Dec. 1, 2010
CLARIFICATION: DOE States Hanford 8,900 Rad Per Hour Soil Discovery Did Not Impact Workers, Water, Air, But Radioactive Rabbit Killed, Mouse Hunt Underway
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
YAKIMA, Wash. (HNN) – A rabbit and a rodent appear to have acquired contamination possibly from a site at or near the 327 Building where hot cells have been previously pulled and contaminated soil found. A radioactive rabbit has been caught north of Richland and workers have set traps for a radioactive mouse. The search comes after radioactive rabbit and mouse droppings were found in a section of the site not open to the public.
The Washington State Dept. of Health is monitoring the occurrence, but Earl Fordham, the director of the Office of Radiation Protection , believes there is no public danger. In addition, Todd Nelson, Washington Closure Hanford spokesman, emphasized that no droppings were found in any area accessible to the public.
According to an Associated Press report, Hanford workers checked 18 rabbits which had been trapped or shot with pellet guns. The contaminated rabbit was killed and disposed of as radioactive waste, Oregonlive.com reported.
As of a November 18, 2010 report, suspicions rested on the animals drinking a common source of radioactive cesium or that a mouse wandered through the radioactive rabbit’s droppings.
Pertaining to an earlier story on HNN related to Hanford and the gaseous diffusion plants, the Department of Energy asked HNN to clarify a statement. The story told of the finding 8,900 rad per hour soil beneath the 324 Building. Although this is ten times the lethal limit on contact, spokesman Nelson emphasized that because the soil sits under a building the workers are shielded from the radiation and the radiation was not released into the air. Workers and air toxicity are two of the three biggest concerns, the final one is migration to groundwater, Nelson said.
Wells already monitor water for contamination in and around the 300 area of Hanford. As a result, Nelson said no evidence has been found that contamination reached the ground water including the Columbia River, which is about 1,000 feet from where the leak was found.
“The DOE and its contractor made it clear in responding to media inquiries and in a fact sheet that was posted on the web that there was no dosage to workers (fact sheet attached and posted on our website at http://www.hanford.gov/news.cfm/DOE/E1011025_2.pdf), that it did not impact groundwater, and that there were no airborne issues,” wrote Geoff Tyree, Communications & External Affairs for the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (Hanford Site).
Although the November radioactive leak apparently did not impact workers, the air, or surface water, the venue has a tainted history regarding spillage and contaminants reaching off-site locations.
For instance , an article from the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility , “Supercomputers Assist Cleanup of Decades Old Nuclear Waste,” indicates that the Hanford 300 site has four times the uranium contaminant limit for external exposure. Ingestion in high doses can cause bone or liver cancer or kidney damage. According to the study conducted by Peter C. Lichtner of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the uranium plume is roughly a 1.5 square mile area about 109 yards from the river. Lichtner’s initial simulation results predict 55 to 110 pounds of uranium leech flow into the Columbia River yearly from an estimated 55 to 83 tons of source uranium.
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in a “A Trip to America’s Most Toxic Place” stated that private Hanford contractors have revealed at least one million gallons of radioactive sludge have leaked from at least 67 tanks. Another tank leaks “high levels of gamma radiation from a subsurface source of Cesium 137. Yet the DOE reports that the tank farm is “Controlled , clean and stable.”
Author Jeffrey St. Clair continues by revealing a DOE isn’t talking hypothesis --- the best way to avoid bad publicity and public hostility is to stop monitoring sites that seemed most likely to produce unpleasant information.
(Editor’s Note: The DOE has stopped monitoring formerly radioactive sites in and around Huntington, declaring them safe, yet, HNN has not seen findings of radiological monitoring other than a post-demolition report on the Reduction Pilot Plant.)
As for the mouse hunt, PETA has stepped in complaining about the type of traps DOE uses in their attempt to find Radioactive Mickey [Mouse].
“We hope you agree that animals don’t deserve to die painfully for situations that humans created,” wrote Tracy Reinman, executive vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Her letter was sent to Neil Brosee, president of Washington closure.
However, the radioactive critters provide evidence that the area contains long-lasting , serious environmental hazards.
Jim Riccio, an anti-nuclear activist at Greenpeace, told AOL News, “The radioactive bunny is a lead indicator that these sites are contaminated. I don’t know how you put the genie back in the bottle after you contaminated these sites so terribly,” the nuclear policy analyst said.
The last radioactive mouse droppings were found in mid-November. No fresh rabbit droppings have been found after the one’s in November.
Washington Closure has sprayed the site with scents to discourage rabbits and have labored to remove any items that might be considered “food” for rabbits or mice.
A Greenpeace weblog has stated that despite “billions spent on cleanup , Hanford won’t be clean for thousands of years [as] some radioactive contaminants will threaten the Columbia River for thousands of years. The analysis comes from a newly released analysis on how to curtail the leaking storage tanks and manage waste at Hanford.
Oregon officials stated that contamination projections for the next 10,000 years mean the federal government needs to do more in alleviating and removing the spills and waste, instead of the less expensive alternative --- capping and leaving it in place. http://weblog.greenpeace.org/nuclear-reaction/2010/02/nuclear_news_despite_billions.html
Finally, the demolition contractor has decided to drop the ground level 327 building slab into the basement, which, for now, will block exposure to the highly radioactive site.
