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Tunnel Collapses At Nuclear Facility Once Called 'An Underground Chernobyl Waiting To Happen' (gizmodo.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Managers at the Hanford Site in Washington State told workers to "take cover" Tuesday morning after a tunnel leading to a massive plutonium finishing plant collapsed. The emergency is especially worrisome, since Hanford is commonly known as "the most toxic place in America," with one former governor calling it "an underground Chernobyl waiting to happen." Worrisome might actually be an understatement. An emergency has been declared. The accident occurred near the 200 East Area, the home of several solid waste sites. More specifically, the tunnel that collapsed was one filled with highly radioactive train cars that once carried spent fuel rods containing deeply dangerous plutonium and uranium from a reactor on the Columbia River to the processing facility. Those reactors once produced plutonium for America's nuclear arsenal, though production ended in 1980. The cleanup process that followed has gone on for nearly 30 years. Back to the poor workers, though. They've been instructed to stay indoors, and one manager reportedly sent out a message telling workers to "secure ventilation in your building" and "refrain from eating or drinking." When you can't even have a glass of water, you know the nuclear emergency is bad. The U.S. Department of Energy sent out a press release around 1pm EST that said "facility personnel have been evacuated," while workers at nearby sites have been instructed to stay indoors. A spokesperson also told the press that "there was no evidence to suggest that radioactive materials had been released and that all of the workers in the area were accounted for."
How about we don't try to produce energy with the most toxic and deadly materials mankind has ever discovered?
A giant lizard like creature has been spotted in the river approaching Portland.
On a news site supposedly devoted to technology and science.
It's not a "Chernobyl waiting to happen" because they're not running the reactor hard to test the safety systems.
They're worried about a release of radiation into the air through the permeability of the tunnel collapse and that's presuming the train cars were damaged in the collapse as well - if there is leakage we're looking at another Three Mile Island (and all the hysteria that went along with that)
The bigger story here is why don't we have a more secure disposal facility for nuclear waste... oh wait... we DID and Harry Reid shut it down so the waste had to stay in this "Chernobyl like" facility.
While the EPA may declare this an environmental disaster. The DOE needs to reclassify plutonium as a mineral. The FDA can come up with an RDA for plutonium. The workers and nearby population can be told there is nothing to worry about. Go about your business as normal. Move along. Move along.
RDA = Recommended Daily Allowance, like the vitamins listed on your breakfast cereal boxes.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
30 year gig to "clean up" a site. Wish I had founded a company to snag this sweet gig. The profits would have enormous - funding the anti nuke nuts would have been a small portion of the profit margin.
**Life is too short to be serious**
Hanford. I remember friend and I drove to the road adjacent to this property to view the total eclipse in 1979 (wide open flat area). Looks like have to find another location to view total eclipse this August.
mfwright@batnet.com
I find the prose and opinion in these kinds of news stories to be annoying. Whether or not I agree or disagree with the bias of this particular story, the "Back to the poor workers, though" bit had me wondering if one of the worker's grandmothers wrote this news or what.
Better known as 318230.
What is it you think the EPA was going to do about a tunnel collapse exactly?
Just think of all the money we'd save on electricity if everyone just glowed in the dark.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I've done engineering work on the site (new storage tanks). This site is a perfect example of how technical neglect or ignorance (the early days of nuclear) combined with entrenched bureaucracy and underfunding of the cleanup project can land you in a giant mess that's difficult (at best) to resolve. Hanford is and was an accident waiting to happen, and it could happen at literally any time, contaminating beyond any reasonable ability to cleanup the entire Columbia river basin when the big accident finally happens. And with current funding and environmental attitudes of the current regime, it's not going to get better.
I work a mile from the site border, and connect remotely to the government network there for my job, and have worked on site.
There was no radiological release; no contamination was spread.
Employees were instructed to shut off HVAC and to avoid eating and drinking for several hours; these moratoriums have been lifted.
The site has essentially been evacuated. All non-essential employees have been released for the day. Swing shift cancelled (again, except non-essential personnel).
