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Possible Radioactive Leak Investigated At Washington Nuclear Site (upi.com)
Authorities are investigating radioactive material found on a worker's clothing one week after a tunnel collapse at the waste nuclear waste site in the state of Washington. Around 7 p.m. Thursday, Washington River Protection Solutions, a government contractor contractor in charge of all 177 underground storage tanks at the nuclear site. detected high radiation readings on a robotic device that seven workers were pulling out of a tank. Then, contamination was also discovered on the clothing of one worker -- on one shoe, on his shirt and on his pants in the knee area.
"Radiological monitoring showed contamination on the unit that was three times the planned limit. Workers immediately stopped working and exited the area according to procedure," said Rob Roxburgh, deputy manager of WRPS Communications & Public Relations said to KING-TV. Using leak-detection instruments, WRPS said it did not find liquid escaping the tank. "Everybody was freaked, shocked, surprised," said a veteran worker, who was in direct contact with crew members. "[The contamination] was not expected. They're not supposed to find contamination in the annulus [safety perimeter] of the double shell tanks."
Washington's attorney general, urging a federal clean-up of the site, insists "This isn't the first potential leak and it won't be the last."
"Radiological monitoring showed contamination on the unit that was three times the planned limit. Workers immediately stopped working and exited the area according to procedure," said Rob Roxburgh, deputy manager of WRPS Communications & Public Relations said to KING-TV. Using leak-detection instruments, WRPS said it did not find liquid escaping the tank. "Everybody was freaked, shocked, surprised," said a veteran worker, who was in direct contact with crew members. "[The contamination] was not expected. They're not supposed to find contamination in the annulus [safety perimeter] of the double shell tanks."
Washington's attorney general, urging a federal clean-up of the site, insists "This isn't the first potential leak and it won't be the last."
Find a a shallow water off-shore geologic subduction zone,drill in close to drop down point,pump in low level waste,it's not perfect,but it is probably far safer than gathering it all together on a land site and storing/processing,if it seems to work ok,for say a century,start getting rid of the realy dangerous high level crud in the same way. /waste industry and govs, then use that as dump hole..
Keep fingers crossed for several thousand years until "proven" a safer system.
Or combine two projects,ultra deep moho drilling project funded by nuclear
It's no longer a secret what was done there; read Wikipedia. The problem is that this site sits right on top of the Columbia River. A major spill could result in an environmental disaster of nearly unprecedented scale and incredibly difficult remediation. Oops.