought there were coal mines ?

not that it matters  ~  this is only about 110 feet from the kiski river.. stuff (plutonium etc.)
probably all went down stream years ago


well........... that is............ if it hasn't seeped into the mines with the methane....

sigh



I D I O T S ! ! !





http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/7516794-74/waste-corps-nuclear#axzz3OZba4j7g


Network of abandoned mines complicates NUMEC cleanup

By Mary Ann Thomas
Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015, 1:06 a.m.
Updated 21 hours ago


A honeycomb of abandoned coal mines beneath the nuclear waste dump in Parks Township can be credited, at least in part, to ensuring that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should remove the radioactive waste at the site along Route 66.

A recent Corps report adds credence to long-held concerns among residents about the abandoned, deep coal mines under the 44-acre site.

Last week, the Army Corps of Engineers released a revised plan for the cleanup at the dump.

The Corps is asking the public to comment on the plan at an upcoming hearing Jan. 27.

The scope of the cleanup project has expanded because of potentially more dangerous and difficult to characterize waste at the site.

Costs have soared to $412 million, which is about 10 times more than original estimates.

The Corps still recommends removing and hauling away the radioactive waste, but has to revisit the decision of whether to remove radioactive waste buried in 10 shallow trenches.

As the Corps goes through another round of decisions at the site after more than 20 years of government reports and wrangling, Bud Shannon, chairman of Parks Township supervisors for most of his 26 years on the board, said: "Every time these things are brought up, it delays the process.

"They made up their mind to take the waste out of here, and we should work with them to take it out," Shannon said. "This has gone on entirely too long."

"Let's get it done. Let's make a decision and move on it."

Some residents and environmental activists petitioned the government to remove the waste in the 1990s.

But it took federal legislation entered by late U.S. Rep. John Murtha to require that the radioactive waste be dug up and taken from the site.

The Army Corps leadership is scheduled to make a final decision in July.

Just last week, in a feasibility study, the Corps ruled out:

• Doing nothing;

• Limited action, such as imposing land-use controls and environmental monitoring;

• Simply containing the materials buried there with engineered cover, slurry walls, grout curtains, grout mine stabilization and drainage improvements.

The only two options still in play, according to the Corps' report, both involve removing the materials.

It's just a matter of how to do it and where it goes:

• Excavation, treatment and on-site disposal: Dig up contaminants and deposit in disposal cells constructed on site.

• Excavation, treatment and off-site disposal.

They could not ensure protection of human health and the environment over 1,000 years because of the uncertain stability of the abandoned mines.

The nuclear waste dump sits above coal mines that were dug in the early 1900s to tap the Upper Freeport coal seam.

The maze of mines is between 60 and 100 feet below the ground, according to earlier Corps site reports.

"The science isn't available to predict when mine subsidence will occur," said Mike Helbling, Corps project manager in Pittsburgh.

"With that in mind, it weighs heavily into figuring that there is a potential risk of subsidence in that area."

According to the Corps report, if mine subsidence would occur underneath the disposal trenches, the radioactive waste could get into the groundwater and a person drinking this water could be exposed to unacceptable levels of contaminants.

"I don't think that this waste dump was ever intended to be permanent," said Diane D'Arrigo, radio­active-waste project director for Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a nonprofit in Tacoma Park, Md.

"And I would be shocked if this kind of thing would meet the legal requirement for a permanent nuclear dump," she said.

According to the Corps report, digging up the waste and keeping it on site in a cell would be challenging to manage and monitor the waste for thousands of years.

"There really isn't a good place for nuclear waste," D'Arrigo said, "but to leave it in a place where there is a chance of it leaking out is sacrificing the area."

Mary Ann Thomas is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-226-4691 or mthomas@tribweb.com.



http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/7516794-74/waste-corps-nuclear#ixzz3OZcHTFHh


About the dump

The defunct Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. operated the dump. According to records, NUMEC disposed of uranium, plutonium and other hazardous materials there from 1960 until about 1972.

NUMEC produced fuel for Navy nuclear reactors from 1957 to 1984. It also produced plutonium from 1960 until the early 1990s for the private nuclear industry.

Corps sets hearing

The Army Corps of Engineers will hold a hearing on the revised site plan for the Parks nuclear waste dump at 7 p.m. Jan. 27 at the Parks Township Volunteer Fire Department, 1119 Dalmatian Drive.

To view the new revised plan for the nuclear waste dump, visit www.lrp.usace.army.mil/Portals/72/docs/SLDA/SLDA%20PropRODAmend%28Final%29V4.pdf

Well, it is great of them to offer a chance at public comment for such a disaster in place. I think my only public comment would be something to the effect of how we need to see some resignations tendered and smartly, as the Brits might say. As noted? Coal mines aren't exactly a shocking thing to discover in the heart of coal country. Response isn't enough, because we're just 'responding' to truly horrific stuff like this far too often these days.

Resignations, if not prison sentences to go with examples of extreme criminal negligence would be more fitting than excuses and promises for clean-ups to come.

Wow... Nuclear waste over coal mines? Oh... Dandy.. They DO understand those friggen mines also catch FIRE occasionally...right? When they do..they do nasty things. I believe one whole town in PA was evacuated with a mine still burning below it, to this day?

I believe one whole town in PA was evacuated with a mine still burning below it, to this day?



yeah wrabbit..but that mine was only a coal seem...or should I spell that seam.. ?  hummm

doesn't really matter if that sucker decides to blow..but the rest of the good news is frackin has come to the area big time..
if'n ya all don't hear from me  anymore.. send good thoughts..k?

we're so blessed with all this fuel.... ::)

the saga continues. ::)


Army Corps of Engineers asks for more input on Parks Township nuclear dump plans


By Tom Yerace
Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015, 2:01 a.m.
Updated 10 hours ago



The tenor of citizens comments at Tuesday's public hearing on the Parks Township nuclear waste dump cleanup was unmistakeable.

Perry Roberts of Gilpin may have expressed it best: "We need to get it done this time, and we need to get it done right," Roberts told Army Corps of Engineers officials.

About 150 people attended the hearing conducted by the Corps of Engineers unit out of Pittsburgh in the township fire hall.

