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Researchers Race To Recover Radioactive Rabbits

Posted by samzenpus on from the night-of-the-lepus dept.

Ponca City writes "The Tri-City Herald reports that radioactive rabbit droppings were recently found near the old Hanford Nuclear Site in southeast Washington that produced nuclear materials for 40 years and is now being decontaminated. The Department of Health looks for contamination off-site to make sure there is no public hazard and a rabbit trapped at the 300 Area caught their attention because it was close enough to the site's boundaries to potentially come in contact with the public. Joe Franco, an assistant manager for the Department of Energy, said workers erected fences, removed potential food sources and even sprayed the scent of a predator around the perimeter to prevent any other rabbit contamination and the Department of Energy said only one of 18 rabbits surveyed were deemed contaminated. Researchers narrowed the area of possible contamination to the 327 Building used during the Cold War for testing highly radioactive materials, particularly fuel elements and cladding that were irradiated at Hanford reactors as part of plutonium production for the nation's nuclear weapons program. Because the number of contaminated droppings being discovered on-site has decreased, officials now believe it's possible that just one rabbit might have been contaminated and they now are finding old droppings from it."

9 of 145 comments (clear)

  1. number of droppings decreasing by He+who+knows · · Score: 5, Funny

    This can mean only one thing. The rabbits are now super inteligent and hiding their droppings.

  2. Researchers Race To Recover Radioactive Rabbits by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Say it 5 times quickly. Go on, I dare you!

    --
    Summation 2
    1. Re:Researchers Race To Recover Radioactive Rabbits by rewarp · · Score: 4, Funny

      Using "Wesearchers Wace to Wecover Wadoactive Wabbits" makes it easier.

      --
      In adding a sig, for no other reason, than for aesthetics.
  3. Science by Lord+Byron+II · · Score: 4, Informative

    Despite the common belief and what bad scifi would tell you, rabbits (and other things) don't become radioactive when exposed to radiation.

    In this case, the rabbit likely consumed radioactive materials, meaning that it is contaminated with radioactive materials. The rabbit itself though, is not radioactive.

    The radioactivity is not contagious and the fear is not that someone will pet the radioactive rabbit and become radioactive themself. The problem would be if a hunter caught the rabbit and ate it. Then he/she would ingest both the rabbit and the radioactive materials, putting him/her at higher risk for certain diseases (most notably cancer). However, he/she would not be radioactive either.

    1. Re:Science by Lord+Byron+II · · Score: 4, Informative

      Just to elaborate, if this rabbit mates, it's children will not be radioactive nor will they receive radioactive materials. The problem is only with this generation.

    2. Re:Science by RsG · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The problem would be if a hunter caught the rabbit and ate it. Then he/she would ingest both the rabbit and the radioactive materials, putting him/her at higher risk for certain diseases (most notably cancer). However, he/she would not be radioactive either.

      I agree with your post, but wanted to add something.

      Aside from the scenario you set up in the passage I quoted, there are a couple of other ways a contaminated rabbit could cause problems. To wit, the animal could die to some cause other than a human hunter and spread the contamination through other parts of the food chain, via scavengers and decomposition . Or the rabbit could get adopted or otherwise come into contact with human beings and cause health problems via contaminated droppings. Or, if the animal remained wild, its contaminated droppings could find their way into agricultural soil (this last one is a long shot).

      The good news is, the total quantity of radioactive material is finite, and will become more diluted over time. And rabbits are not especially radiation resistant, meaning if the quantity of contaminants per rabbit is probably fairly low already (or else they'd have died at or near the site they were contaminated at).

      Plus, any really nasty isotopes they've absorbed will also have a shorter half-life. So this isn't a long term problem, provided that whatever circumstances resulted in the rabbits getting contaminated in the first place have been rectified.

      --
      Erotic is when you use a feather. Exotic is when you use the whole chicken.
  4. Time to break out by zounds011 · · Score: 5, Funny

    the Holy Handgrenade of Antioch!

  5. Well, that's no ordinary rabbit... by dclozier · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!

  6. According to a Seattle columnist by baegucb · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ron Judd asked a good question: News stories about the Hanford creature said "Washington state Health Department workers with the Office of Radiation Protection have been searching for contaminated rabbit droppings." Exactly how short of a straw does one have to draw to get that assignment?