Will the Unit 1 reactor at Fukushima become a future tourist spot? japantoday.com

Contaminated groundwater accumulating under the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant has risen two feet above the protective barrier and is now freely leaking into the Pacific Ocean. rt.com

Alaska fishermen and fish consumers shouldn’t be concerned about the new disclosures of radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean near the site of the hobbled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, according to an ocean chemist and a spokeswoman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. heraldnet.com

The Fukushima disaster is ongoing and unstoppable. rense.com

Ambient office = .112 microsieverts per hour

Ambient outside = .102 microsieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = .080 microsieverts per hour

Canned roasted peanuts from Costco =  .077 microsieverts per hour

Tap water = .147 microsieverts per hour

Filtered water = .139 microsieverts per hour

       I have blogged before about the U.S. Department of Energy’s permanent defense related nuclear Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico. It is located about twenty six miles from Carlsbad, New Mexico in an area that contains several other nuclear facilities. It is the only permanent deep geological nuclear waste repository in the United States since the cancellation of the Yucca Mountain Repository project in Nevada a few years ago. The WIPP is the third deep geological nuclear repository in the world and the only one currently operating after Germany closed two deep repositories because of unforeseen problems.

         The USDOE started studying the New Mexico site in 1973. The area is an ancient salt deposit left from a dried-up sea. The salt formation is capable of some motion and deformation but scientists think that such plasticity might help seal off cracks and crevices created during the construction of the WIPP. Test wells were drilled and the specific location for the WIPP in the salt deposit was moved a number of times as a result of the tests. In 1978, the New Mexico Environmental Evaluation Group (EEG) was created to oversee the WIPP and the group double checked the DOE work to ally public fears over the construction of such a facility.

          In 1979, Congress authorized the construction of the WIPP.  At that time, the type of waste that would be stored at the WIPP was redefined from “high temperature” to low level waste known as “transuranic.” This includes tools, clothing and machinery that is contaminated with man-made elements during the processing of uranium and plutonium. Such waste is not as dangerous as nuclear reactor byproducts but it still remains radioactive for around twenty four thousand years. Changing the type of waste that could be stored at the WIPP allowed a loosing of the rules and a speed up of work. Even so, the regulations were far more stringent than had originally been proposed. There was a delay in the initial tests of waste storage cause by public concern, but testing did begin in 1991. The facility could not be opened for waste storage until Congress gave its approval in 1993. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was given final authority over the WIPP. In 1994, Sandia National Laboratory was charged by Congress with running a final series of tests and evaluations of the site in accord with the EPA regulations. In 1998, the WIPP was declared ready to receive waste. The first shipment of waste arrived in 1999.

          Tons of waste in steel containers have been moved from various nuclear defense laboratories and production facilities to the WIPP since 1999. The fifty six storerooms are about two hundred feet long and the whole facility is about two thousand feed underground. Over three million cubic feet of transuranic wastes are currently stored at the WIPP. The sixth set of rooms is rapidly filling up and new set of seven rooms has been completed and will start receiving waste this summer.

           There has been an attempt to ship transuranic waste from buried tanks at Hanford to the WIPP. There is a prohibition in place at the WIPP against receiving the contents of the buried tanks at Hanford. The fear is that the contents of the tanks are not well known and that if there is any liquid in the shipments from Hanford, the ability of the WIPP to safely and permanently contain its transuranic waste will be compromised. Hanford authorities have tried to reassure the WIPP that there will be no liquids in the waste they want to ship but the WIPP has still declined to accept Hanford waste.

Casks containing waste arrive at WIPP:

China, Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand, and others are going to want to know just how out of control this newly revealed radiation emergency is at Fukushima.  youtube.com

While Michigan residents enjoy the benefits of the surrounding Great Lakes, Ontario waterfront residents ponder the idea of becoming the final resting spot for Canada’s nuclear waste, and it has local legislators and environmentalists concerned.  nuclear-news.net

Zimbabwe mining ministry says that no deal has been signed on supplying uranium for Iran’s nuclear program. Foxnews.com

Cuts to conventional armed forces risk making the UK’s nuclear deterrent ineffective, a former deputy head of the military has warned. scotsman.com

Ambient office = .079 microsieverts per hour

Ambient outside = .109 microsieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = .102 microsieverts per hour

Banana from local grocery store =  .121 microsieverts per hour

Tap water = .145 microsieverts per hour

Filtered water = .113 microsieverts per hour

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will investigate the finances of three nuclear reactors owned by Entergy Nuclear. rutlandherald.com

The United Kingdom’s nuclear weapons are being dismantled under its disarmament obligations. matthewaid.tumblr.com

How Cold War nuclear testing once made orbit unsafe for Apollo. arstechnica.com

A debate over the rising cost of building a first-of-its-kind nuclear plant in Georgia will be pushed far into the future. thenewstribune.com

Ambient office = .081 microsieverts per hour

Ambient outside = .070 microsieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = .063 microsieverts per hour

Iceberg lettuce from Costco =  .138 microsieverts per hour

Tap water = .104 microsieverts per hour

Filtered water = .088 microsieverts per hour

National Project Management Corp. brings proposal for new nuclear design to international UN representatives in Vienna. nuclearstreet.com

NuScale, the Corvallis, Oregon company that’s trying to develop smaller, modular nuclear reactors, got caught in a national crossfire last week.  nuclear-news.net

The US NRC has increased its oversight at Point Beach nuclear plant in Wisconsin. platts.com

The future of the Indian Point nuclear power plant may rest on the bottom of the Hudson River.  lohud.com

Ambient office = .116 microsieverts per hour

Ambient outside = .087 microsieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = .98 microsieverts per hour

Romaine lettuce from Costco =  .139 microsieverts per hour

Tap water = .072 microsieverts per hour

Filtered water = .066 microsieverts per hour

             Part 2 of 3

            In part 1, I wrote about the history of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL) and the horrible environmental abuses that occurred with respect to radioactive materials. During the early days of the Laboratory operation, environmental standards had not yet been establish for radioactive materials and record keeping was minimal or non-existent. We do know that radioactive contamination was often released into the soil, water and atmosphere from the burning of wastes, as well as fires, accidents and melt-downs at experimental reactors. The year before the Laboratory was completely shut down in 2006, wildfires swept through the area, damaging buildings and releasing more radiation from plants and soil into the atmosphere.

            Boeing, which owns the Santa Susana Field Laboratory and land around it are busy demolishing buildings in preparation for converting the land into a park. The California Department of Toxic Substances (DTSC) is being accused by a number of non-profit watchdog groups of allowing Boeing to illegally tear down the buildings and cart the radioactive waste off to seven dumps in Southern California. A great deal of money has been spent trying to convince the public that the site is clean enough to be a public park and that there is no danger of serious radiation exposure for people using the park. At the end of 2012, the DTSC and Federal EPA worked to reduce public confidence in a major radiation study of the SSFL land.

           Consumer Watchdog, one of the non-profits fighting the state and Federal governments over SSFL released a report titled Golden Wasteland in February of 2013. The report provides evidence that the DTSC and its director have been victims of regulatory capture and are siding with the companies that they are suppose to regulating. They are not doing their job of monitoring and regulating serious pollution in California. They claim that DTSC is allow Boeing to dismantle the buildings on the SSFL site without providing the oversight, public input and environmental impact statements required by law. The watchdog groups are calling for a halt to the demolition of buildings where plutonium fuel was processed and where experimental reactors suffered accidents and meltdowns. These buildings were proven to contain highly radioactive contamination during an inspection in March of 2013. The debris of six contaminated buildings that have been demolished have been shipped to landfills that are not licensed to receive radioactive waste. In addition, these landfills are mined for metals that are sent to recycling plants. Some of the metals may wind up in consumer products and threaten public health. The greatest fear is that highly toxic plutonium-239 from SSFL will endanger the public.

           The DTSC and Boeing have been discussing issues of disposal and regulation but there has been little to no opportunity for public input. The same callous behavior that has been exhibited by the Navy at Seattle’s Magnuson Park and the U.S. Department of Energy at Hanford in Washington State is being shown by the DTSC. Environmental contamination and threats to public health are not being taken seriously. Illegal behavior that is convenient for Boeing is being tolerated by the State of California. These three cases are perfect illustrations of why we cannot trust Federal and state agencies to protect us from the dangers that attend the use of nuclear energy to provide electricity for our cities and industries.

Santa Susana Field Laboratory Area IV which contained nuclear reactors and laboratories: