Paper: WIPP workers ''not permitted to speak''

[DeSwiss]

''Their jobs won’t ever be the same… will face new paradigm'' — Concerns plutonium contaminated surrounding salt — Preparing for radiation levels so high, only robots can be used (VIDEO)

Published: April 22nd, 2014 at 1:18 pm ET
By ENENews

Albuquerque Journal News, Apr. 22, 2014: WIPP workers face big changes, Their jobs won’t ever be the same — Now that contamination has been discovered underground – although the extent is still unknown – the contractor that runs the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant says workers will face a new paradigm when they return to the site: more formality, tougher rules and more protective gear. [...] those working underground will likely be doing their jobs in a more hazardous environment – or one where the risks have been made more evident – with new rules of engagement to protect them from exposure to radiation. [...] plutonium and americium may have contaminated rock salt walls, mixed into dust on the floor, and clung to machinery and other equipment underground. If stirred or scuffed up, the radiation can become airborne and inhaled. [...] NWP workers are not permitted to speak to the press, according to a spokesman.

Bob McQuinn, new president/project manager of WIPP operator: “The place [...] now has, not more than the rest of the sites, but similar radiation protection hazards [...] Now we’re going to have to wear protective equipment – coveralls, shoe covers and gloves – to make sure contamination doesn’t get on us and respirators so it doesn’t get in us. People who haven’t had to wear protective equipment will have to.”

Dr. Fred Mettler, radiologist and US representative to the United Nations World Health and Atomic Energy Agency: “The first rule of thumb is nobody thinks any of this is good for you. So you want to keep doses as low as possible. Medically, it’s very, very difficult to get the stuff out of you.”

Jim Frederick, United Steel Workers assistant director of health, safety and environment: “Is this place going to be safe for our folks to go back to? [...] What was not in place that might have kept this from happening? And what do we need to do to keep the workers safe and make sure the public health risks are kept at zero or very, very close to zero?”

KOAT, Apr. 20, 2014: “The more they went into panel 7, the more it started becoming more widespread,” said WIPP deputy recovery manager Tammy Reynolds. [...] Inspectors plan to go back down and explore things further, but in case the radiation levels pose too much of a threat, robots will go underground instead. “Robot operators have already been to the WIPP site, received all of the training to go to the underground,” said Reynolds.

Carlsbad Current-Argus, Apr. 22, 2014: robots are on standby to support the recovery operations

Watch KOAT’s broadcast here

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[NMDemDist2]

1. bullshit

I live here and ENEnews is fear mongering of the worse sort.

http://www.currentargus.com/carlsbad-news/ci_25343300/radiation-experts-no-health-risks-wipp-workers

[DeSwiss]

3. Quoting directly from an area NM newspaper is fear-mongering, eh?

And reporting comments coming directly from the mouth of the project manager of WIPP is fear-mongering?

- Either you don't know what fear-mongering is, or your exclamation of BULLSHIT should have been shouted in a mirror.


And of course, there's nothing to fear from plutonium floating in the air, now is there?

[RobertEarl]

2. Those are some heavy quotes

Knowing ENEnews.com, as I do, the quotes are well sourced.

Since the nuclear waste is underground with only polluted air coming to the surface and spreading with the wind, we may never know what happened down in that hole.

So we conjecture.... evidently the plutonium stored down there was so volatile that it blew thru its cask holding it in. We know bombs are made with plutonium because plutonium can be very explosive. What may have been stored down in that hole was plutonium that was too volatile to be used in weapons, as it may have caused premature explosions in the bombs.

In other words, we may have actually had a nuclear explosion in the hole.

[DeSwiss]

4. Yep.

- And there'll be more chain-reactions to come.

''Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and public health experts do not recommend that people in the United States take precautionary measures beyond staying informed. And going forward, we will continue to keep the American people fully updated — because I believe that you must know what I know as President.'' - President Barack Obama, March 17, 2011 link

[backwoodsbob]

5. bravo sir...bravo

that is olympic medal level reach there.
A nuclear explosion?

