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bananas

(27,509 posts) Mon Jun 2, 2014, 04:12 AM Jun 2014

Authorities 'cover up' radioactive waste dump

Source: Agence France-Presse

A highly radioactive substance, emitting in some places radiation 100 times the permitted amount, has been discovered in the canton of Bern, Swiss media reported on Sunday, adding that authorities had covered it up for 18 months.

Sunday newspapers Le Matin Dimanche and SonntagsZeitung reported that federal, regional and local officials decided not to reveal the fact that they had found radium deposits in an old dump in the town of Biel so as not to scare the 50,000 local inhabitants.

<snip>

Exposure for three hours to that level of radiation would be equivalent to the tolerable level over a whole year.

The waste came from a paint used by the watch-making industry to illuminate the numbers on watch faces.

The substance, which has been banned since 1963 due to its radioactive nature, was discovered when roadworks were started at the site.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.thelocal.ch/20140601/authorities-cover-up-radioactive-waste-dump

11 replies

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Authorities 'cover up' radioactive waste dump (Original Post) bananas Jun 2014 OP

When considering the use of nuclear power, Enthusiast Jun 2014 #1

You do realise this has nothing at all to do with nuclear power, don't you? muriel_volestrangler Jun 2014 #3

But, still. Enthusiast Jun 2014 #4

In the U.S. dotymed Jun 2014 #5

Geez. There sure is a lot of that collateral corporate damage going around. Enthusiast Jun 2014 #6

We had one in Cleveland also. Fuddnik Jun 2014 #7

The old Elgin Watch factory in Elgin, IL used radium on the watch dials. Snarkoleptic Jun 2014 #8

And Biel/Bienne bills itself as 'the heart of the Watch Valley' muriel_volestrangler Jun 2014 #11

Absolutely. Octafish Jun 2014 #10

K&R DeSwiss Jun 2014 #2

Welcome to any state.... cynzke Jun 2014 #9

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)

1. When considering the use of nuclear power,

Reply to bananas (Original post)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 05:26 AM

Jun 2014

governments need to use worst case scenario circumstances as a model. Anything less will result in eventual disaster. We need a nuclear power moratorium.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,311 posts)

3. You do realise this has nothing at all to do with nuclear power, don't you?

Reply to Enthusiast (Reply #1)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 06:02 AM

Jun 2014

It's about the use of radium in paint. That had been dumped there before 1950: http://www.lematin.ch/suisse/jardine-dechets-radioactifs/story/20637614

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)

4. But, still.

Reply to muriel_volestrangler (Reply #3)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 06:08 AM

Jun 2014

dotymed

(5,610 posts)

5. In the U.S.

Reply to Enthusiast (Reply #1)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 06:38 AM

Jun 2014

"we" have uncontainable nuclear waste in the Cincinnati,Oh. area near heavily populated area's. I know, I was exposed while building the containment unit. I was contacted by the government who happened to "pack up and leave town" before we even had our first meeting. They left many Union carpenters sick, worried and uninformed. I was in the hospital after having 2 major heart attacks in 2 days when they contacted me.
Collateral corporate damage I guess.

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)

6. Geez. There sure is a lot of that collateral corporate damage going around.

Reply to dotymed (Reply #5)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 06:47 AM

Jun 2014

Especially in the old rust belt states. I suspect it goes far beyond what we now know.

I wish you the best with your heart condition.

Fuddnik

(8,846 posts)

7. We had one in Cleveland also.

Reply to dotymed (Reply #5)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 07:11 AM

Jun 2014

I worked right next to it for over 30 years and never knew it.

A section of the old Harshaw Chemical Plant was abandoned with a 6 foot chain link fence around it. Turns out it was a classified, integral part of the Manhattan Project. Also a heavily populated and industrial area.

Snarkoleptic

(5,997 posts)

8. The old Elgin Watch factory in Elgin, IL used radium on the watch dials.

Reply to Fuddnik (Reply #7)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 08:08 AM

Jun 2014

The poor women "Radium Girls" who did the work often licked their paint brush to keep the tip sharp.

Good article here-
http://66.147.244.135/~enviror4/people/radiumgirls/

Grace Fryer and the other women at the radium factory in Orange, New Jersey, had no idea that they were being poisoned.

It was a little strange, Fryer said, that when she blew her nose, her handkerchief glowed in the dark. But everyone knew the stuff was harmless. The women even painted their nails and their teeth to surprise their boyfriends when the lights went out. They all had a good laugh, then got back to work, painting a glow-in-the-dark radium compound on the dials of watches, clocks, altimeters and other instruments.

Grace started working in the spring of 1917 with 70 other women in a large, dusty room filled with long tables. Racks of dials waiting to be painted sat next to each woman’s chair. They mixed up glue, water and radium powder into a glowing greenish-white paint, and carefully applied it with a camel hair brush to the dial numbers. After a few strokes, the brushes would lose their shape, and the women couldn’t paint accurately. “Our instructors told us to point them with our lips,” she said. “I think I pointed mine with my lips about six times to every watch dial. It didn’t taste funny. It didn’t have any taste, and I didn’t know it was harmful.” (1)

Nobody knew it was harmful, except the owners of the U.S. Radium Corporation and scientists who were familiar with the effects of radium. Those days, most people thought radium was some kind of miracle elixir that could cure cancer and many other medical problems.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,311 posts)

11. And Biel/Bienne bills itself as 'the heart of the Watch Valley'

Reply to Snarkoleptic (Reply #8)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 08:39 AM

Jun 2014

Exhibition at the Neues Museum Biel

The NMB showcases an exhibition devoted specifically to the Biel/Bienne watchmaking industry

Traces of watchmaking industry in Biel

Since the 19th century, Biel has been an industrial and watchmaking city.

Museum Omega, Biel

This museum illustrates the historical highlights of the famous Swiss brand.

http://www.biel-seeland.ch/en/discoveries/watch-valley.html

Octafish

(55,745 posts)

10. Absolutely.

Reply to Enthusiast (Reply #1)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 08:29 AM

Jun 2014

That is good science.

BTW: Canada is ready to open a repository a few feet from Lake Huron. Nice.

http://www.stopthegreatlakesnucleardump.com/

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)

2. K&R

Reply to bananas (Original post)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 05:34 AM

Jun 2014

Radiation Network - Europe

cynzke

(1,254 posts)

9. Welcome to any state....

Reply to bananas (Original post)

Mon Jun 2, 2014, 08:18 AM

Jun 2014

in the U.S. where fracking is taking place. The highly radioactive residue is banned from most conventional waste sites and very expensive to dispose of at hazardous waste facilities. Illegal dump site are cropping up all over North Dakota, endangering the environment and now local and state finances are diverted to clean up this toxic mess. Taxpayers are left holding the bag once again.

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