It attracted coverage from a number of media outlets, including a reporter and cameraman from Al Jazeera, the TV network headquartered in the Middle East.

The Corps has the responsibility for overseeing the cleanup, whose cost has ballooned from a projected $44 million to $412 million.

That happened after excavation on the project began in 2011 and then came to a screeching halt when the Corps unearthed greater-than-expected quantities of complex nuclear material.

Corps officials told the crowd that their input is important to the resumption of the project and the Corps is required to consider their testimony and answer questions raised.

"Today, the power is not with us, the power is with you," said Col. Bernie

Lindstrom, commander of the Corps in Pittsburgh.

In order to cover the increased cleanup costs, the Corps has to get approval for a change to the original "record of decision" or ROD. It's that document that enabled the initial work on the waste dump, which came to about $62 million.

Michael Helbling, the Corps' project manager, said that's why public comment and support are important.

"You can have the best remedy in the world, but if the public doesn't accept it, it is very hard to implement," Helbling said.

To that end, Helbling announced that the 30-day public comment period, which was set to end Feb. 5 has been extended. He said that there have been at least two requests made to continue the public period and the Corps has granted them.

He said the Corps will continue to accept comments for an additional 60 days and end April 4.

A public meeting will follow that deadline at the beginning of April to update area residents about the project and answer questions, Helbling said. Once public comment ends and any pertinent suggestions or input from the public is added to the ROD amendment, it will be sent up the chain of command for approval.

He projected that would come in July and, if approved, the Corps would solicit requests for proposals from contractors immediately.

Hiring a contractor should be completed by January 2016, followed by design work and the work on the nuclear waste dump would get underway in 2017.

In brief, the plan is to excavate the dangerous radioactive waste and safely transport it to a landfill specifically designed to accept it.

At least one person thinks it's a bad idea.

"My idea for a future that is healthy is leave well enough alone," said John Voyten of the township's Kiskimere section, close to the waste dump.

While many residents fear the health effects from letting the nuclear waste stay where it is, Voyten said he has lived there for 67 years and the only problem he has is "growing hair."

But Patty Ameno of Hyde Park, the leading activist in pushing for the cleanup, said, "The consequences of leaving it there are far more dangerous than digging it up."

Ameno, in her testimony, listed eight points that the amendment should address. Among them are moving the project ahead without delay, the health and safety of the residents be given the highest priority equal to national security concerns, that the abandoned coal mine below the waste dump be investigated and tested and that a "no-fracking zone" be set up to make sure that seismic activity from Marcellus shale drilling does not impact the waste dump.

"I've spoken to both the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) and EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and they both agreed there should be a no-fracking zone," Ameno said.

Neill Andritz, who owns a canoe/kayak sales and rental business along River Road in Parks Township, said the Corps has to do something about making it easier for the trucks that haul materials to and from the site to turn onto River Road from the project site.

"A radioactive materials truck blocking the passing lane of a two-lane road is a dangerous situation," Andritz said.

Chuck Pascal of Leechburg said the next cleanup should be preceded by an emphasis on training for first responders on how to do deal with an accident or some event involving the nuclear waste.

He said that security concerns should not prevent the Corps from alerting local officials when the nuclear and/or chemical waste materials are moving through their towns.

Tom Haley of Allegheny Township emphasized that the Corps use all resources to learn about what materials were produced and processed at the former NUMEC and Atlantic Richfield operations that produced the waste.

Haley, who has been involved with the waste dump issue since 2003, said he worked as a project manager at the NUMEC plant for 11 years and knows what was produced there.

He said he prepared an extensive report on those materials, but nobody from the Corps has looked at it.

"It describes everything you need to know about what was processed at NUMEC," Haley said.

He used the aborted cleanup as an example of why more knowledge is needed. Originally, the estimate of the radioactive waste dumped at the site was 26.6 kilograms.

But Haley said there was more than that amount just in the one-half of a disposal trench that was excavated before the project was halted.

Peter Davin of Pittsburgh seemed to echo Haley's concerns. Davin said he is a technical attorney who has worked on such cleanup projects for 30 years and now is involved in a major one in California.

He suggested to the Corps officials, as a part of their request for proposals on

the cleanup, that they supply information about the site's contents to the contractors bidding on it so each can supply a risk assessment-risk management plan on how they will handle things if something goes wrong.

Helbling said that was done the first time.

Making public what the Corps knows to be in the waste dump is something that residents have asked for, unsuccessfully, in the past.

"Our policy is not to talk about the stuff that we think is in there, and we do not talk about the material we excavate," Helbling said. "And that is not going to change."

Tom Yerace is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-226-4675 or tyerace@tribweb.com.



Read more: http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/7645382-74/corps-waste-dump#ixzz3QB7pBWVW
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook

You know, I'd recommend they go and build a place to store all this. Perhaps in one of the most remote areas and stable in geologic time frames of reference.

The problem is? The US already did build such a place. In fact, the Gov't gleefully appropriated all the money it could to build it. Then shut it down in a way that made clear it was never really intended to be open for business in the first place. As much as I think nuke power could be useful in very different and more advanced designs? If we can't even store the waste...We probably need to stop using it on just that basis alone. After all...things get lost when they aren't stored well. Thousands of lbs of lost.

We also built a thing called a railroad, way back when, and at least in the World War II expansion, that was supposed to be moving dangerous stuff. Why radioactive waste outside things like hospital gowns/gloves is moved on highways is beyond me, anyway.

Logic never does define these things tho, eh?

How many coal fires do we still have burning underground?   And Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is still closed to the public.   Disturbing.

Shasta

i think this is the place for this obit..

http://triblive.com/obituaries/newsstories/10809808-74/shapiro-nuclear-fuel

Scientist developed nuclear fuel for USS Nautilus
BY MARY ANN THOMAS  | Monday, July 18, 2016, 11:00 p.m.

(http://triblive.com/csp/mediapool/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=mSwdx6uxEcoc00qDX1d1Ac$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYv6XmQmhdJPQw2zZDcMcAkUWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_CryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg)
Zalman Shapiro, owner of NUMEC Merriman photo, '05.
PHOTO BY JUSTIN MERRIMAN



holy crap.. the photo wasn't that big on the page and i can't get it to reduce..sorry


In a lifetime of major technological accomplishments, Zalman Shapiro was proudest of being one of the developers of the nuclear fuel for the world's first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus,

While Shapiro's accomplishments were among the landmarks of the Atomic Age, he was dogged by allegations — never proven — of illegally providing nuclear materials to Israel for its nuclear weapons program in the 1960s.

Shapiro, 96, died Saturday at his home in Pittsburgh's Oakland section.

Shapiro founded a nuclear fuel company in Apollo, Armstrong County, in 1957, pioneering the first continuous production process for nuclear reactor fuel, a crucial step in making nuclear power commercially viable.

The Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. produced fuel and other nuclear products for the U.S. government. It designed and constructed the first commercial plutonium facility in Parks Township, where the first nuclear-powered cardiac pacemaker was developed.

"He was a brilliant and courageous scientist, who was one of the pioneers of the nuclear age," said daughter Deborah Shapiro. "My dad was a patriot who made substantial contributions to the defense and welfare of the United States."

A longtime friend, Pittsburgh forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht, said, "Dr. Shapiro was a very astute gentleman with a combination of intellectual brilliance and a very high level of ethical behavior and personal integrity."

Both were active in the Zionist Organization of America, the country's oldest pro-Israel group.

"He was a very ardent supporter of Israel where he contributed intellectually and shared nonconfidential information of an academic nature with his colleagues there," Wecht said.

MULTIPLE INVESTIGATIONS
Shapiro, though, was best known for the allegations he provided the Israelis with weapons-grade uranium.

Despite nearly two decades of investigations by Congress, the FBI, CIA and others, Shapiro never was charged, nor lost his security clearance.

He vehemently denied the accusation.

"Why would I jeopardize my position, my integrity, my life?" Shapiro said in a recent interview with the Tribune-Review.

"What are they going to write on my tombstone: 'He diverted material to Israel.' I don't want to go to my grave with this hanging over my head," he said in another interview. "The government made a mistake and they should admit it."

Shapiro did have an unlikely ally: Environmental activist Patty Ameno of Hyde Park. Ameno spearheaded lawsuits that settled for about $92 million against NUMEC's successors, the Atlantic Richfield Co., and Babcock & Wilcox for wrongful death, personal injury and property damage from the nuclear plants' emissions.

"I never thought for one moment Zal was guilty of illegally sending nuclear material to Israel," she said. "The government, as the regulator, either knew or should have known that the 'lost' nuclear materials went up the stacks, went into the (Kiski) river or got buried."

Shapiro's expertise with zirconium, a hard metal resistant to corrosion, contributed greatly to his success in developing nuclear fuel for the Navy and for commercial plants, including the first atomic plant in Shippingport, Beaver County

"Zirconium is virtually synonymous with Zalman Shapiro," said Francis Cotter of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., a former Westinghouse vice president, in a 2009 letter supporting Shapiro's nomination for a National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

In addition to his daughter, Shapiro is survived by his wife, Evelyn; sons Joshua of Chappaqa, N.Y., and Ezra of Israel; 10 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.

Shapiro was raised in Passaic, N.J., where he was valedictorian at his high school. He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where he also got a Ph.D in chemistry.

He came to Pittsburgh to work at Westinghouse's nuclear division in 1947 and received the company's Silver W Award of Merit his work on the Nautilus.

Shapiro returned to Westinghouse in 1971, after selling NUMEC. While retired, Shapiro was awarded his 15th patent at age 89 for developing synthetic diamonds.

"My father was a tireless problem-solver," said Deborah Shapiro. "He was constantly trying to use his mind to see how he could make things better."




.......................................
http://www.post-gazette.com/business/businessnews/2009/06/26/89-year-old-Oakland-inventor-receives-15th-patent/stories/200906260131

89-year-old Oakland inventor receives 15th patent
June 26, 2009 4:00 AM
..........................................

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalman_Shapiro

.......................................

http://www.google.com/patents/US3630677

Manufacture of synthetic diamonds
US 3630677 A

........................................................................

http://israellobby.org/numec/

the heading should be .. DO YOU BELEIVE THIS?


http://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12239672-74/contract-awarded-for-parks-twp-nuclear-dump-cleanup

(http://triblive.com/csp/mediapool/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=QvFHaKZxMEzUBxnmeLwbhc$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYubT5ZXg9EAh$V9s_vwOwoHWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_CryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg)
Eric Felack Total Trib media
A covered processing building at the rear of the Shallow Land Disposal Area property in Parks Township as seen on Wednesday on April 8, 2015


Updated 9 hours ago
Cleanup of the Parks Township nuclear waste dump could begin again in 2019.

The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $350 million contract to a Tennessee company to clean up the dump site, which contains various kinds of radioactive waste.

The Corps will update residents on the project and water test results on May 24 at Parks Township Volunteer Fire Department.

Jacobs Field Services North America Inc. of Oak Ridge, Tenn., was awarded the contract to remove radioactive waste from the dump, formally known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area.

The company is expected to begin excavation at the site in July 2019, according to the Corps.

The Corps shut down cleanup of the 44-acre site along Route 66 at Kiskimere Drive in 2011 after unearthing more "special nuclear material" than its contractor or cleanup plans were prepared to handle.

That drove up costs and triggered a yearlong review of the cleanup plan. Additionally, its contractor allegedly mishandled some of the waste, according to the Corps.

Because special nuclear material is potentially suitable for bomb-making, visibly armed federal Homeland Security personnel guarded the site during prior cleanup operations.

Jacobs Field Services is "eminently qualified, and they submitted the best proposal," said Mike Helbling, Corps projects manager for the Parks Township site.

The company is headquartered in Oak Ridge, an area known for its nuclear laboratories and universities.

Helbling said he could not yet release how many contractors bid on the Parks cleanup because of federal contract requirements that still need to be completed.

Patty Ameno, environmental activist from Hyde Park who has been pushing for the cleanup for 20-plus years said: "This is the best of news, from my viewpoint. They have the staff and expertise to deal with material on that site."

Bud Shannon, Parks Township supervisors chairman, was glad to hear that the cleanup is back on track with a new contractor.

"It sounds to me like they are going to do everything that they said they were going to do," he said.

Some local residents will likely be hired for the estimated 10-year cleanup process, Helbling said.

Although he didn't know how many workers, Helbling said Jacobs would be hiring subcontractors and looking for highly skilled and other workers, as well as local vendors and material suppliers.

"We want opportunities for the remediation to be economically beneficial to the community," he said.

But the main objective for the long project will continue to be safety, Helbling said.

Planning starts this summer.

Jacobs will produce 19 work plans detailing safety and security, waste excavation methods, material handling and disposal, he said.

The Corps and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission will review the plans, Helbling said, and the Corps will seek revisions as necessary.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency will split water samples with the Corps from wells along the dump's boundaries for quality assurance. The EPA has been sampling groundwater outside cleanup operations to check for off-site contamination.

So far, the EPA has found no irregularities but will continue to monitor.

Other agencies working with the Corps include the Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration and others.

Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer.



(http://triblive.com/csp/mediapool/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=fICUaHxTdRrAVnfc6g3Iu8$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYuUpbEFFnajdWVcspY4afImWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_CryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg)
Eric Felack Total Trib media
Entrance to the Shallow Land Disposal Area in Parks as seen on wendesday April 8, 2015




Radioactive dump
The nuclear waste dump on Route 66 in Parks Township is owned by BWX Technologies (formerly known as Babcock & Wilcox). The dump received radioactive and chemical waste from the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp., or NUMEC, in Apollo and Parks from about 1960 to the early 1970s.
Coming up
Who: Army Corps of Engineers
What: Explanation of planned cleanup of the nuclear waste dump (Shallow Land Disposal Area) in Parks Township
When: 6-9 p.m. May 24
Where: Parks Township Volunteer Fire Department, 1119 Dalmatian Drive (Vandergrift postal address)
For details: http://www.lrp.usace.army.mil/Missions/Planning-Programs-Project-Management/Key-Projects/Shallow-Land-Disposal-Area/

I felt the need to update the info on this saga ..it's history tells a tell ..





http://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12353176-74/apollos-numec-allegedly-supplied-nuclear-batteries-to-israel-in-six-day-war

Apollo's NUMEC allegedly supplied nuclear batteries to Israel in Six Day War

MARY ANN THOMAS  | Sunday, June 4, 2017, 1:45 a.m.

On Monday, Israel will begin celebrating its victory 50 years ago in the Six Day War.

Waged June 5-10, 1967, the war pitted the outnumbered Israeli army against the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, whose forces were amassing near Israel's borders but were thwarted by pre-emptive Israeli airstrikes.

The timing of the airstrikes seemed miraculous, destroying 90 percent of the Egyptian air force while still on the ground.

But there was nothing miraculous about it, according to a now-deceased Pittsburgh nuclear scientist who claimed he provided batteries for



.......................



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Reports of missing uranium dogged NUMEC owner Zalman Shapiro for life
It reads like a Tom Clancy novel: secret reports among top government advisers, an undercover spy trip to a remote desert half way around the ...

Many details of NUMEC's Israel dealings still shrouded in secrecy
Zalman Shapiro, the late renowned nuclear scientist who founded the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. in Apollo, waited almost 50 years to reveal his involvement ...

...........................

CLANDESTINE COMPANY

This occasional series, gleaned from never-before-released government documents and interviews with NUMEC employees, including the company's late founder, Zalman Shapiro, shows how a small company on the banks of the Kiski River was involved in some of the most clandestine U.S. nuclear programs of the past 50 years.

TODAY

• How nuclear batteries made in Apollo helped Israel win the Six Day War

• Why NUMEC's founder kept quiet, even while being accused of espionage

• How the CIA got the idea that NUMEC was helping Israel build an atomic bomb

UPCOMING STORIES

• How NUMEC's secret past affected the Parks Township nuclear dump cleanup

• Where 200 pounds of "missing" uranium could have gone

• Why cleanup of the Parks dump site could solve a 50-year-old mystery

• Why NUMEC employees say official government reports are inaccurate

EMAIL NEWSLETTERS Sign up for one of our email newsletters.

Thanks Otter honey, appreciate it, been reading about something similar in one of Lee Child's books.  xxxooo :-*

Putting a marker here...

I was just talking with Matyas on FB yesterday about the murder of Dr Paul Brown. It was about the nuclear batteries he invented and got murdered for..

I will be back to this


(http://az616578.vo.msecnd.net/files/2016/04/23/635969807276703962-955716976_o12.jpg)

when i read some of this i wonder what the headlines / stories will be 50 years from NOW..or if there will be anyone to read them or even care.....sigh

http://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12378300-74/trib-report-on-secret-nuclear-batteries-spurs-reporting-in-israel

Trib report on secret nuclear batteries spurs reporting in Israel
Thursday, June 8, 2017, 12:39 a.m.

Media outlets in Israel have been reacting to a Tribune-Review story that a Pittsburgh scientist, Zalman Shapiro, provided nuclear batteries for listening devices used by Israel in the Six Day War 50 years ago.
..
Because Israeli news agencies are subject to government censorship, topics such as NUMEC's role in helping Israel to win the Six Day War have been forbidden for publication — unless a foreign media outlet publishes them first.

In the hours after the Tribune-Review's story hit the internet, some Israeli news outlets were quick to pick up a story they had known about for some time but couldn't publish.

several tweets

That roughly translates to: @news10 @MaThomas_Trib 11/more on this amazing story can be published now in Israel that a talented Pittsburgh journalist was told about it by Shapiro himself and has written about it.

.................................


http://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12376983-74/family-marks-50-years-since-brackenridge-man-killed-in-israels-errant-attack


Family marks 50 years since Brackenridge man killed in Israel's errant attack on USS Liberty

Israel attacked the Navy intelligence-gathering ship in the Mediterranean Sea on June 8, 1967, during the Six Day War.

Israel later said it mistook the Liberty for an Egyptian ship.

However, many ship survivors and the families of the fallen soldiers think it was a ruse to pull the United States into the war.




.............................................

http://triblive.com/search/?search=numec


Search results for "numec" Results 1 - 10 of 52 stories

Sort by date / Sort by relevance


Apollo's NUMEC allegedly supplied nuclear batteries to Israel ...

... Apollo's NUMEC allegedly supplied nuclear batteries to Israel in Six
Day War. Mary Ann Thomas | Sunday, June 4, 2017 ...
triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12353176-74/apollos-numec-allegedly-supplied-nuclear-batteries-to-israel-in-six-day-war - 2017-06-04


Reports of missing uranium dogged NUMEC owner Zalman ...

... Reports of missing uranium dogged NUMEC owner Zalman Shapiro for life.
Mary Ann Thomas | Sunday, June 4, 2017, 1:54 am. Email Newsletters. ...
triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12353401-74/reports-of-missing-uranium-dogged-numec-owner-zalman-shapiro-for-life - 2017-06-04


Many details of NUMEC's Israel dealings still shrouded in ...

... Many details of NUMEC's Israel dealings still shrouded in secrecy. ... Apollo's
NUMEC allegedly supplied nuclear batteries to Israel in Six Day War ...
triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12364304-74/many-details-of-numecs-israel-dealings-still-shrouded-in-secrecy - 2017-06-04


Parks Township nuclear waste cleanup could last until 2031 ...

... The dump received radioactive and chemical waste from the former Nuclear
Materials and Equipment Corp., or NUMEC, in Apollo and Parks from ...
triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12334183-74/parks-township-nuclear-waste-cleanup-could-last-until-2031 - 2017-05-25


Contract awarded for Parks Twp. nuclear dump cleanup ...

... The dump received radioactive and chemical waste from the former Nuclear
Materials and Equipment Corp., or NUMEC, in Apollo and Parks from ...
triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12239672-74/contract-awarded-for-parks-twp-nuclear-dump-cleanup - 2017-04-27


Buyer beware | TribLIVE

Apollo wants to grant tax breaks through the state's Keystone Opportunity Zone
program to anyone willing to develop the old NUMEC and Metal ...
triblive.com/opinion/letters/8949044-74/site-apollo-cancer - 2015-09-01


Decision time yet again on whether to remove nuclear waste ...

... The dump received radioactive and chemical waste from the former Nuclear
Materials and Equipment Corp., or NUMEC, in Apollo and Parks from ...
triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/5270680-74/nuclear-corps-site - 2014-01-19


Bring the EPA to Parks | TribLIVE

The Valley News Dispatch articles on the aborted cleanup at the NUMEC waste
site in Parks Township confirmed our long-held contention that ...
triblive.com/opinion/2493708-74/parks-epa-john-waste-environmental-glenn-heinz-kiski-mixed-site - 2012-09-08


Residents near nuke site due payments | TribLIVE

... Koppers Co. Inc.; Verona. Nuclear Material and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC),
Atlantic Richfield Co., Babcock & Wilcox; Apollo and Parks Township. ...
triblive.com/news/allegheny/2133631-74/schnorr-springdale-workers-government-nuclear-federal-program-department-eligible-plant - 2012-07-02


Alle-Kiski Laurels & Lances | TribLIVE

andlt;strongandgt;On the 'Watch List':andlt;/strongandgt; andamp;bull; The
NUMEC nuclear cleanup. ... The NUMEC nuclear cleanup. ...
triblive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/opinion/s_785678.html - 2012-03-09

Thanks honey for keeping us up to date.  :-* xxoo

pretty unreal, huh !!!!..there used to be a really nice restaurant right beside the plant where we ate often...wild stuff when you think about it


a first cousin of hubby's worked there after serving in the marines and has he got some stories

http://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12353545-74/amount-of-nuclear-waste-in-parks-township-could-remain-unknown-until-2031

Amount of nuclear waste in Parks Township could remain unknown until 2031
Sunday, June 11, 2017, 1:48 a.m.   MARY ANN THOMAS

(http://triblive.com/csp/mediapool/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=5lrCLErXDnpLNc4$DjhGDM$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYsNpBt_ypPYPPg1cyTButJwWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_CryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg)
today  homeland security guards the property

Secrecy, lack of documentation and inattention to warnings may have led the Army Corps of Engineers to grossly underestimate the amount of highly radioactive uranium in the nuclear waste dump in Parks Township.
..
What's in that dump could be key to solving the more than 50-year-old mystery of what happened to about 200 pounds of highly enriched uranium NUMEC couldn't account for in a 1965 inventory of nuclear material at its plants.
..
The Corps, though, refuses to say how much material was recovered nor will it comment on the exact type of material found because the Department of Defense has classified portions of the cleanup as secret for "national security" reasons.

The Corps says it will release an inventory of what the new cleanup finds when it is complete — in 2031.

.....

Both men said the Corps cleanup plan grossly underestimated all of the nuclear waste they may encounter. Shapiro confirmed as much during exclusive interviews with the Tribune-Review before his death.

Even the Nuclear Regulatory Commission believed there was more uranium in the dump than the Corps was estimating.



............................................................



http://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12385261-74/is-missing-radioactive-material-still-buried-in-parks



Is missing radioactive material still buried in Parks?
Sunday, June 11, 2017, 1:51 a.m.    MARY ANN THOMAS 


(http://triblive.com/csp/mediapool/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=aQpyTJ5yk_n2cEcjNcK4cM$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYsHCtd87KxFTGNqXnSnPIIPWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_CryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg)

a dig in the mid-1960s, conducted after NUMEC came up 200 pounds short of highly enriched uranium during an inventory, was ineffective.
....
"There were inexperienced people who were on the job for two days waving a Geiger counter over material exhumed from the burial ground," Zerby said.

"Did they know what they were doing? Absolutely not. Was it conceivable to miss quantities? You bet."

......
That 2014 probe found, among other things, that:

• The contractor hired by the Army Corps of Engineers mishandled radioactive waste dug up from the site, endangering the safety of workers.

• Undocumented waste from so-called "black" government projects could be buried at the site.

• A previous dig to look for highly enriched uranium at the site was inadequate.

The Corps' previous contractor mishandled some nuclear waste and unearthed greater amounts of "complex nuclear materials" than expected, according to then-Corps Col. Butch Graham. That material was so hard to identify that it had to be specially handled and was shipped to an undisclosed nuclear waste facility.

The report concluded that the cleanup was "beyond the scope of (the Army Corps') remediation process."

Documents obtained by the Tribune-Review through a federal Freedom of Information Act request show that

......

Even NUMEC did not record those projects in its official company documentation, instead recording them elsewhere because of their secrecy.

....

Ameno, 65, of Hyde Park also testified. Her collection of about 3 million pages of documents about NUMEC's operations, she said, indicates the waste dump contains more dangerous materials than the site was licensed to take.



..................................................


http://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/12353791-74/nuclear-material-doled-out-like-it-was-candy-50-years-ago

Nuclear material doled out 'like it was candy' 50 years ago
Sunday, June 11, 2017, 1:51 a.m.   MARY ANN THOMAS

Alvarez doesn't subscribe to the diversion theory. When he worked at the DOE and received CIA assessments, he said, "You can't get enamored with the information. You've got to realize intelligence isn't necessarily the truth. It's an art form."
....

"Imagine sending out many tons of (highly enriched uranium) to countries around the world for 10 years," Alvarez said. "We would never do that today."

But the United States did, sending tons of the stuff around the world during the 1960s and 1970s under a program started by President Dwight Eisenhower called "Atoms for Peace."

.....

"They were doling out tons of fissile materials like it was candy," he said.

It's a nightmare for sure Otter, you never know what your walking on or near and where.  :-\  xxoo

hey Biggs

this area was a hot bed for ufo sightings..(kecksburg is a mere stone's throw)
not so much anymore..we've got other stuff  but  you do have to wonder if the sightings were because they could see the glow?..bwhahahahahahah
and now we kinda wonder if it was the cause for so many other things going on with the 'critters'....
check out Stan Gordon's site for  some things...but a lot aren't talked about.
me, personally... i'm waiting to see one of those thunderbirds..

maybe some other  hot spots for ufo's should check what else is going on around those areas...just a thought

Quote from: space otter on June 11, 2017, 06:39:58 PM

hey Biggs

this area was a hot bed for ufo sightings..(kecksburg is a mere stone's throw)
not so much anymore..we've got other stuff  but  you do have to wonder if the sightings were because they could see the glow?..bwhahahahahahah
and now we kinda wonder if it was the cause for so many other things going on with the 'critters'....
check out Stan Gordon's site for  some things...but a lot aren't talked about.
me, personally... i'm waiting to see one of those thunderbirds..

maybe some other  hot spots for ufo's should check what else is going on around those areas...just a thought

That is a good thought, the ETs would probably know exactly how much and where our uranium was thrown. 

I want to see a thunderbird as well BTW. xo

final update?..

  well looks like the end for this..except the place is still guarded by men with guns from homeland security

http://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/13358244-74/us-supreme-court-ends-lawsuit-against-apollo-nuclear-fuels-plant-operators

U.S. Supreme Court ends lawsuit against Apollo nuclear fuels plant operators
MARY ANN THOMAS  | Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2018, 9:33 p.m.
Updated 1 hour ago

More than two decades of legal wrangling over whether a former Apollo nuclear fuels plant caused cancers in Armstrong County has been decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The country's highest court denied hearing an appeal on Feb. 20 to reinstate lawsuits filed by about 70 Apollo-area residents alleging that radioactive emissions from the plant caused cancer.

The Supreme Court's rejection ends the eight-year federal court case that sputtered and never made it to trial.

That's unlike the first series of lawsuits filed by several hundred plaintiffs that lingered for 14 years in federal court, ending with a settlement of more than $80 million.

"I just wanted to make these big companies aware they just can't ruin people's lives," said Mary Ann Peace, 68, of North Apollo, a plaintiff who has a rare blood cancer.

Attorneys for the defendants Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group and the Atlantic Richfield Co. didn't immediately return phone calls for comment.

They operated a uranium fuel-processing plant founded by the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp., or NUMEC, in Apollo and a plutonium plant in Parks Township. The plants operated from about 1957 to the mid-1980s.

The companies have long maintained that their operations didn't cause the alleged cancers in Apollo and other surrounding small towns.

The individual lawsuits for the 70-plus area residents were filed by attorneys from Motley Rice's law firm in Providence, R.I., and a Pittsburgh law firm, Goldberg, Persky and White.

"There are little people here," Peace said of the low-income, rural communities. "We count, too. We have lives and families, and we hurt."

Diagnosed in 2010, Peace, like the other plaintiffs, signed onto the lawsuit after the door closed to be included in the first series of lawsuits filed in the 1990s by Fred Baron, a deep-pocketed, Texan attorney who was a pioneer in asbestos litigation.

Peace, who was active much of her life, now reports being fatigued and anemic as she lives with her incurable cancer.

"It robbed me of the freedom to do what I wanted to do," she said.

One of the lead attorneys on the case, Jonathan Orent, of Motley Rice, agrees.

"We are incredibly disappointed and, quite frankly, devastated by this decision to allow an injustice like this to happen," he said.

Patty Ameno, 66, of Hyde Park said, calmly, "I'm mad as hell, and I am far from being done with this."

Ameno, an activist working on local nuclear issues for about 30 years, blames Motley Rice, the firm she recruited, for a "calamity of errors and missteps."

"The residents' defeat happened at the hands of ineffective counsel, thus ending these people's chance to even get before a jury."

While this is not the first time Ameno has criticized the law firm, Orent had only compliments for Ameno.

"I commend her long-standing commitment to the cause of justice in Apollo," he said.

He added: "It's been a great honor in my life to represent the people here."

WHAT HAPPENED?

While Motley Rice secured experts who conducted studies and analysis of the cancer rates as well as the plant emissions, the court simply was not satisfied with their science, according to Steven Baicker-McKee, an associate professor at Duquesne University School of Law.

The case was thrown out by a lower court, but the plaintiffs appealed and eventually lost the appeal. They then tried to get the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider, then finally a request to the Supreme Court to weigh in on that decision.

The Supreme Court is not an "error-correcting" court, according to Baicker-McKee. It's not bound to examine decisions from lower court rulings, hearing only slightly more than 2 percent of the requests it receives.

Generally, it's difficult to prove causation in lawsuits alleging death and personal injury from environmental contamination, he said.

"The science has not caught up with the courts," Baicker-McKee said.

The lower court rulings on the Apollo case "doesn't mean they didn't have legitimate harm. It just means the court system demands a certain amount of proof, and in this case, they didn't have it. It doesn't diminish their real injuries; it means they don't have a cut path for compensation of that."

Orent said his firm built a case showing that the Apollo nuclear plant routinely had high emissions and that there were higher rates of cancers in the Apollo area. They sampled the dirt, where Orent claimed they could identify the plant's "fingerprints" in area soils.

"Our clients were exposed to airborne contamination, but over time," Orent said. The court was not satisfied because "we could show there was an increased risk (of cancer), but we couldn't put a number to that risk."

Orent believes that standard of evidence is impossible and not true to the spirit of state and federal law, citing one of the judges on the Third Circuit panel who believed the same.

Natalie Shutt, 58, of West Leech­burg, mother of one of the plaintiffs who has watched her daughter suffer with adrenal cancer, wants to know why, unlike the first series of lawsuits, she won't get her day in court.

The Baron case, which settled in 2008 and 2009, was considered a milestone because few cases involving alleged injury from radioactive environmental exposure even make it to court, let alone result in a multimillion dollar settlement.

"Why isn't a second trial allowed, and why aren't we being given the same chance?" Shutt said.

Orent said he submitted similar evidence but thinks he was given a "different judicial interpretation" on what the law requires to have as evidence to proceed to a trial.

"Sometimes you get bad rulings," said Orent, who hopes Apollo residents will try to fight to change the laws.

..................................

MARY ANN THOMAS  | Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018, 12:57 p.m.

http://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/13298668-74/parks-township-nuclear-dump-cleanup-delayed-again

Parks Township nuclear dump cleanup delayed again

we need an head scratching icon thingie....geeeeeeesh



https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/idaho-state-university-loses-weapons-grade-plutonium-capable-of-making-a-dirty-bomb/ar-AAwVlXs?li=BBnbcA1

Idaho State University loses weapons-grade plutonium capable of making a dirty bomb
FoxNews.com  5 hrs ago

Idaho State University was fined last week for losing a small amount of radioactive, weapons-grade plutonium that is too small to make a nuclear bomb, but could be used in a dirty bomb, according to a regulatory commission.

Dr. Cornelis Van der Schyf, vice president for research at the university, blamed partially completed paperwork from 15 years ago as the school tried to dispose of the plutonium.

"Unfortunately, because there was a lack of sufficient historical records to demonstrate the disposal pathway employed in 2003, the source in question had to be listed as missing," he said in a statement to The Associated Press. "The radioactive source in question poses no direct health issue or risk to public safety."

The school, which reported the material missing on Oct. 13, was hit with an $8,500 fine and has 30 days to dispute the measure.

Victor Dricks, a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman, said the agency "has very rigorous controls for the use and storage of radioactive materials as evidenced by this enforcement action," he said of the proposed fine for failing to keep track of the material.

The agency said a school employee doing a routine inventory discovered the university could only account for 13 of its 14 plutonium sources, each weighing about the same small amount.

Idaho State University has a nuclear engineering program and works with the U.S. Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, considered the nation's primary nuclear research lab and located about 65 miles northwest of the school.

The plutonium was being used to develop ways to ensure nuclear waste containers weren't leaking and to find ways to detect radioactive material being illegally brought into the U.S. following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the school said in an email to the AP.

The school searched documents and found records from 2003 and 2004 saying the material was on campus and awaiting disposal. However, there were no documents saying the plutonium had been properly disposed.

The last document mentioning the plutonium is dated Nov. 23, 2003. It said the Idaho National Laboratory didn't want the plutonium and the school's technical safety office had it "pending disposal of the next waste shipment."

The school also reviewed documents on waste barrels there and others transferred off campus since 2003, and opened and examined some of them. Finally, officials searched the campus but didn't find the plutonium.

The nuclear commission said senior university officials planned to return the school's remaining plutonium to the Energy Department. It's not clear if that has happened.

Energy Department officials didn't return calls seeking comment Friday.

Dricks, the commission spokesman, said returning the plutonium was part of the school's plan to reduce its inventory of radioactive material.

He said overall it has "a good record with the NRC."

The Associated Press contributed to this report

yet another update

well since i starting posting this i guess i will continue..it's just a tiny piece of what is going on with all the old nuke stuff..
if you are ever in this part of the world you will see orange creeks.. that's run off from the old coal mines ..they were everywhere and a lot are not mapped...
the state sales mine subsidence insurance  because a some of them collapse
cool, huh?


https://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/14294779-74/army-corps-of-engineers-says-500-million-parks-twp-nuclear-waste-removal
Mary Ann Thomas  Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018, 11:30 p.m.

QuoteArmy Corps of Engineers: $500 million Parks Township nuclear waste removal project is a 'go'

Updated 10 hours ago


The Army Corps of Engineers released test results and announced to residents Wednesday it is ready to resume the $500 million cleanup of the nuclear waste dump in Parks Township.

The 44-acre dump, officially known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area, is off Route 66 near Kiskimere Street. It was owned in the 1960s by the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) which had plants in Apollo and Parks Township that produced nuclear fuels for Navy submarines, power plants and other government programs.

About 80 people attended the public meeting Wednesday at the Parks Township volunteer fire hall.

It featured a review of the project, which stalled seven years ago amid environmental test results.

The recent slowdown was an almost 18-month delay over a contract bid protest from the four bidders that didn't win the $350 million contract to excavate the nuclear waste dump.

But the Army Corps reviewed the bids and recently lifted a stop-order on the federal contract that had been awarded to Jacobs Field Services to clean up the nuclear waste dump.

"We own this project," said Col. Andrew "Coby" Short, commander of the Corps' Pittsburgh District. "We have a contract. We have the money.

"We're ready to go."

Jacobs will develop a work plan through 2019, build cleanup facilities at the dump in 2020, then start excavating in 2021, said Brian Molloy, Corps project manager.

Digging, separating and shipping the contaminants from 10 trenches could take 10 years.