[RobertEarl]

6. Sure

Last edited Mon Apr 28, 2014, 08:19 PM - Edit history (1)

There are major and there are minor explosions. It took quite a bit of testing to get our weapons to go major explosions. Not all explosions are the same.

Think of it this way: there are firecrackers and there is dynamite.

The material in the hole is what is used in weapons, and maybe material that was too unstable to be put into a weapon. A small amount could have gone critical, but was not compressed like is done in weapons, therefore the explosion was not as energetic as a manufactured bomb. But sure, nuclear at its core, sure.

[backwoodsbob]

7. what evidence do you have of this?

detectable levels of radiation and a new requirement that workers wear hazmat suits becomes a nuclear explosion?

[DeSwiss]

8. Not that I expect it'll make any difference.....

- But it is possible for nuclear material to have a chain reaction explosion. It's actually explained quite well by a number of qualified experts with literally hundreds of years of experience in the development, design, construction, operation of nuclear reactors and in the emergency management problems of nuclear disasters, and the LIES that are constantly told to us by the NRC and the nuclear mafia. Most of whom may be found quite easily right here.

If it's the TRUTH that you want.......

Fukushima and the 'Devil's Chain Reaction' of Nuclear Explosions

Nuclear chain reaction

Nuclear reaction

HuffPo: Fukushima Nuclear Plant: Japan leaders Feared 'Devil's Chain Reaction'

Official: Radioactive material escaping everyday from WIPP and dispersing — Top officials “not made available for comment” — Expert: Leaks from ‘unfiltered’ ducts went on for weeks

[FBaggins]

9. Not that I expect it'll make any difference... but that's nonsense.

it is possible for nuclear material to have a chain reaction explosion.

That's what nuclear bombs are... but that doesn't mean that just any nuclear material can support a chain reaction... let alone a nuclear explosion.

It's actually explained quite well by a number of qualified experts with literally hundreds of years of experience in the development, design, construction, operation of nuclear reactors and in the emergency management problems of nuclear disasters, and the LIES that are constantly told to us by the NRC and the nuclear mafia. Most of whom may be found quite easily right here.

Lol... no it isn't. I note that you link only to the site and not to any such explanation.

If it's the TRUTH that you want.......

Fukushima and the 'Devil's Chain Reaction' of Nuclear Explosions

Did you even read that first link? I'm guessing not... since it directly refutes your claim.

Also... the "devil's chain reaction" had nothing at all to do with nuclear explosions from reactors. It was the (irrational) fear that a much larger release from Fukushima (IIRC, from a burning fuel pool) would cause a total evacuation of the plant... causing the other pools to lose cooling and burn... causing releases so high that even other nuclear plants miles away would be forced to evacuate (causing them to lose cooling and melt-down).

You need to look up the types of material that are sent to WIPP. It is entirely impossible to have any sort of nuclear explosion in there (unless someone sneaks in a nuclear bomb and sets it off).

[FBaggins]

11. That isn't how a nuclear explosion works at all.

Where on earth did you get that idea?

[FBaggins]

10. There you go again

You're simply not entitled to your own reality.

Nothing in that post bears any resemblance to the real world. Plutonium isn't "explosive" in that sense... nor is it "so volatile" that it can "blow thru its cask"... nor is WIPP a storage site for "plutonium that was too volatile to be used in weapons".

You should try actually looking up what materials qualify for storage at WIPP. You seem to think that there are physical chunks of plutonium being stored there... but that's nonsense. That isn't what TRU (transuranic waste) is - it's clothing/tools/materials that are themselves contaminated with tiny amounts of plutonium (etc).

[RobertEarl]

12. You don't know what you are saying

They just did go back down in the hole after two months.

And they had to get the fuck out since it was so radioactive. They never even got close to where they THINK the explosions/fires occurred.

They burn clothes and such. They don't bury minor reactive materials. They bury the really dangerous stuff like that which is too HOT for weapons and parking lot storage.

Next thing you'll come up with is to equate the stuff coming out of the WIPP hole with bananas. But before you do just consider they don't worry about BIPPs = Banana Isolation Pilot Plants. But I bet you will. All the nuke lovers compare weapon waste with bananas. I've seen you do so. Go ahead, make our day with more of your silly stuff. Bwahahaha.

[FBaggins]

13. How ironic...

...since, of course, exactly the opposite is true.

They just did go back down in the hole after two months.

And this is evidence that there was a nuclear explosion?

And they had to get the fuck out since it was so radioactive.

There's your imaginary fantasy world again. In the real world, they left when the time they were allowed to stay underground (based on battery life for their suits and the temperature wearing the equipment) expired. They have since been back down without trouble.

They never even got close to where they THINK the explosions/fires occurred.

Also untrue... all three statement. They don't think there was an explosion... and the only fire that occurred was several days earlier and they know where that was... and they have been close to the actual source.

Nobody (apart from you it appears) thinks there was an explosion (let alone a nuclear one). The two most likely causes of the release were considered to be a roof collapse (broken roof bolts were seen in the active storage room just a couple days before the event), or damaged containers from handling (likely by a forklift piercing a drum).

They have since been back down to room 7 of panel 7 (both front and back faces of the stack), and the roof collapse theory is now out. The drums at each face appear to be undamaged, so now they're planning a more detailed examination (cameras on extension polls, etc) of the rest of the room. They've pretty definitively identified it as the source (as expected) by mapping counts-per-minute on both faces of the drums. Nothing anywhere high enough to "get the fuck out since it was so radioactive"... particularly since it would be primarily alpha particles.

Obviously... none of that would be possible if there had been a nuclear explosion in the room.

They burn clothes and such. They don't bury minor reactive materials. They bury the really dangerous stuff like that which is too HOT for weapons and parking lot storage.

Why on earth do you just wing these things when it's so simple to look them up? You appear to have a world-record tolerance for making yourself look foolish.

1 - Just look up "transuranic waste" and "TRU". The definitions are pretty straightforward:

TRU waste is contaminated with man-made radioactive materials with atomic numbers greater than uranium, such as plutonium, americium, and curium. Transuranic waste is officially defined as waste contaminated with alpha-emitting radionuclides, having atomic numbers greater than 92 and with half-lives greater than 20 years in concentrations greater than 100 nanocuries per gram of waste. These wastes include such materials as laboratory clothing, rubber gloves, tools, glove boxes, glassware, piping, air filters, plastics, wood, metals, and solidified waste water sludges contaminated with transuranic materials.

2 - Think before you type. It would be pretty darn stupid to burn clothing contaminated by plutonium. The clothes would burn... the plutonium wouldn't. You've now released the plutonium into the exhaust plume of your fire.

[truebrit71]

14. I'm curious...do you work in or for the nuclear industry?

I see you around constantly defending nukes, and nuke power plants, in posts all over DU and just wondered why that was?

[FBaggins]

15. I do not now, nor have I ever

I see you around constantly defending nukes, and nuke power plants, in posts all over DU and just wondered why that was?

Because I support a substantial increase in nuclear power and renewables to replace coal (and eventually gas) for electricity generation to combat climate change and pollution. More importantly... because the other side of the argument regularly includes this type of nonense and I prefer that democrats not remain in such ignorance. It's entirely acceptable to oppose nuclear power, but not to fall for such ridiculous nonsense.

You don't seriously think that the only people who support nuclear power work for the industry... do you?

[truebrit71]

16. To answer your question...

...your defense of this industry is so vociferous, and so passionate, and your derision and disdain for anyone that dares to suggest that it is a highly dangerous, toxic process seemed to indicate more than just a casual interest...

[RobertEarl]

17. He gets his info from pro-nuke websites

The ones that claim that nuke waste is safe. That Fukushima didn't blow sky high. That the world will be saved if we only had more nuke waste!!

He never really links to anything. Just writes what the pro-nuke sites plant in his head.

The industry has never been truthful. It has been lies, lies, lies. There is no reason to believe anything from the pro-nukers.