{"id":3873,"date":"2013-06-06T06:39:46","date_gmt":"2013-06-06T10:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=3873"},"modified":"2013-06-06T07:11:22","modified_gmt":"2013-06-06T11:11:22","slug":"birds-stop-cleanup-work-at-closed-hanford-plutonium-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/06\/birds-stop-cleanup-work-at-closed-hanford-plutonium-plant.html","title":{"rendered":"Birds stop cleanup work at closed Hanford plutonium plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nBirds nested using radioactive mud from WW II-era nuclear bomb production plant,\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nstopping attempts to clean up some of the worst leaking atomic waste,\r\nmuch of which is liquid in leaking tanks near the Columbia River.\r\nWe have nuclear plants leaking radioactive tritium next to the Chattahoochee\r\nand Altamaha Rivers, and radiation is detectible in the Savannah River\r\nnear Plant Vogtle.\r\nHow many radioactive solar panels or windmills have you heard of?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nAnnette Cary wrote for the Tri-City Herald yesterday,\r\n\r\nBirds at Hanford vit plant spread contaminated waste<\/a>,\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nWork stopped Wednesday morning at parts of the Hanford vitrification\r\nplant after radioactive contamination was detected under a bird’s\r\nnest, according to Bechtel National.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe contamination is suspected of coming from mud used for the nest,\r\nwhich may have belonged to a swallow, said Bechtel spokesman Todd\r\nNelson. Only a small amount of contaminated soil was found, and the\r\ncontamination was at a low level.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nShould workers believe that?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nRalph Vartabedian wrote for the Los Angeles Times 14 August 2011,\r\n\r\nSafety doubts raised at U.S. nuclear waste cleanup project:\r\nEngineers and scientists say equipment being installed by Bechtel Corp. at the Hanford site in Washington state poses risks, but the Energy Department is letting work continue.<\/a>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nSenior scientists at the site said in emails obtained by The Times\r\nthat Bechtel’s designs for tanks and mixing equipment are flawed,\r\nrepresenting such a massive risk that work should be stopped on that\r\npart of the construction project.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nBlaine Harden wrote for The Washington Post 29 February 2004,\r\n\r\nU.S. probes medical fraud at Hanford nuclear facility<\/a>,\r\nabout Steve Lewis, an electrician at Hanford,\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nHis vapor exposure, which occurred in January 2002, flushed his face\r\nred and burned his lungs. Four months later, he had headaches,\r\nnosebleeds and was gagging on phlegm. He went to see Larry Smick,\r\nHanford’s acting medical director, who diagnosed Lewis’s complaint\r\nas a pre-existing condition: “Allergic disease likely making him\r\nmore sensitive to irritant vapors at work,” according to the\r\ndoctor’s handwritten notes.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nLewis was incredulous. He had never had allergies. He said he tried\r\nrepeatedly during the exam to get the doctor to talk about chemical\r\nexposure out at the tank farms, but Smick would only talk allergies.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Quite honestly, that is when my bubble popped,” said Lewis, 51. “I\r\ncould live with injury because these things do happen. I was not an\r\nangry employee up until they started trying to convince me that I\r\nhadn’t been injured.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThe diagnosis that infuriated the electrician is part of a\r\nyears-long pattern of questionable medical and management practices\r\nat Hanford — first disclosed last fall by a nonprofit watchdog\r\ngroup called the\r\n\r\nGovernment Accountability Project<\/a> — that is\r\nnow triggering investigations by federal and Washington state\r\nofficials.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAnd that wasn’t all, as\r\nRalph Vartabedian wrote for the Los Angeles Times 7 March 2013,\r\n\r\nFirm in Hanford nuclear waste project settles fraud case:\r\nThe contractor CH2M Hill agrees to pay $18.5 million in damages for time card fraud in the project in Washington.<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nMore detail on the work in\r\nby Shannon Dininny for AP 1 June 2013,\r\n\r\nStoried nuke plant becomes environmental wasteland<\/a>,\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nRICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — A stainless steel tank the size of a\r\nbasketball court lies buried in the sandy soil of southeastern\r\nWashington state, an aging remnant of U.S. efforts to win World War\r\nII. The tank holds enough radioactive waste to fill an Olympic-sized\r\nswimming pool. And it is leaking.