Can we please stop with the scaremongering? The worst thing about Hanford is that no work ever gets done out there because safety is quite literally job number 1: they've extraordinarily happy that you don't get any work done as long as you're safe not doing it. Hanford's just a huge money sink.
Hell, I didn't even hear about it until my mother in law halfway across the state texted me.
I've been following this situation, and the shelter in place order and early worker release are just sensible precautionary measures. At present there is no reason to expect any release of contamination.
Not that this is exactly a feather in the cap for the site's management; obviously it should never have happened. But the response at least is responsible: when the unexpected happens, you assume more unexpected events are in store until you're sure as sure can be.
What some politician called the site in the past is totally irrelevant to the present situation. This should, however, remind us that we do have a pretty big nuclear waste problem slowly building; and because it's slow we've been kicking the ball down the road and hoping for the best. That isn't a good enough. Unexpected things happen, and even if this event proves to be harmless, as is likely, they don't always happen in harmless ways.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo:
An anonymous reader named mdsolar ;-)
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
The idea that concrete can contain such waste is absurd, and Chernobyl demonstrates that. Concrete is not some sort of an impermeable layer. Apart from the fact that it's possible the decay of whatever is down in that tunnel will probably eat at the concrete over time, concrete is vulnerable to water damage, and more importantly to cracking. Ask anyone who has poured a concrete slab, if you don't have stable soil and fill beneath a slab, and if you don't put control joints into a slab, it will crack. That's not even talking about other potential issues like frost heave or the potential that such waste could still find its way out of its "tomb" and into the water table.
Dumping tons of concrete into the hole is not a long term solution. I wouldn't even call it a medium term solution, and doing it will likely complicate future cleanup or containment.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Seems a fairly astute observation. Left to his own, and to Bannon, I'm sure Trump would have killed the EPA entire.
Of course, things aren't that simple, and if the rumors are true, the delay in Trump's grand commitment to exiting the Paris agreement is because Kushner, Tillerson, and dare I even say it, no less than Rick Perry himself think the US should stay in it, with Bannon and Pruitt fighting to pull the US out. I find it fascinating that every hot button issue now has Kushner on one side, and Bannon on the other.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Given how poorly the Hanford cleanup has gone under the leadership of the DOE, more involvment by the EPA might lead to a better result. If you carefully read the preceding paragraph, you will note that the DOE took over the review process from the EPA after the first report. Having a department review it'sown work is not exactly the best way to insure that they are doing a good job. After this latest failure, it is obvious that the DOE is not doing a very good job.
There is a cosmic irony in the juxtaposition of this problem at Hanford and the shutdown of scientific advisory panels at the EPA and the Department of the Interior. Inevitably some of these efforts involve the Hanford site. It is a stark reminder that ignoring science is always a bad idea.
By the way, why are you picking on the EPA in the first place? I detect the stench of a right wing troll.
Why is Snark Required?
This is not a nuclear power plant. It is a wast dump from cold war activities. How stupid to say it is another Chernobyl waiting to happen. That screams ignorance.
I'd say it's extremely obvious sarcasm but don't let that stop you doing some political cheerleading.
I don't think this is about "left" or "right" anyway. Nixon had a lot to say about pollution. The Soviets had Lysenkoism and current trends seem to be going in that direction - reality being defined by what the State says it is and don't let those pesky facts get in the way.
I would not put Kushner in too good of a light. I'd rate him right up there with the Jewish money changers christ threw out of the temple. Except there was no one to throw him out of the white house when they were selling EB-5's in china for the family biz. At first I thought he was only complicit. Now I think he is all in.
This is the problem with nuclear power: people hate it so much they'll lump in everything with it, relevant or not. This is all about weapons production waste. You might as well blame solar energy for the majority of gun deaths because most shootings are done with the aid of sunlight to see.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Thank God for Coal /s
Russia will quake in their boots at the thoughts of our ICBMs with Coal Warheads.
Return Crimea to Ukraine you commie dogs or we will fill your cities with smog by launching our coal warheads at you.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Just think of all the money we'd save on electricity if everyone just glowed in the dark.
The movie industry would have a new scape goat for theatres not filling. It's too bright in the cinema with everyone glowing, no one can see the picture.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch