Radioactive Tunnel Collapse

[tuna]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/0...ing-plant-tunnel-collapse-triggers-alert.html

"Hundreds of workers took cover after a tunnel in a Washington plutonium finishing plant collapsed Tuesday morning.
The tunnel at the Hanford plant near Richland was full of contaminated particles, including radioactive trains that transport fuel rods, KING5 reported.
The U.S. Department of Energy Richland Operations Office activated the Hanford Emergency Operations Center at 8:26 a.m. local time, after an alert was declared, according to the official Hanford site.
“There are concerns about subsidence in the soil covering railroad tunnels near a former chemical processing facility,” a statement on the site said. “The tunnels contain contaminated materials.”
A text message sent to all personnel and obtained by KING5 told workers to “secure ventilation in your building” and “refrain from eating or drinking.”
It was unclear if any radioactive materials were released into the air.
Crews doing road work near the plant may have caused vibrations that triggered the collapse, a source told KING5.
Plutonium production ended at the site in the 1980s and cleanup began in 1989."



This is Trump's fault, obviously.

 

[cockpitbob]

Uh oh. This isn't good.

 

[E.Stoner]

Thanks Obama.

 

[noddaduma]

The Hanford site was set up to process Plutonium for Fat Man, plus most of the plutonium in our nuclear arsenal (in case you didn't know).

 

[rsj]

2014: 400% Spike in Birth Defects Near Hanford Nuclear Site

400 % Spike in Rare Birth Defects Near Leaking Hanford Nuclear Site
https://nsnbc.me/2014/04/24/400-spike-in-rare-birth-defects-near-leaking-hanford-nuclear-site/

The Hanford Nuclear site in Washington is attracting renewed attention as rare birth defects, including babies born with parts of their brain missing, spike around the facility. An epidemiologist assigned by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claims the incidents are not focused near the Hanford site, prompting the question how it can be that the CDC official failed to notice that the Hanford site is located in the center of the cluster.​

Remember Baghdad Bob?

 

[babygorilla]

Spent a year of my life there at the 300FF site as an Industrial Hygienist digging up all sorts of crazy stuff .gov and .mil buried in the 40's - 80's. I still get legal notices involving lawsuits (nuclear and chemical exposure) and job offers. They wife and I joke that it's a good thing we never wanted kids since my sperm are probably all effed up, lol.

 

[M1911]

Thanks Obama.

I can only hope you are being sarcastic.

Hanford has been a mess since WWII. The feds have been working to clean it up for decades, since long before Obama.

 

[xtry51]

There is an unbelievable amount of stuff on that site both sitting out in the open and buried in casks and tunnels.

 

[M1911]

There is an unbelievable amount of stuff on that site both sitting out in the open and buried in casks and tunnels.

Yup. I know there are radioactive waste issues at the Savannah River Plant as well. I get the feeling that Hanford is worse, but I don't have any data to back that up.

 

[Lank]

There is an unbelievable amount of stuff on that site both sitting out in the open and buried in casks and tunnels.

Yup, including leaking UST's

 

[xtry51]

I had a friend who developed equipment to open and inspect buried casks. The pace was slow and the results showed many of the casks were already breached and full of ground water. Only a small percentage have been inspected. It will likely never be "cleaned". They're just shuffling a few things around while inspecting what they can and documenting.

 

[M1911]

I had a friend who developed equipment to open and inspect buried casks. The pace was slow and the results showed many of the casks were already breached and full of ground water. Only a small percentage have been inspected. It will likely never be "cleaned". They're just shuffling a few things around while inspecting what they can and documenting.

When I worked at SRP, there were around 100 known hazardous waste sites on plant. It was a mess. Back in the day, they used to just pour crap into man-made ponds. The chemicals in those ponds, of course, leaked into the groundwater.

 

[endus]

Apparently they offer (or did offer) tours of the b reactor. Holy mother of crap, I *need* to go on that. http://b-reactor.org/

My grandfather had some involvement with the Manhattan project. I thought he was primarily at Oak Ridge, but reading the history of the Hanford Site, I believe he may have been there as well. Will have to ask my mother.

 

[Fixxah]

Didn't it get sold to Putin by kankles?

 

[M1911]

Apparently they offer (or did offer) tours of the b reactor. Holy mother of crap, I *need* to go on that. http://b-reactor.org/

My grandfather had some involvement with the Manhattan project. I thought he was primarily at Oak Ridge, but reading the history of the Hanford Site, I believe he may have been there as well. Will have to ask my mother.

My late uncle was a nuclear physicist. He did his PhD at University of Chicago -- I don't know if he studied with Fermi. He worked on the Manhattan project at Los Alamos during the war.

 

[endus]

My late uncle was a nuclear physicist. He did his PhD at University of Chicago -- I don't know if he studied with Fermi. He worked on the Manhattan project at Los Alamos during the war.

I remember my grandfather talking about having some involvement in controlling access to the pile for experiments. If I am remembering right (I was very young when this conversation happened) he talked about the scientists being so excited about nuclear energy that they had all sorts of ridiculous ideas for experiments. I recall him mentioning something about the effect of radiation on the pendulum of a clock.

It would be an amazing feat of memory if I am really remembering this right. I wish he was still around when I got interested in industrial history!

Wonder if he was ever here...

http://nonplused.org/panos/b_reactor/19/test_lab.html

...the, "pile" terminology and this room rings some bells that haven't been rung with other reading I've done on the history of nuclear facilities. Would be really cool if I could find out if he ever worked here.

 

[M1911]

The reactor at University of Chicago was a "pile" reactor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pile-1

 

[enbloc]

Originally Posted by GoodWillHunting:
Thanks Obama.

I can only hope you are being sarcastic.

.

Without a valid Birth Certificate, who can say for sure...

 

[UNSUB]

.

Without a valid Birth Certificate, who can say for sure...

I want one!

Sent from my SM-G928P using Tapatalk

 

[E.Stoner]

I can only hope you are being sarcastic.

Hanford has been a mess since WWII. The feds have been working to clean it up for decades, since long before Obama.

I thought it was obvious. The folks "to blame" are probably all long dead. This is barely a news story.
Braking news: MOON CAUSES RISES IN THE SEA LEVEL!