Environmental activist Patty Ameno of Hyde Park asked if the Corps would consider installing a temporary containment shelter around the dig site to "minimize fugitive dust and keep up security."

Molloy said that's an issue the contractor would address in the work plans.

Resident Bob Szitas, formerly of Parks Township but now an Allegheny Township resident, asked Corps officials how they could guarantee continuity of staff expertise given the project's 10-year duration.

"I'm new," Molloy said. "It's a challenge and it's a complex project, but we have a process."

Szitas said he was satisfied with the Corps' formal procedures to pass down information, but was concerned if that will be the case with contractors.

The Corps continues to monitor the groundwater annually at the site. Officials said it found once again that the levels of radioactive contaminants in the groundwater are below the federal and state drinking water quality standards. Resident who live near the dump have access to public water.

The Corps' recent sampling found that the radiological contamination is not migrating offsite.

However, the recent groundwater tests show that beryllium, a metal used by the nuclear plants and buried on site found its way into the underground coal mines, which lie beneath the site.

The catacomb of mines has been a longtime concern as a pathway for the dump site's contamination.

Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer

.......................................
some odd facts from a goggle seacrh for  beryllium


Beryllium is a chemical element with symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a relatively rare element in the universe, usually occurring as a product of the spallation of larger atomic nuclei that have collided with cosmic rays. Within the cores of stars beryllium is depleted as it is fused and creates larger elements.
Beryllium - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryllium

Health effects of beryllium. Beryllium is not an element that is crucial for humans; in fact it is one of the most toxic chemicals we know. It is a metal that can be very harmful when humans breathe it in, because it can damage the lungs and cause pneumonia.

Interesting Beryllium Facts: It is a hard metal, but is brittle at room temperature. Beryllium salts have a sweet taste, and the element was once called glucine with a symbol of Gl due to its flavor. Beryllium has a long history, having been known to the ancient Egyptians in beryl and in emeralds.

The Chemical Society's internet periodic table says beryllium is used "to increase the ability to conduct electricity" in copper and nickel, but this is erroneous. Beryllium improves the mechanical properties of the metals, but does not increase the resistivity as much as other alloying elements.Mar 4, 2004

Beryllium powder is explosive and flammable. 1.3 Composition Beryllium metal, the oxide (beryllia), and various alloys, particularly the beryllium-copper alloy, are all of commercial importance. ... World production of beryllium is estimated to be of the order of 400 tonnes per year.

The surface of beryllium metal is covered with a thin layer of oxide that helps protect the metal from attack by acids, but powdered beryllium metal dissolves readily in dilute acids such as sulphuric acid, H2SO4, hydrochloric acid, HCl, or nitric acid, HNO3, to form solutions containing the aquated Be(II) ion together ...

well it's been afew years but this joke just keeps on ..since the last posting there have been several articles on yet another and another clean up..but nothing happens..
so  the latest is here..   where has all the money gone....administration, maybe?   

https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/350-million-contract-to-cleanup-parks-township-nuclear-waste-site-isnt-enough-feds-say/

$350 million contract to cleanup Parks Township nuclear waste site isn't enough, feds say
Kellen Stepler
KELLEN STEPLER   | Friday, Dec. 1, 2023 4:54 p.m.

(https://assets-varnish.triblive.com/2023/12/6824813_web1_VND-ParksNuclear1-092223.jpg)
overview of the nuclear waste dump in parks twp

The $350 million earmarked for cleanup of the Parks Township nuclear waste dump isn't enough to finish the job, so the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is looking for new contractors interested in continuing the cleanup when that money runs out.

The Corps on Friday announced it will issue a "sources sought notice" for market research and planning for the cleanup at the site, known formally as the Shallow Land Disposal Area. The anticipated value of the additional contract is $250 million to $500 million, according to the Corps.

Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) buried radioactive waste on the site in the 1960s. The 44-acre site is along Route 66 near Kiskimere Road. It contains 10 trenches of contaminated waste and soil.
Remediation is anticipated to begin in spring 2025 with completion in 2032.

"As we've learned more about what's needed to remediate the SLDA site through our design process, we have determined the $350 million limit on the current contract is insufficient to complete the work. Therefore, to avoid a potential operational stop, we are proactively working to acquire a new contract to enable us to complete the remediation," said Steven Vriesen, project manager with the Corps' Buffalo District, which is overseeing the project.

Remediation plans include removing the contaminated soil and waste and disposing of it elsewhere.

The Buffalo District is working with the Pittsburgh Corps because, Vriesen said, it has experience managing FUSRAP (Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program) projects like the one in Parks Township.

He cited the current Luckey Site cleanup south of Toledo, Ohio, as an example. There, the Corps is cleaning up a former radioactive mineral processing plant that dates to the 1940s.

FUSRAP was initiated to identify, investigate and clean up or control sites nationwide that were contaminated because of the nation's atomic weapons and energy programs, according to the Corps.

Jacobs Technology of Tullahoma, Tenn., holds the current contract for the Parks Township nuclear waste dump site. It's anticipated that Jacobs will begin physical remediation in spring 2025, which includes removal and off-site disposal of contaminated soil and waste.

The Corps held a public information meeting about the project Sept. 20. There, officials explained the work they've done and their cleanup plans.

Since then, crews have completed clearing the overgrown fence line, installed administration trailers and started grading for a new on-site laboratory, Vriesen said.

Jacobs Technology will continue preparing the site over the next year to 18 months.

Vriesen said more information on the site's progress can be found online at https://www.lrp.usace.army.mil/Missions/Planning- Programs-Project-Management/Key-Projects/Shallow-Land-Disposal-Area/; or by visiting the Apollo Memorial Library, 219 N. Pennsylvania Ave.

Kellen Stepler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kellen by email at kstepler@triblive.com or via Twitter .

When you have pentagon trillion dollars missing year after year, might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb.

Here in Brazil we have a expession for it:

O que é um peidinho para quem está cagado?  :D

Quote from: RUSSO on December 03, 2023, 08:56:34 AM
Here in Brazil we have a expession for it:

O que é um peidinho para quem está cagado?  :D

Sorry not expession. Saying is the word.