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nFor 42 years, tank AY-102 has stored some of the deadliest material\r\nat one of the most environmentally contaminated places in the\r\ncountry: the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. This complex along the\r\nColumbia River holds a storied place in American history. It was\r\nhere that workers produced the plutonium for the atomic bomb dropped\r\nby the U.S. on Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 — effectively ending\r\nthe second world war.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nToday Hanford’s legacy is less about what was made here than the\r\nenvironmental mess left behind — and the federal government’s\r\ninability, for nearly a quarter-century now, to rid Hanford once and\r\nfor all of its worst hazard: 56 million gallons of toxic waste\r\ncached in aging underground tanks.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nTechnical problems, mismanagement and repeated delays have plagued\r\nthe interminable cleanup of the 586-square-mile site, prolonging an\r\neffort that has cost taxpayers $36 billion to date and is estimated\r\nwill cost $115 billion more.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAdd to that the leaks involving AY-102 and other tanks at the site,\r\nand watchdog groups, politicians and others are left wondering: Will\r\nHanford ever really be free of its waste? If not, what will its\r\nenvironmental impact be on important waterways, towns and\r\ngenerations to come?\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThere’s more\r\n\r\nin the AP article,<\/a>\r\nsuch as this:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\nIn all, since that very first leak in the 1950s, at least 69 tanks\r\nare known to have excreted more than 1 million gallons of waste\r\n— and possibly far more — into the soil.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nNot to worry:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThe groundwater at Hanford already is contaminated, but scientists\r\ngauge the risks to be minimal because it would take decades for\r\ncontaminants already in the soil to reach the Columbia River, the\r\nlargest waterway in the Pacific Northwest. The closest tank sits 5\r\nmiles from the river, home to endangered fish and a source of\r\ndrinking water for some 175,000 people immediately downstream.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSo “minimal” means “your children and grandchildren will have a contaminated river”.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nPlant Hatch,\r\n\r\nchronically leaking radioactive tritium<\/a> into groundwater,\r\nand\r\n\r\nsame design as Fukushima<\/a>,\r\n is on the Altamaha River.\r\nPlant Farley,\r\nwith\r\n\r\nradioactive tritium in well water<\/a>,\r\nis just across the Chattahoochee River in Alabama.\r\nPlant Vogtle,\r\nwith\r\n\r\ndirect radiation and airborne radiation on the river bank and on nearby roads<\/a>,\r\nis on the Savannah River,\r\nwhich has detectible radioactivity in the river itself.\r\nWhat about the\r\n\r\nnow-closed Crystal River nuke<\/a>\r\nin north Florida,\r\nwhose problem nobody wanted to pay to fix was\r\n\r\ncracked containment concrete<\/a>:\r\nwhat will stop it from leaking?\r\nAll are above the Floridan aquifer, the source of our drinking water.\r\nOnce contamination gets into groundwater,\r\n\r\nit doesn’t just vanish; it continues to spread<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n

\r\nHave you ever heard of a leaking solar panel?\r\nHow about a radioactive windmill?\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birds nested using radioactive mud from WW II-era nuclear bomb production plant, stopping attempts to clean up some of the worst leaking atomic waste, much of which is liquid in leaking tanks near the Columbia River. We have nuclear plants leaking radioactive tritium next to the Chattahoochee and Altamaha Rivers, and radiation is detectible in […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18,2,41,19,104,73,3],"tags":[6379,922,6378,701,8701,8708,8699,6377,8718,8709,8702,12,7,8737,106,105,107,8731,955,108,8700,6,1716],"class_list":["post-3873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-georgia-power","category-government","category-health-care","category-history","category-nuclear","category-safety","category-transparency","tag-altamaha-river","tag-chattahoochee-river","tag-columbia-river","tag-crystal-river","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-power","tag-government","tag-hanford","tag-health-care","tag-history","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-nuclear","tag-plant-farley","tag-plant-hatch","tag-plant-vogtle","tag-safety","tag-savannah-river","tag-southern-company","tag-transparency","tag-valdosta","tag-washington"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-10t","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3873"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3877,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3873\/revisions\/3877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}