Archive for the ‘Nukes’ Category

Apr 3, 2014

BY JOSEPH L. KOLB
Reuters

(ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico) – Inspectors ventured into an underground nuclear waste disposal vault in New Mexico on Wednesday to begin an on-site investigation of a radiation leak nearly seven weeks ago that exposed 21 workers and forced a shutdown of the facility.

The mission by experts from the company that manages the site marked the first time since the mishap that workers have been sent deep into the salt caverns of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, where drums of plutonium-tainted refuse from nuclear weapons factories and laboratories are buried.

The unexplained leak of radiation, a small amount of which escaped to the surface, ranked as the worst accident and one of the few blemishes on the plant’s safety record since it opened in 1999.

Located about 25 miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico, in the Chihuahuan Desert, the facility is the nation’s only permanent repository for the U.S. government’s stockpile of nuclear waste, much of it left over from the Cold War era.

The waste, including discarded machinery, clothing and other materials contaminated with plutonium or other radioisotopes heavier than uranium, are sealed in chambers carved into salt formations more than 2,100 feet beneath the desert surface.

The plant has been closed to further deliveries of waste since February 14, when an air-monitoring system detected an unexplained release of radiation underground.

Although an alarm automatically switched the ventilation system to filtration to keep radiation from spreading, trace amounts of manmade isotopes such as americium-241, a byproduct of nuclear weapons manufacturing, were measured at the surface.

Testing of workers at the site, all of whom were above ground at the time, showed that 21 were contaminated, though managers of the plant said the level of exposure was too low to pose any health risks.

SOURCE OF LEAK UNDETERMINED

The U.S. Department of Energy and the contractor that runs the repository, Nuclear Waste Partnership LLC, have said there was no threat to the public or environment.

The source of the radiation leak has not been determined, but a DOE spokesman at the agency’s Carlsbad office, Ben Williams, said one theory is there might have been a structural collapse at one of the storage compartments, or panels.

Experts suspect the release was most likely to have originated in one compartment, Panel 7, where material had recently been added, Williams said.

The mishap came two weeks after a truck caught fire at the plant in an accident in which several workers suffered smoke inhalation. Plant officials have said the two incidents were not related.

Additional radiation sensors lowered into access shafts of the cavern since early March indicated no further radiation leaks in the surrounding air, paving the way for the re-entry by inspectors on Wednesday afternoon.

An eight-member inspection team consisting of radiological and mine-safety experts descended by elevator to the underground interior of the plant to establish a base of operations and measure radiation levels, DOE spokeswoman Carrie Meyer said.

They found there was no airborne contamination, the DOE said in a news release. A second team went underground 30 minutes later, the agency said.

Inspectors were dressed in protective gear and special lapel monitors to measure personal exposure for their limited time spent in the storage facility.

“Today’s efforts were a critical first step toward future entries that will expand the clean base of operations and allow workers to travel further into the mine to identify the suspected source of the radiological release,” Williams said.

In the meantime, nuclear waste that had been due for shipment to the repository from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, about 300 miles across the state, is being shipped instead to a privately run facility in Texas for temporary storage there, Williams said.

(Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Alex Dobuzinskis and Jeremy Laurence)

March 22, 2014

By Associated Press

CARLSBAD, N.M. — Employees at the federal government’s troubled nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico are preparing to enter the facility’s underground mine for the first time since a radiation leak contaminated workers last month.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced Saturday that 35 workers have undergone training simulations at a Potash mine before re-entry next week into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP).

Employees went through a two-hour underground session using protective gear and air-breathing units, officials said.

Workers spent this week training for various scenarios that could occur in the mine.

According to the Department of Energy, the plan is for workers to set up an operating camp near a salt-handling shaft and then check for a secondary exit in the shaft that controls air flow. After that, they will focus on finding the source of the radiation release.

The repository near Carlsbad stopped taking all waste shipments after an underground truck fire on Feb. 5. Nine days later, a radiation release shuttered the plant. A series of shortcomings in maintenance, safety training, emergency response and oversight were cited by a team that investigated the truck fire.

The New Mexico Environment Department withdrew a preliminary permit this week for the dump’s request to expand its facility, citing the fire and the leak.

It is unclear, however, if the two incidents are related.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is the nation’s only permanent underground repository for low-level radioactive waste, including things like plutonium-contaminated gloves, tools and protective clothing, from nuclear weapons facilities.

With the nuclear waste dump shuttered, operators for the plan made an agreement with Waste Control Specialists to ship radioactive waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to rural west Texas.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

March 20, 2014

By Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — With the government’s only permanent nuclear waste dump shuttered indefinitely by back-to-back accidents, officials are making plans to ship radioactive waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to rural West Texas.

The Department of Energy and the operator of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico say they have signed an agreement with Waste Control Specialists to truck the waste to its site in Andrews County.

The agreement will help Los Alamos meet a June deadline for getting the last of thousands of barrels of plutonium-contaminated clothing, tools, rags and other debris off its northern New Mexico campus before wildfire season hits its peak.

The waste, which is shipped and stored in huge sealed canisters, would come back to New Mexico for final disposal once the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant reopens.

"We are pleased that WCS is in a position to provide temporary storage for this waste while the WIPP is shutdown," said Waste Control Specialists President Rod Baltzer. "This will allow the Los Alamos National Laboratory to meet its goal of having this material removed by this summer so it can no longer be threatened by wildfires. WCS has never had a wildfire because all surrounding areas are covered with asphalt and caliche roadways. In addition, the waste will be in storage facilities that have sprinkler system, and in the event of an emergency, WCS has its own fire truck on site."

