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U.S. Nuclear Cleanup Carries Major Risks
Roland Piquepaille writes "New Scientist reports in this pretty alarming article that there is a 50-50 chance of a major radiation or chemical accident during the cleanup of the dirtiest nuclear site in the U.S. There are indeed lots of things to clean at the Hanford complex in Washington state: 67 tons of plutonium and 190 million liters of liquid radioactive waste stored in underground tanks. A third of them, dating from the Cold War, have already leaked 4 million liters in the environment, contaminating the groundwater and a river. Meanwhile, officials at the DOE, who'll spend $50 billion between now and 2035 on this cleanup, seem less worried than the different specialists interviewed by New Scientist. Please read this overview for selected quotes from the article and from the Hanford site. You'll also find a slide from the DOE showing the timeframe for the cleanup."
~s/M/N/
DOH
-nB
That and I hate the damn 2 minute wait. Why not allow editing your post within the first 2 minutes and loosing any moderation on the post if you do so?
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A bit of an O-T thread - A very, very long time ago (10 years?), I read a news story that someone, somewhere in the World was developing a bacteria that could actually "eat" nuclear waste. As I remember, it was at a very slow rate, but it seemed to be pretty effective? Does anyone remember this project, or know what happened to it?
I will probably get modded into oblivion for this but i think it has to be done
The recent events of orin hatch that i was not able to comment on have just gone too far. there are allot of people on
- Register the domain www.nomoreorin.org and use it for a
organizational starting place to campaign against his reelection
- Gather all of the evidence and bills that he is against peoples
rights and is in the pay of the *aa
- Work to form a grass roots party in his hometown to make sure
that he is defeated buy a landslide in the next election.
- Try to set up rallys and protests in his community with pamphlets
that say
- Your senator wants to outlaw your VCR, Tivo, DVR
- Your senator wants to outlaw your computer
- Your senator wants to put viruses and destroy your
computer if you do something he doe sent approve of
- Your senator helped to put an innocent Russian
Civilian in jail without due process over writing an essentially legal
program.
- Your senator wants to remove your rights to make
backup copies of movies and software that you already own
- Your senator cares more about the *aa than the people
who elected him
- Your senator has accepted XXXXX$ from these *aa
groups
- Next target any and all politicians that have shown support for
the DMCA, INDUCE or have received an money from the *AA
- If we send a message to the government that clearly states that
- If you accept any money from the *AA we will see to it that
your political career is destroyed.
- Supporting any bill that restricts a users rights to media he
owns will result in your not getting elected.
It is evidently clear that if we do not act now. your right to use a computer or any kind of audio and visual media will be severely restricted.Depending on the replies to this post i will reserve and set up the
www.nomoreorin.org website.
and will do what i can to help a movement whose time have come
if you have any questions email me at
eric.aint.net (spam proof)
All but one of the canyon facilities has been closed up and sealed but there are still a lot of enriched fuel rods that need to be processed. Some of them have been in the tanks so long they're decaying and becoming dangerous to handle. If something isn't done about them there will be a problem, guaranteed. Just like the tanks. The longer they sit there, the more they leak. Get on with it already.
Hanford and the Tri-Cities is really a beautiful area. They have hydroplane races on the Columbia every summer, beautiful river side parks and the rural areas near the river are lush farm land. Several very nice wineries are located not far away and there are great places to hike, climb, windsurf and bike all within a short distance.
Adjusted for age the cancer rate in that area is a bit lower than the national average. Probably more related to the great summer weather and opportunities for exercise than the activities at the engineering works.
The one down side are the straight line winds that kick up from time to time. They used to call them termination winds because the next day so many people would come in and quit. They will scour the paint right off your car if you're unlucky enough to be out driving.
Yes, there are clean up issues that need to be addressed at Hanford, but don't let that color your perception of the entire area. It's really very nice.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
It would be nice if when you put someone on your foes list, as I have done with roland, stories submitted by them wouldn't come up on the front page any more. Then this kind of crap would be a non-issue.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
You don't have to store unused energy, you just don't send it down to earth. If you DO want to store that energy, though, the best way is probably through electrolysis of water, and storing the resulting hydrogen, which can either be fed into a generator later, or transported to another location.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"