Wednesday, April 2, 2014

US nuclear news April 2 , 2014 updates ( check newsflow for the past week ) - - focus on WIPP and Fukushima contamination hitting US and Canada.....

Energy News.....



Award-winning project finds seafood sold in Canada with high radiation levels — Many samples well over contamination limit — “Incredible discovery; Something unexpected may be lurking in Canadian waters” — Believes dangerous Fukushima pollution carried across ocean — “I hope people will open their eyes”





Experts: Concern gases caused underground explosion at WIPP; Extent of contamination “could topple long-held assumptions” — AP: Plan to enter mine postponed — ‘Very excited’ about new monitors for detecting further releases (VIDEO)

Radio: “Surprisingly, high concentrations [of Fukushima cesium] found in Vancouver area” since ocean currents slow down — Levels are increasing — “Might be hotspots where radiation concentrates” — “Chances are high for marine life to absorb it… concern about mussels… clams, oysters” (AUDIO)

TV: Gov’t not measuring worst of Fukushima radiation — Over 100 Million gallons of radioactive water bleeding into ocean from plant — We’re beginning to see radiation in west coast water — Very concerned about eating fish from Pacific (VIDEO)

Reuters: “Unsafe levels of radiation” were released during WIPP accident; More workers contaminated with plutonium — AP: Leak of radioactive material could’ve been “orders of magnitude larger”; Feds now testing air & soil 50 miles from site (AUDIO)


TV: US Senators want federal agents near WIPP to check if safe; “A lot more people could have been hurt a lot worse” — Public “skeptical whole truth about environmental risks shared” — Report: “It will shut WIPP down for a year or more, and now everyone is talking about maybe WIPP is no good” (VIDEO)

TV: More workers rushed to hospital at U.S. nuclear site — 17 sickened in past week — Former Employee: “It’s pretty scary… to have this many in 8 days is really abnormal” — Company: We’re trying to understand what’s happening (VIDEO)

Mexicans concerned, anxious about WIPP radiation release — City of 2.5 million nearly 200 miles away “within transnational evacuation zone in event of a nuclear disaster” — Local officials meeting with U.S. gov’t — Whistleblower: If plutonium released “surrounding population should take precautions”

TV: 11 workers at U.S. nuclear site transported to medical facilities — Suffering nose bleeds, chest pains, coughing up blood — Multiple locations evacuated — Persistent symptoms “extremely unusual” — Workers: “The place is falling apart… serious problems out there” (VIDEO)





http://www.abqjournal.com/377716/news/wipp-permits-getting-closer-look-after-fire-leak.html



WIPP permits get a closer look after 2 incidents





Seven weeks on and still no one knows what happened at New Mexico’s nuclear waste repository that caused radiation to escape the deep underground.
But two back-to-back incidents in February – a truck fire and the radiation leak – have left many aspects of the permits that govern how the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant operates open to question. The ongoing investigation into the source of the radiation release and the extent of contamination underground could topple long-held assumptions, experts say.
One of those relates to how containers destined for WIPP are tested.
When WIPP opened in 1999, nearly every single container headed for the repository was checked for “headspace gas,” the flammable or corrosive chemicals that can build up in the space between the drum contents and lid and threaten a rupture or explosion.
State regulators relaxed those rules over time, most notably in 2006 and again in 2013, citing redundancies in the system – although change did not always come without a fight.
“If there was an exploding drum, it’s a very relevant discussion,” said Don Hancock, head of the Nuclear Waste Safety Program at the nonprofit Southwest Research and Information Center. “Headspace gas sampling was one of the ways to try to detect whether that was a problem or not.”
In the late 1990s, as WIPP geared up for opening day, the plant evaluated a number of potential accidents in a report. Most of the scenarios centered on human error underground. But with no one present underground during the Valentine’s Day leak shortly before midnight, only two other risks outlined in WIPP’s lengthy Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement remain: a roof collapse or an exploding drum. Both risks are considered possible causes of the recent leak.
Citing redundancies and cost, then-Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., spearheaded in 2003 an effort at the congressional level to reduce container testing. The New Mexico Environment Department initially resisted. But in 2006, the agency agreed to a permit modification that allowed waste generator sites to test a representative sample of containers from each waste stream headed for WIPP. A “waste stream” refers to waste that shares similar characteristics.
In 2013, the Environment Department approved a permit modification that eliminated all headspace gas testing, so long as the documentation accompanying the waste was in order. That documentation is known as “acceptable knowledge” and typically includes extensive paperwork tracking the waste stream’s history and chemical makeup, even interviews with people who handled the materials in the past.
“Basically they were testing for prohibited items, prohibitive chemicals, that there was nothing ignitable or corrosive,” said Trais Kliphuis, WIPP program manager in the department’s Hazardous Waste Bureau.
“What they realized is that the testing had never, ever shown anything that was prohibited. What this sampling was showing was that it always matched. Acceptable knowledge really was adequate and really showed what was in the containers.”
That process failed publicly at least once, in 2007, when a drum containing liquids not permitted at WIPP was inadvertently shipped there.
To backstop against such issues, a WIPP team, along with a state Environment Department expert, audit each generator site’s “acceptable knowledge” processes on an annual basis.
WIPP recently requested lessening the frequency of those audits but Kliphuis said the Environment Department pushed back and WIPP relented. Regardless, all permit processes related to WIPP are now on hold, due to the incidents, she said.
Hancock calls the headspace gas testing issue a “sore point.”
In the two incidents, “the fundamental failure is with Nuclear Waste Partnership,” the WIPP contractor, he said. “They should be accountable. But secondarily, we should look at how did the regulators do? As we get more information, we may want to say to EPA or NMED, ‘You need to make some changes.’ ”
Nuclear Waste Partnership spokesman Donavan Mager notes that even though headspace gas sampling is no longer required, before containers can be shipped they are tested to ensure they don’t vent flammable gases during transport to WIPP.
Hancock notes that the testing to meet transportation regulations uses different methods and primarily looks for hydrogen gas buildup – not the array or amount of chemicals that could be trapped in container headspace.
Jon Goldstein, a former deputy state environment secretary, said he believes that “strong state oversight and – when needed – enforcement has long been a key to WIPP’s success.”
“Going forward,” he said, “the ability for state regulators to maintain that promises made by DOE and WIPP’s managers will be promises kept, will be no less important.”




http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_25462421/tests-4-more-workers-contaminated-at-wipp




Tests: 4 more workers contaminated at WIPP

By The Associated Press
POSTED:   03/31/2014 07:34:14 PM MDT


CARLSBAD >> The Department of Energy says tests show four more workers were contaminated with low levels of radiation during a leak at federal government's underground nuclear waste dump.
Officials also said Monday that they're planning to get a crew underground Tuesday for the first time since the Valentine's Day accident at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southeastern New Mexico.
The DOE says a total of 21 workers received low doses of radiation, all well below levels deemed unsafe.
On Tuesday, the DOE said it plans to send a team of team of eight experts into the half-mile deep mine to begin setting up bases from which they can start investigating what caused the leak.
The dump is the nation's only permanent underground repository for low-level radioactive waste from nuclear weapons facilities.

http://www.currentargus.com/carlsbad-news/ci_25467867/re-entry-wipp-underground-postponed


Re-entry to WIPP underground postponed

The Associated Press
POSTED:   04/01/2014 12:33:25 PM MDT

CARLSBAD - The U.S. Department of Energy has postponed plans to get a crew underground to begin investigating a radiation leak from the federal government's nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico.

Officials on Monday said a crew of eight would enter the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant on Tuesday. But spokesman Ben Williams that has been postponed until later this week because the real-time radiation monitors they want the team to be wearing haven't arrived.

No one has been underground at the half-mile deep repository since the Feb. 14 radiation release, which contaminated 21 workers and sent low-levels of radiation into the air around the plant.

It's unknown what is leaking or how extensive the contamination might be below ground at the $2 billion plant, which is the nation's only permanent underground repository for low-level radioactive waste from nuclear weapons facilities.











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