But not everyone applauded the plan. Watchdog Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group says that shipping the waste twice increases the chance of an accident because it has to be loaded and unloaded twice. And he notes that "there is essentially no danger of wildfire, the surrounding vegetation having been burned."

The West Texas site has in the past taken some less toxic waste from Los Alamos, but the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant is the nation’s only permanent repository for low-level radioactive waste from nuclear weapons facilities.

Waste Control Specialists is licensed to take radioactive materials such as uranium, plutonium and thorium from commercial power plants, academic institutions and medical schools, as well as some DOE waste. It is also the burial ground for dirt from a Hudson River Superfund site that’s tainted with PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls.

Chuck McDonald, a spokesman for the plant, said federal officials are working with regulators at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to make sure that storing the Los Alamos waste is allowable under its permits.

The state of New Mexico pressured Los Alamos to get the waste off its campus in the northern New Mexico mountains following a massive 2011 wildfire that lapped at the edges of lab property. The waste from decades of bomb building has been stored outside on a mesa. Following the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant shutdown, the state and Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., emphasized that the deadline was non-negotiable.

"Removing waste from the mesa in Los Alamos before fire season is critical to ensure safety in the greater Los Alamos community," Udall said in a statement Thursday. "I’m pleased we have a temporary solution that will ensure there will not be any significant disruption in cleanup efforts."

Los Alamos spokesman Matt Nerzig said the lab’s target date to resume shipments is April 1. He said Los Alamos anticipates about 140 more shipments to clear the remaining 20 percent of the waste over the next three months.

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant stopped taking all waste shipments following a Feb. 5 underground truck fire. Nine days later, a radiation release contaminated 17 workers and sent particles of plutonium and americium in the air around the plant.

The plant has been closed ever since, and officials are working on plans to get underground to figure out what caused the leak and the extent of contamination.

A team that investigated the truck fire last week issued a report that cited a series of shortcomings in safety training, emergency response and oversight. It is unclear, however, if the fire and leak are related.

And because no one has yet been inside the half-mile deep mine since the leak, there are no estimates on how long the plant might be shuttered for cleanup.

Richard Dolgener, the county judge for Andrews County, said the DOE has had the West Texas plant "on the drawing board" as a contingency to the nuclear waste dump for about 10 years.

"I guess they’re going to execute it," he said

Cyrus Reed, spokesman for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, questioned whether temporary means one year or 100 years.

Waste Control Specialists, he said, is "becoming a catch-all site for anyone’s problem."

___

Betsy Blaney contributed reporting from Lubbock, Texas.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

March 20, 2014

By Bob Brewin
NextGov

The Energy Department has decided to use a commercial nuclear waste dump while it struggles to reopen its underground storage site after two radiation leaks and a fire since February.

Energy and Nuclear Waste Partners, its contractor for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant located 26 miles southeast of Carlsbad, N.M., said they plan to ship nuclear waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to a commercial site in Andrews, Texas, operated by Waste Control Specialists. Andrews is 100 miles east of Carlsbad.

WIPP, by law, can only store waste generated by the country’s nuclear weapons programs. Waste Control Specialists stores commercial nuclear waste from nuclear power plants and hospitals.

Los Alamos has stored transuranic waste, debris, soil, tools and clothing contaminated primarily with plutonium above ground for years. In 2011, the largest forest fire in the history of New Mexico came within 3.5 miles of this waste, stored in 55 gallon drums and larger containers for machinery.

The lab and the state of New Mexico agreed in January 2012 to ship 3,706 cubic meters of above-ground waste from the lab to WIPP by June 30 of this year. WIPP was closed for routine maintenance last month and was supposed to reopen this month to receive waste shipments from Los Alamos.

Lab spokesman Matt Nerzig said 80 percent of the 3,706 cubic meters of waste has already been sent to WIPP and the other 20 percent will now be shipped to Waste Control Specialists, starting April 1.

Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said in a statement that “Removing waste from the mesa in Los Alamos before fire season is critical to ensure safety in the greater Los Alamos community. The state’s June 2014 deadline was firm and nonnegotiable, as I made clear in repeated conversations with Energy Secretary [Ernest] Moniz since the Feb. 14 accident at WIPP."

Udall added, "I’m pleased we have a temporary solution that will ensure there will not be any significant disruption in cleanup efforts" at WIPP.

Energy and Nuclear Waste Partners said the waste from Los Alamos sent to Waste Control Specialists will be moved to WIPP for final disposal once that site reopens, but gave no date. Shipments to Waste Control Specialists "are contingent upon the completion of an appropriate National Environmental Policy Act analysis," they said.

Udall said he also plans to press Energy to provide him with its transportation plans for the Los Alamos waste to Texas. This, he said, should include, "the impact on roads, traffic and security through southeast New Mexico. DoE needs to ensure the resources are in place for safe transportation and security.”

WIPP stores waste in 16 miles of salt caverns mined 2,150 feet below the surface. Chuck McDonald, a spokesman for Waste Control Specialists, said the Los Alamos waste will be stored above ground at its 1,338-acre facility.

Rod Baltzer, president of Waste Control Specialists, emphasized the security of the company’s facilities. “This will allow the Los Alamos National Laboratory to meet its goal of having this material removed by this summer so it can no longer be threatened by wildfires,” he said. “WCS has never had a wildfire because all surrounding areas are covered with asphalt and caliche roadways. In addition, the waste will be in storage facilities that have sprinkler system, and in the event of an emergency, WCS has its own fire truck on site."