(Editor’s Note: A 1979 technical report recommended that biobarriers to animals be considered as a method to reduce the potential for radionuclide transport. “Small mammals (specifically, mice) appear to have the most potential for radionuclide exposure and uptake. To access the complete article click : http://www.osti.gov/bridge/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=5699771)
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CLARIFICATION: DOE States Hanford 8,900 Rad Per Hour Soil Discovery Did Not Impact Workers, Water, Air, But Radioactive Rabbit Killed, Mouse Hunt Underway
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
YAKIMA, Wash. (HNN) – A rabbit and a rodent appear to have acquired contamination possibly from a site at or near the 327 Building where hot cells have been previously pulled and contaminated soil found. A radioactive rabbit has been caught north of Richland and workers have set traps for a radioactive mouse. The search comes after radioactive rabbit and mouse droppings were found in a section of the site not open to the public.
The Washington State Dept. of Health is monitoring the occurrence, but Earl Fordham, the director of the Office of Radiation Protection , believes there is no public danger. In addition, Todd Nelson, Washington Closure Hanford spokesman, emphasized that no droppings were found in any area accessible to the public.
According to an Associated Press report, Hanford workers checked 18 rabbits which had been trapped or shot with pellet guns. The contaminated rabbit was killed and disposed of as radioactive waste, Oregonlive.com reported.
As of a November 18, 2010 report, suspicions rested on the animals drinking a common source of radioactive cesium or that a mouse wandered through the radioactive rabbit’s droppings.
Pertaining to an earlier story on HNN related to Hanford and the gaseous diffusion plants, the Department of Energy asked HNN to clarify a statement. The story told of the finding 8,900 rad per hour soil beneath the 324 Building. Although this is ten times the lethal limit on contact, spokesman Nelson emphasized that because the soil sits under a building the workers are shielded from the radiation and the radiation was not released into the air. Workers and air toxicity are two of the three biggest concerns, the final one is migration to groundwater, Nelson said.
Wells already monitor water for contamination in and around the 300 area of Hanford. As a result, Nelson said no evidence has been found that contamination reached the ground water including the Columbia River, which is about 1,000 feet from where the leak was found.
“The DOE and its contractor made it clear in responding to media inquiries and in a fact sheet that was posted on the web that there was no dosage to workers (fact sheet attached and posted on our website at http://www.hanford.gov/news.cfm/DOE/E1011025_2.pdf), that it did not impact groundwater, and that there were no airborne issues,” wrote Geoff Tyree, Communications & External Affairs for the U.S. Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office (Hanford Site).
Although the November radioactive leak apparently did not impact workers, the air, or surface water, the venue has a tainted history regarding spillage and contaminants reaching off-site locations.
For instance , an article from the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility , “Supercomputers Assist Cleanup of Decades Old Nuclear Waste,” indicates that the Hanford 300 site has four times the uranium contaminant limit for external exposure. Ingestion in high doses can cause bone or liver cancer or kidney damage. According to the study conducted by Peter C. Lichtner of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the uranium plume is roughly a 1.5 square mile area about 109 yards from the river. Lichtner’s initial simulation results predict 55 to 110 pounds of uranium leech flow into the Columbia River yearly from an estimated 55 to 83 tons of source uranium.
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation in a “A Trip to America’s Most Toxic Place” stated that private Hanford contractors have revealed at least one million gallons of radioactive sludge have leaked from at least 67 tanks. Another tank leaks “high levels of gamma radiation from a subsurface source of Cesium 137. Yet the DOE reports that the tank farm is “Controlled , clean and stable.”
Author Jeffrey St. Clair continues by revealing a DOE isn’t talking hypothesis --- the best way to avoid bad publicity and public hostility is to stop monitoring sites that seemed most likely to produce unpleasant information.
(Editor’s Note: The DOE has stopped monitoring formerly radioactive sites in and around Huntington, declaring them safe, yet, HNN has not seen findings of radiological monitoring other than a post-demolition report on the Reduction Pilot Plant.)
As for the mouse hunt, PETA has stepped in complaining about the type of traps DOE uses in their attempt to find Radioactive Mickey [Mouse].
“We hope you agree that animals don’t deserve to die painfully for situations that humans created,” wrote Tracy Reinman, executive vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Her letter was sent to Neil Brosee, president of Washington closure.
However, the radioactive critters provide evidence that the area contains long-lasting , serious environmental hazards.
Jim Riccio, an anti-nuclear activist at Greenpeace, told AOL News, “The radioactive bunny is a lead indicator that these sites are contaminated. I don’t know how you put the genie back in the bottle after you contaminated these sites so terribly,” the nuclear policy analyst said.
The last radioactive mouse droppings were found in mid-November. No fresh rabbit droppings have been found after the one’s in November.
Washington Closure has sprayed the site with scents to discourage rabbits and have labored to remove any items that might be considered “food” for rabbits or mice.
A Greenpeace weblog has stated that despite “billions spent on cleanup , Hanford won’t be clean for thousands of years [as] some radioactive contaminants will threaten the Columbia River for thousands of years. The analysis comes from a newly released analysis on how to curtail the leaking storage tanks and manage waste at Hanford.
Oregon officials stated that contamination projections for the next 10,000 years mean the federal government needs to do more in alleviating and removing the spills and waste, instead of the less expensive alternative --- capping and leaving it in place. http://weblog.greenpeace.org/nuclear-reaction/2010/02/nuclear_news_despite_billions.html
Finally, the demolition contractor has decided to drop the ground level 327 building slab into the basement, which, for now, will block exposure to the highly radioactive site.
(Editor’s Note: A 1979 technical report recommended that biobarriers to animals be considered as a method to reduce the potential for radionuclide transport. “Small mammals (specifically, mice) appear to have the most potential for radionuclide exposure and uptake. To access the complete article click : http://www.osti.gov/bridge/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=5699771)
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