Officials eye 6 barrels tied to nuke dump leak
Source: AP
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) New Mexico Environment Secretary Ryan Flynn says scientists investigating a radiation leak at the federal government's underground nuclear waste dump have identified five other potentially explosive containers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a temporary storage site in West Texas.
Flynn told a legislative panel on Tuesday that scientists investigating the February leak from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant have been unable to replicate the chemical event believed to have caused a drum to breach in February. But he says they have found five other barrels from the same waste stream and are narrowing their focus on those because of their very high acidic content.
He says three of those drums are at Los Alamos and two are at Waste Control Specialists in Andrews, Texas. Flynn says the public should be concerned but not worried as proper precautions are being taken.
Read more: http://amarillo.com/news/2014-06-10/officials-eye-6-barrels-tied-nuke-dump-leak
ETA: Here is an additional article which goes into greater detail:
http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-06-10/officials-eye-6-barrels-tied-southeastern-new-mexico-nuke-waste-site#.U5fspChCz2Q
They are blaming it on the cat litter!
Response to TexasTowelie (Original post)
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PeoViejo
(2,178 posts)The Kitty Litter is used to soak up Nitric Acid waste from the Plutonium extraction from spent Nuclear Fuel. Originally, they were using a Clay-based Litter which was non-flammable, then someone began using a litter based on Organic material. Nitric Acid combined with Organic Material creates an explosive mixture that has been used in IEDs.
starroute
(12,977 posts)Salt-cavern storage was the plan for the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP), the worlds third-deepest geological repository, constructed and licensed to permanently dispose of radioactive waste for 10,000 years. The repository sits approximately 26 miles east of the town of Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico. . . .
But at the moment, there are several ongoing critical problems at the site, which has been closed and unable to accept shipments of radioactive waste ever since a fire and radiation release in February. Dozens of barrels of radioactive waste from Los Alamos National Lab, like the one that caused the radiation leak, now pose an imminent or substantial threat to public health and the environment.
Yet, these problems could pale in comparison to what might happen at the site if an earthquake were to strike, or if the protective salt layer were compromised by nearby drilling for oil and gas, and in particular, hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking. . . .
Thus, one would logically deduce that fracking should never be done anywhere near WIPP. However, it is being done there, and experts expect it to increase. In the last three years, a dozen fracking wells have become operational within five miles of the site [WIPP], Don Hancock, the director of the Nuclear Waste Safety Program at Southwest Research and Information Center, told Truthout.
vkkv
(3,384 posts)Nuclear waste dumps make great neighbors!