Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Video & Multimedia
Showing Original Post only (View all)Billions of Gallons Radioactive Waste Dumped & Leaking at Hanford [View all]
MsMilkytheclown1 ·Published on Mar 4, 2013
Hanford Dumped Billions of Gallons of Radioactive Waste in the 50s & 60s on the ground
Special Thank you to http://tinyurl.com/3ywthf5 for the beginning of the video!
The Hanford Site is a mostly decommissioned nuclear production complex on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, operated by the United States federal government. The site has been known by many names, including Hanford Project, Hanford Works, Hanford Engineer Works or HEW and Hanford Nuclear Reservation or HNR. Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project in the town of Hanford in south-central Washington, the site was home to the B Reactor, the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in the world Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first nuclear bomb, tested at the Trinity site, and in Fat Man, the bomb detonated over Nagasaki, Japan.
Sunday Spin: Helping to understand Hanford
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/spincontrol/2013/mar/02/sunday-spin-helping-understand-hanford/ for full article and 58 minute video. [... Hanford's] tanks are big. The largest are the size of a basketball court with a 75-foot wall around it. Inside the tanks are a "stew of different materials" that form a radioactive sludge, from which the liquid was supposed to have been pumped out years ago. [...]
67 tanks are 'suspected leakers' at U.S. nuclear site "The stuff inside melts the instruments... eats rubber and plastic" (VIDEO)
http://enenews.com/67-suspected-leakers-nuclear-site-stuff-inside-melts-instruments-eats-rubber-plastic-video
Of the 177 tanks, 149 only have a single wall, or shell, and 67 of those were "suspected leakers", but the rest were thought to be secure. Thought to be is a relative term, because in a container that big, a drop of even a fraction of an inch can represent many gallons of waste. You can't just drop a giant dipstick into the tank. As [Jane Hedges of Washington's Department of Ecology] explained, there's no easy way to get an extremely accurate measurement because lowering cameras or instruments into the tanks isn't practical. The stuff inside melts the instruments, and eats rubber and plastic. [...]
Getting the liquid out of the tanks is a problem. First, there's no good place to put it right now, because the more secure double-shelled tanks are also pretty full. Second, there's the danger of triggering evaporation of the liquid, which would cause a tank to heat up and create a deflagration. (AKA an EXPLOSION)
Washington nuclear waste tanks 'leaking'
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/02/2013223223927460308.html
Hanford - Washington
http://yosemite.epa.gov/r10/cleanup.nsf/sites/Hanford
Sequestration Could Hinder Hanford Nuclear Reservation Cleanup, Says Washington Governor
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/sequestration-hanford-nuclear-reservation_n_2779095.html
Radioactive waste leaking from six tanks at Washington state nuclear site
http://news.yahoo.com/six-washington-state-nuclear-tanks-leaking-governors-office-001058166.html
The latest news of 6 leaking tanks at Hanford
Hanford Watch president Paige Knight, Feb. 23, 2013
Study Slams Nuclear Waste Practices at Hanford
New York Times, Feb. 5, 2013
http://www.hanfordwatch.org/
CBS News: Mind-boggling mistakes at leaking U.S. nuclear site "The chances of a catastrophic event are real" -Former Governor (VIDEO)
http://enenews.com/cbs-news-mind-boggling-mistakes-at-leaking-u-s-nuclear-site-the-chances-of-a-catastrophic-event-are-real-former-governor-video
Dr. Helen Caldicott at A15 Hanford Rally
http://tinyurl.com/ap5ktth
*****Please see links and read info below this video*****
[center]
[/center]
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies