Radiation event in NM possibly effect OK.

[farmerbyron]

IDK enough about this stuff to say one way or the other but I have a hard time believing radioactive material stored 2,000+ ft below ground would be able to not only escape to the surface but then travel many hundreds of miles afterwards in any concentrations that would be harmful.


http://www.reddirtreport.com/red-dirt-news/serious-radiation-incident-nm-waste-facility-has-public-concerned

Serious "radiation incident" at NM waste facility has public concerned

OKLAHOMA CITY – While being played down and barely even reported in the national media, a fairly serious radiological event occurred at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a federally-operated nuclear waste repository 26 miles northwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico on Feb. 14, 2014.

The Carlsbad Current-Argus reported on Feb. 19, 2014 that a “radiation event” took place sometime between Feb. 11 and Feb. 16, 2014. Released from the salt mines 2,150 feet below ground, where the nuclear waste is stored were trace amounts of americium and plutonium.

John Heaton, chairman of the Carlsbad Nuclear Task Force reportedly said: “At this time there is no concern. We definitely know that the amounts are miniscule. I think the risks are extremely low and I certainly have no worries about it personally.”

Heaton said he does not want the public to jump to any “rash conclusions” about the “radiation event.” He said investigators will have to go underground and look to see what happened within the next month or so.

Another person interviewed for the Current-Argus report was Russell Hardy, director of the Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center. He assured the public that americium and plutonium are “heavy” and won’t travel far from the original source.

CEMRC and the Department of Energy have been working hard to downplay the seriousness of this event and information on where the wind may have blown the plutonium and americium is scarce. CEMRC, interestingly enough, is offering folks living within 100 miles of the WIPP facility to get free tests if they think they have been somehow exposed.

Hardy, meanwhile, reiterated that his personnel at the New Mexico State University-affiliated CEMRC “have detected trace amounts of the radioactive isotopes americium and plutonium on an air filter from an ambient air sampling station located approximately six-tenths of a mile northwest” of the WIPP facility.

What caused this event still remains unclear. The investigative research blog POTRblog.com, reported this past Thursday that their research concluded that “All indications are that this was a radiation induced explosion of hydrogen, methane and/or VOC produced from radioactive wastes which are too radioactive to handle, which also happen to be coated with hazardous waste.”

There is also reportedly a "Russian connection" to WIPP, according to this report - a report we have been unable to independently verify.

Curiously, a little over a week before the Feb. 14 “radiation event,” a salt truck operating underground at the WIPP’s north mine, caught on fire, resulting in the evacuation of all WIPP personnel. While the DOE was investigating the cause of the truck fire, “the radiation leak occurred,” reports the Current-Argus. It is thought that there may have been a plutonium release connected with that incident as well, although it is not confirmed.

WIPP is the nation’s only disposal facility for transuranic waste, commonly referred to as “TRU” waste, which is radioactive material generated from the nation’s nuclear weapons program during the Cold War era,” reports the Current-Argus.

The Current-Argus reporter following the story, Zack Ponce, reported that tomorrow – Monday, Feb. 24, a town hall, looking to answer questions from the public, will be held at the Pecos River Village Center Carousel House in Carlsbad.

“This forum will allow the members of the public the direct opportunity to ask WIPP officials their questions,” said Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway in a Current-Argus report.

And there is a lot officials still don’t know about this “radiation event.” The Albuquerque-based Southwest Research & Information Center – SRIC – notes that there are many things still unknown about this serious event, including:

1.What caused the released.

2. What was the nature of the release that allowed some contaminants to travel more than a mile-and-a-half.

3. What radionuclides in what amounts and what toxic chemicals in what amounts have been released.

4. Where all the contaminants that were not captured (by the filters) are, whether inside the WIPP boundary or outside the site area.

And those are just a few of the questions SRIC is currently asking.

Meanwhile, “downwinders” in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma should be on alert, according to the Feb. 22, 2014 report from OptimalPrediction.com in their article “Plutonium release from the WIPP radioactive waste facility.”

Wind-trajectory maps from the Valentine’s Day nuke release shows cities in the path of the plutonium to include Roswell, New Mexico, the Texas cities of Lubbock, San Angelo and Wichita Falls, and Elk City, Oklahoma.

The report adds: “At any rate, people who live in areas of southeastern New Mexico, northwest Texas and western Oklahoma should all be concerned.”

Here is a link to the dispersion map provided at OptimalPrediction.com.

And recall that this past December, Red Dirt Report reported on a “fire” that took place at Unit 2 of the Arkansas Nuclear One plant in Russellville. As with the WIPP facility accident, the Arkansas Nuclear One accident was hardly reported.

And while we are on the subject of nuclear disasters, on Feb. 28, 2014, at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, there will be an event called “Nuclear Remembrance Day” held on the 60th anniversary of the catastrophic Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb test that was conducted on Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954 in the Marshall Islands. The fallout of that nuclear test created a horrific humanitarian nightmare over generations, including high rates of thyroid cancer, leukemia and other radiation-induced diseases.

Of course the media does not like revisiting that event or covering anything related to nuclear weapons or radioactive “incidents.” Look at the clampdown on real information regarding Fukushima and the contamination of wide swaths of the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere. Big Nuke has a powerful grip on the media.

As POTRblog.com notes: "New Mexico is America's newest "Bikini Atoll" of nuclear research; cause you can't just let a good nuclear disaster go to waste. Just tell the natives its all safe; then offer them free "Health" research and track them over the years.

 

[JB Books]

I'm already resigned to cancer.

 

[Revived]

I knew there had to be a reason for the increase in mutants and zombies at walmart today...

 

[Spata]

Probably not any worse than fukushima

 

[SoonerP226]

I'm already resigned to breathless exhortations on the local "news" channels. Details at ten.

I'm almost tempted to watch channel 4 to see if Linda Cavanaugh will actually spontaneously combust over this. (Is she still emoting the news for them? Between that and the danger of seeing Mike Morgan, I haven't voluntarily watched their news broadcasts in almost 20 years...)

 

[okietool]

I stay in Carlsbad. Nobody is glowing ( that I noticed ).

I drive by the WIPP facility a couple of times a week.

They have isolation barriers they can lower across the road that runs by the facility, as I know they were never lowered.

I wonder why all my hair is falling out? ��

 

[SMS]

I think the effects, if any would be minimal...it seems in many cases the spread of contamination is actually not as far reaching as some would have us believe. This map is pretty telling...shows the contamination zones around nuke plants, should there be a meltdown. Put your zip code in and zoom out...

http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/fallout/

 

[okietool]

Actually between Eunice NM and Andrews Tx there is a much more concerning facility. A uranium enrichment facility.

 

[dennishoddy]

I've spent some time around the Perry Nuke power plant in Cleveland Ohio. Its voluntary, but the residents within a 25 mile area are given free radiation kits if they ask for them, and any discharge, or accident no matter how minor, the residents are informed by email, or snail mail if they choose.
I'm not seeing the big issue with the incident. If they found some on a filter, good for them. That's what they are there for.

 

[Boehlertaught]

Probably not any worse than fukushima

Fuku what? You mean us? Well, on the bright side, maybe we will get more than ten years out of our night sights with a little radiation hanging around.