Recently, I blogged about the accidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico which included an accidental release of radiation into the environment. Something happened in the underground repository for plutonium and americium contaminated nuclear waste materials generated by the U.S. nuclear weapons program. The cause and nature of the accident that released the radioactive materials was unknown at the time of my last blog around February 28, 2013. Thirteen workers were known to have been exposed to radiation but the location where the accident occurred was too radioactive to be investigated. There have been a number of news items published since then and I decided that it was time to put together another blog with update about the WIPP situation.
The two scenarios that are being considered were anticipated during the construction of WIPP. The first scenario concerns the possibility that a drum of waste spontaneously combusted and ruptured, spilling the contents. The Department of Energy (DOE) said that there was a one in ten thousand chance that this would happen in any particular year of operation.
The second scenario dealt with the possibility that a portion of the roof could collapse and crush a number of drums of waste, releasing their contents. Two roof collapses occurred in the salt caverns during the stress tests twenty years ago. The DOE gave this occurrence a one in a million chance of happening in any particular year of operation. Considering that the facility has only been in use for about twenty years, the DOE is either wrong in its projections or the WIPP has had really bad luck.
There was a public meeting on March 6 where the DOE tried to reassure residents of the area that there was no danger to the public although americium was detected up to eleven miles from the facility. Residents have complained that they were not given enough information about the accident to be confident in what the DOE was saying. If ingested or inhaled, americium tends to accumulate in the bones, liver and muscle. The exposure of tissue to the radiation emitted by americium can result in the development of cancer.
A few days ago, doctors confirmed that a total of seventeen workers at WIPP had been exposed to radiation from the accident. It has also been confirmed that radiation has reached the town of Carlsbad which is twenty six miles from the facility. Once again, authorities are saying that the amount of radiation that reached Carlsbad does not pose a public health threat.
The operators at WIPP are waiting for the radiation to subside so they can enter the damaged area and find out what actually happened. Once again, a nuclear facility has been the victim of an accident that was supposed to be almost impossible. And, once again, although radiation has been released into the environment, the authorities are saying that there is no danger to the people who live in the area. I am afraid that I lack confidence in the projections and pronouncements of the Department of Energy when it comes to nuclear accidents. However, there is one projection about WIPP that I do believe. The operators at WIPP have said that the facility will be out of operation for a protracted period of time.
Drums of waste in the WIPP:
