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Subscribe to RSSThe leaking of radioactive liquids at the Hanford, Wash., Nuclear Reservation is more extensive than previously reported. NBC's Lester Holt reports.
The leaking of radioactive liquids at the Hanford, Wash., Nuclear Reservation is more extensive than previously reported, with six storage tanks affected, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Friday.
In a conference call with reporters Friday after a meeting with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Inslee disclosed that six of the 177 tanks were leaking at the nuclear facility in Richland, in eastern Washington about 50 miles southeast of Yakima.
Inslee said Chu told him that evaluation system of the tank levels wasn't used correctly, raising the prospect that there may be even more leaks. But he said he was told that there was no immediate threat, a point the Energy Department reiterated in a statement Friday evening.
Hanford — which houses millions of gallons of radioactive waste left over from plutonium production for nuclear weapons — is already considered one of the most contaminated sites on Earth, the U.S. government says.
Last week, the U.S. Energy Department said that only one tank was leaking at Hanford.
"We need to get to the bottom of this," Inslee said. He called the disclosure "very disturbing news" and contended that the Energy Department needed a new plan to remove liquid from tanks that can't be repaired.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and an outspoken critic of containment efforts at Hanford, toured the site this week — before Friday's announcement — and judged conditions there "an unacceptable threat to the Pacific Northwest for everybody," NBC station KING of Seattle reported. The Associated Press quoted Tom Towslee, a Wyden spokesman, as saying the senator will be asking the Government Accountability Office to investigate Hanford's tank monitoring and maintenance program.
An estimated 1 million gallons of waste has seeped out of the underground tanks and reached groundwater that will eventually reach the Columbia River, scientists say. The U.S. plans to build a plant to turn the waste into low-level radioactive glass for safe storage, but that facility is years behind schedule for its projected opening in 2019.
In a statement Friday evening, Inslee warned that the federal budget impasse — which could lead to a "sequestration," or cuts, of $1.2 trillion in federal spending over 10 years — made the Hanford predicament even more alarming.
"Frankly, the state Department of Ecology is not convinced that current storage is adequate to meet legal and regulatory requirements," Inslee said.
"With potential sequestration and federal budget cuts looming, we need to be sure the federal government maintains its commitment and legal obligation to the cleanup of Hanford," he said. "To see Hanford workers furloughed at the exact moment we have additional leakers out there is completely unacceptable."
Mark Ralston / AFP - Getty Images file
The Hanford site in eastern Washington is considered one of the most contaminated locations on Earth.
Graham Robertson of NBC News contributed to this report. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.
Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com
This story was originally published on Fri Feb 22, 2013 6:26 PM EST
Leave a Comment:
Don't worry nuclear power is totally safe. Nothing to see here move along.
Did you read the article? This was waste from nuclear weapon production. It has nothing to do with power generation from a nuclear reactor.
This isn't about nuclear power generation. This is about storing plutonium left over from making nuclear weapons. Big difference. Modern reactors are far safer than coal or oil plants, both in environmental danger and human health.
Nuclear power generators produce very toxic waste! What difference does it make when STORAGE of the waste is what we are talking about?
In 1962 when I was in high school...we had a mandatory assembly in the gym to listen to a GOVERNMENT agent tell us how wonderful atomic energy was...how safe, how cost effective, etc....we would all soon be VOTERS and they were sowing the seeds.....
Energy production does not have to involve Nuclear Plants, or Coal Plants or Hydro Plants. Energy production does not even have to involve Wind Generators or Oil/Gas. Energy Production is produced with Zero Point Energy by the Black Projects deep underground to run all their energy needs and it is aquired through Free Energy Sources which involve strong magnetic currents crossing copper wiring to equal any amount of voltage that one could possibly require. This way the U.S. special research groups and special opps are self sustaining from any outside source. This is the real reason that the U.S. Govt, who is now ruled by the U.S. Military Industrial Complex, prevents the public from knowing how UFOs are powered, it would COMPLETELY wipe out the need for any oil or gas or nuclear plants or coal plants and since the rich elite use all this money to control the population then the elite needs to keep this secret a secret. But there are now organizations such as one called AOTBUSHT that is dedicated to forcing this forbidden technology into mainstream society and we do not care if the Military Industrial Complex, who has been identified as a Domestic Terrorist Group, likes that FACT or not. We are ready to fight any technology war to release Free Energy to the world and at the same time remove all capitalistic corruption from power in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
It is almost as if the Military Industrial Complex wants there to be as many Nuclear Plants all over the world as possible so that when the time is right and earth quakes occur "naturally" and compromise those facilities that there will be TOTAL surface distruction as seen in the Fukashima Nuclear Plant in Japan which incidently has contaminated all the air over the entire earth to the point where EVERY human being WILL form cancer. Now try and imagine what it will be like if/when ALL the world's nuclear sites are compromised....... now you know why the Military Industrial Complex [MICY] has spent 40% of the U.S. GNP on building Deep Underground Bases over the last 25 years! The U.S. Govt and their puppeteers in MICY can all kiss our *&^%, we have decided to by-pass these sloths and introduce this forbidden technology of Free Energy to the world for FREE and stand ready to resist the bastards when they desperately try to shut us down, all 20 million of us world wide. Long Live The Rebellion! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Toxic waste is leaking into the ground right next to the Columbia River which empties into the Pacific Ocean. No big deal. Enjoy that Columbia salmon dinner.
People who fear nuclear waste are not very educated on the topic, totally driven by emotion. Modern solid nuclear waste, which is what spent fuel rods are, technology embeds powder waste in special glass logs which are in turn buried miles underground. No leaks, no problem. If an earthquake breaks a log, only the ends of the log are exposed. Again, no leak, no problem. The radioactive stuff is miles underground where they occur naturally. In my personal experience, I fear more the effects of chemicals like copper liquor used in fertilizer production that were pumped undergroung with no containment and not very deep in the ground.
Buffy-851618
It makes a LOT of difference. You may have 1000 pounds of plutonium in spent fuel rods at a power plant but more than 100,000 pounds of plutonium and 1000 tons of radioactive chemicals used in the PUREX process used to extract plutonium. A weapons plant makes plutonium and extracts it on purpose 1000 times more than a power plant.
All spent nuclear fuel ever produced would fit in a high school gymnasium. This discounts the low level waste that has a radiation field equal to the earth's background radiation. All this anti-nuclear fear-mongering is due to oil interest propaganda.
As I understand this, this waste is left over from ww 2 and post war atomic weapons production. This can't be the same as nuclear power plant waste.
Don't even worry about it,D.C. is three thousand miles from here (Hanford)! The radioactivity won't touch those goofy f@#ks for a good three weeks until after it leaks from the tanks down the Columbia. There will be BUNCHIES(?) of time for the Democrats,who after all,were in power when the whole thing started, to move themselves and their little p@#$a##$%s to Canada. California may want to watch out though,s#$t flows downhill!!!
For all of your information, these tanks are over 5 miles from the Columbia river and about 100 feet above the river level. I work in tank farms at Hanford and was just in one of the farms about 10 minutes ago. There really isn't a whole lot to worry about when it comes to radioactive waste reaching the river. Most of this waste is leftover from processes from making plutonium. In reality the chemicals makeup of the tank scares me more than the radiation itself. What do I know, I just work with the stuff everyday.
VonBraun did not reference Facebook. A curious omission.
"Modern reactors are far safer than coal or oil plants, both in environmental danger and human health." That's right, just ask anyone in Japan -- they'll tell you how safe modern reactors are. Keep in mind - the reactor DESIGN might be quite safe, but the CONSTRUCTION is still being bid out to the lowest bidder.
Ken, the reactor in Japan was a Mark I reactor, designed in the 1950's. The fact that it stayed standing as long as it did shows quite solid engineering.
France has "modern reactors." Westinghouse was just approved to build two modern reactors in the south. The last reactors prior to that had ground broken in the 1970's.
Ken......Fukushima was actually a testament to the safety of nuclear power plants. A 7.3 earthquake failed to damage the plant. It was the tsunami afterwards that caused the damage to the backup generators. That is an easy fix. Install the backup generators further inland and have a higher, stouter sea wall.
Ken - Yes you can build nuclear power plants, but then what do you do with the waste? What about our 50 plus year old nuclear plants where the concrete is failing. They weren't intended to last this long and now they are leaking. What do you propose be done about that? There is no safe nuclear.
OK coal plants aren't as safe as nuclear.
So instead of burying fly ash in your backyard, we can bury nuclear waste?
The waste from nuclear power plants is highly different than the waste from fuel processing plants for making bombs....Hanford made bombs, not power(well it made power but wast to enrich fuels).
What are you all crazy..Of course the plants are safe..UNTIL IT Happens?
Armed......The short answer is YES. They do that in France and it's the latest in nuclear waste disposal technology.
Now that sequestration is imminent, they all of a sudden 'found' five more leakers? Let's get real folks, and stop the bull sh*t.
If you only knew how much cancer has come from Hanford, you'd really be upset. They released a bunch in the air about 45 yr ago, and let the wind take it, WITHOUT, telling the public. To this day, they have tried to keep it as quite as possible.
The part that worries me is that whenever a politician or a military General tells me it isn't a problem I can be certain he is lying. Anytime someone tells me what they are (such as not being a racist) while I am seeing the opposite actions of that person I know it is a lie. I have a worry here that we are not seeing the truth.
Hummmmmmmmmm "An estimated 1 million gallons of waste has seeped out of the underground tanks and reached groundwater that will eventually reach the Columbia River, scientists say."
A million gallons has leaked out?
HoboHarry ... says " these tanks are over 5 miles from the Columbia river and about 100 feet above the river level. ..... There really isn't a whole lot to worry about when it comes to radioactive waste reaching the river."
Harry ... if you told me the Columbia River was a hundred feet above the site ... I might agree ... BUT
There is a old plumbers Axiom that says
"Hot Left ...Cold Right .. and @!$%# don't run uphill!" ...
And a million gallons of this "@!$%# has to go some where ... down and once it infiltrates the ground and is assisted by rain and mixes with ground water, it's going to move fast & into the aquifer and the river .... that would be a catastrophe ..... for a massive area...
It would be helpful to have a unbiased scientific opinion .... this isn't something we can put "Back In The Box" after it happens ... this has been going on long before the "sequester" BS. Every agency in Washington will be using their "tricks" get the money they want..
Just Watch ... First ... the Washington Monument will be closed ... thats a all time favorite to get the funding when money is cut ... every agency has a contingency plan to get their way ..
Nuclear power is SAFE...
It is just when the storage facilities leak into the ground water:
1. Ask France about their contaminated aquafers and farm land. 1. Where they pump their waste from their fuel rod reprocessing plant? - (the English Channel) 2. What they are doing with their dozens of decomissioned nuclear power facilities? - Closing the doors to human occupation, because there is NO Where to put the radioactive waste & you DO NOT reprocess the millions of tons of radioactive FACILITIES...
2. Ask Germany about their contaminated aquafers from their LEAKING 'Long term' storage facility. - Which has been CLOSED, BTY - It was the World's ONLY 'Long Term storage facility...
3. Ask the UK about their nuclear processing facility that is LEAKING into the North Sea and has CLOSED - MILES of shoreline & off-shore fishing areas...
4. Ask Russia where they dispose of their nuclear waste. - The world oceans...
5. Ask the EU where the Mafia was sinking the ships full of their nuclear waste. - The world oceans...
6. Ask the USA where they are storing their nuclear waste. - shipping it to France & keeping it in storage containers spread around the country. Do not worry they will NEVER LEAK or be LOST.. Ha! Ha!
7. Or I can ask my neighbor who working in a mining/processing plant in Australia. They just dumped their waste back into the minning pits, their desert aquafer was already contaminated...
The WORLD is still contaminated from Chernobyl, the numerous leaks at Sellafield and the cavern at Lucens that was SEALED FOREVER...
Japanese Official's are now saying that highly radioactive water is leaking into the ocean from the Fukushima facility. Even after the containment building was constructed...
But to say the Fukushima facility is SAFE, because it survived the earthquake and sumany???
What about the HUMAN ERROR that resulted in the core melt downs and coolent storage ponds being breached???
The SAFEST system in the World is still not SAFE from HUMAN induced errors...
While COAL does pollute the environment, their ash containment ponds are a larger long term risk...
NG is the future - The USA has over 500+years of hydrated methane, located in their continental shelf and NG on land & the Gulf of Mexico will supply another 100+years...
Once again,or is sixth again,the masters have failed to allow anyone to make a cognitive point relating to ANY subject by refusing to place the simple word "reply" after a statement. This seems to me to be a form of subtle censureship. WHY NOT allow people to reply when it matters,not four days later.......
By the way,in reference to statement #2 of the article on 1/13/2011,the answer is no.
HoboHarry-2491377
I live north of you, but I hold my breath while driving past Hanford on the few occasions I've needed to travel to the tri-cities. Where is all that funding "they" keep telling us we will get to repair that place? Thank you for your service in working in that environment.
VonBraun:
That's the same information/proof (free energy) Gary McKinnon was looking for back in 2002 when he was caught trying to download an "unscrubbed" NASA photo showing a UFO. For ten years, the US hounded him trying to have him extradited from England as the "biggest military computer hack of all time", while nothing much was reported here. Fortunately in 2012, England said "no" to the extradition. The U.S. was probably relieved because putting him on public trial to testify to what he saw and what he knows would be a disaster for the military.
Personally, I'd like to see an in depth investigation done by a big name journalist, but until the sheeple's government makes an"official" announcement, people's minds aren't able to cope with the possibility that humans have been sharing this planet with other races for a long, long time.
Besides, the military would never want the government to admit to anything, no matter how many presidents, airline pilots, law enforcement and trained military verify witnessing the existence of UFO's, because as long as it's denied, UFO technology gives them the upper hand and the secrecy of that must be maintained.
Thanks for the post!
WHAT KINDA DUMMY builds a nuclear ANYTHING next to a source of drinking water???
STUPID STUPID STUPID !!!
Don't worry, Congress will make sure to appropriate the money it takes to solve this problem.
Normally, I'd sarcastically say "LMAO", but this really isn't funny.
I hear a few people saying it's completely safe and that fears are not justified? Did you read this part? "An estimated 1 million gallons of waste has seeped out of the underground tanks and reached groundwater that will eventually reach the Columbia River, scientists say. The U.S. plans to build a plant to turn the waste into low-level radioactive glass for safe storage, but that facility is years behind schedule for its projected opening in 2019."
Maybe one of you brilliant scientists can tell me how that water will not hurt the human body? That the Earth will filter it naturally before it gets to our taps. Give us the parts per million we can ingest that will not cause cancer in the coming years.
++++++++++++++++
iknowzero
Did you read the article? This was waste from nuclear weapon production. It has nothing to do with power generation from a nuclear reactor.
++++++++++++++++++
NUCLEAR WASTE IS NUCLEAR WASTE.. ARE YOU REALLY THIS STUPID TO THINK THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE. YOU DO REALIZE NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS PRODUCE LOTS OF NUCLEAR WASTE TO.
100% of nuclear problems that are dangerous to humanity are underreported, WORLDWIDE.
So, keep that little statistic in mind when your local power plant says there's a problem but everything's fine.
I believe in nuclear power. Regulated. But I have no illusions about governments that can't solve problems...
We have no business using nuclear weapons or power, UNTIL we can control every contingency involving it's containment, which we can't. Have we learn nothing from Chernobyl or Japan? Just because the government assures us there is no danger; I would not live within 500 miles of that site, even if they were giving away land and/or homes. I feel sorry for anyone near that place who thought they were safe. Wake up sheeple, we need to demand that all governments stop poisoning us and our planet!
Tell those guys in Japan or how about Chernobyl, where they can't go back and live in their homes for 500 years how safe nuclear energy is.
All of you that say nuclear power is so safe obviously have not lived long. I still remember 3 mile island. Until government can do the proper testing and inspection of ongoing plants the nuclear power is NOT a safe method of power. While this story has not much to do with Nuclear power it does show that our government is not capable of protecting us from disasters like this. To be sure over one million gallons of leak is not smal nor is it unnoticeable.
Inslee says this is "news". I doubt it is news when the site had already been decalred the most contaminated waste site in the world. Chu knew the tanks were leaking and what have they done? The tanks are still leaking and now they think even more tanks are leaking. I think this stories timing is a bit odd. This story has been around for years but yet now it seems to be linked directly to budget cuts and the looming crisis brought to us by our great government clowns. It is about priorities. It is too bad the govenrment does not know how to prioritize.
Find a better example than Japan. Did you forget Nagasaki or Hiroshima? I don't think it's been 500 years since then.
Ken-you're nuts. Nuclear plants are "NOT" and I repeat "NOT" safe at alll!!!! Chernobyl-stilll highly radioactive. 3 Mile Island, Pennsylvania, Palo Verde has had issues cooling the nuclear rods. Dude you are in denial!! If anyone is near a nuclear plant when it goes puft-you and maybe a few thousand will be affected or are dead. I've never known coal mines to be dangerous only to the coalminers. My grandfather was a coal miner in souther Ohio-He died of black lung disease at 77! I don't know of any "OIL" plants in the U.S. We have tons of natural gas in the ground for heating and cooking. Growing up we never paid for gas heating or cooking as we had natural gas in the ground. I've not known anyone's home blowing up for using "NATURAL" gas. I'm not too sure why we insist on using or planning projects which put us in front of harm when we have "NATURAL" resources to use. Why aren't we putting the nuclear waste and for that matter 'all' waste and dump it in the volcanoes? If we can get close enough-instant GONE
Let's see, a problem that has been known about for decades just happens to make headlines again a few days before the govt. in D.C. is finally scheduled to drink only a fifth of a liter of dollars rather than its usual quart. The drunk in D.C. can't have that, so the fear mongering must be put up a few decibels. How about we take money from other worthless govt. subsidies and programs and transfer it to a real problem like this. Unless you have a printing press like the feds. choices about where to spend money have to be made. Simple as that.
the half life of plutonium is 250,000 years can anyone understand THAT? 250 comments and 10 of them from people that can freaking READ!
@blubal42 - Don't tell me you are that simple?! We are talking different types of radiations in an atomic bomb and a nuclear power plant. Also, different exposure times, different amounts of saturation and a whole long list of different factors. A time hasn't been given yet on the Japan disaster, the 500 year number is for Chernobyl where 27 years after the radiation levels still are too high for humans to move back in. The concrete structure they built over the reactor must remain in place for 20,000 years. So just imagine you lived there, you were 50, just finished paying off your home and you get moved out because of the disaster. Now you're 77 and still waiting for the government to compensate you for your loss. And don't forget, radiation levels are still high in Nagasaki and Hiroshima and people moved back into those areas in a time when no one really knew anything about the effects of nuclear weapons and radiation. Scientists didn't even know what would happen when they exploded the first atomic bomb, some thought it would cause a chain reaction that would destroy the whole world.
If that's you in the avatar Kevin you don't look that old either. Three mile Island could have been avoided. It was a stupid human trick. Maybe your right though, with all the wanna be Einsteins here in the US. Maybe I should clarify, people that run the plants that think their smarter than they are. Any chance of future nuclear plants may not be safe. There is other types of energy out there we're just not advanced enough to realize them. I expect by the time we do realize them the human race will be close to extinction. Kevin check out TheKhanKubla, I rest my case.
So much for the government being on top of things. Other places sent their nuclear waste to Hanford to be dealt with as they were supposed to have a plant built that would take care of it. Now they have even more waste, the government has not followed through with taking care of it, and the containments are leaking. The Columbia River has been contaminated by Hanford before and it looks like it will be again, if not already. No wonder they now say a person shouldn't eat fish more than twice a week as our oceans are even more contaminated than we thought............
to the top two posters: I think the bigger picture is that if the waste is a problem right now, what will be the problems with all the nuclear warheads that aren't being used globally now?
Yeh let them Frack on your land then you can drink the water. There are thousands of gallons of chemicals that are pumped into the aquifer that pollute. I know some folks, well their family is minus 2 now that had land in PA that was destroyed due to NG gas fracking. Isn't it funny how the EPA does not even investigate any of these problems. When your water can be set on fire and has turned brown I'm pretty sure there is a problem. while burning NG gas maybe be cleaner the methane release in
drillingprocess, and later as the fuel is shipped NG
This stuff ALWAYS turns out to be worse than first reported.
I have never been against nuclear energy technology. I have been against the pathetically poor development of such technology and measures to neutralize radio-active toxicity in the name of weapons and profit. Hanford is a shining example, no pun intended, of poor science.
"An estimated 1 million gallons of waste has seeped out of the underground tanks and reached groundwater that will eventually reach the Columbia River, scientists say."
What's wrong with this statement?
1. Who did the estimate?
2. Which "scientists" are saying this?
It all sounds like vague BS designed to scare as many as possible. Keep those tax dollars flowing folks!
They'll get to the bottom of the tank when it's empty........
@blubal42 - You're funny. You're the one who is trying to compare an atomic bomb to a reactor meltdown and they are two entirely different events. The way they release their energies is totally different. A bomb releases its energy in one big burst, and the radiation levels are also totally different between a sky burst and a ground burst. A ground burst produces more radioactive fallout due to it sucking up dirt and sending it into the atmosphere. A meltdown however is a slow release of radiation over a longer period of time that saturates a large area and the half life of this radiation is significantly longer than an atomic bomb. You can't understand the concept that a nuclear bomb and a reactor meltdown are two different things and that the radiation in a meltdown is around some times to the power longer than a bomb burst, can you?
Does anyone else find it ironic that the EPA is policing manufacturing in to US into extinction, yet can't manage to police its own.
Fergieo-1777987
The environmental impact of coal makes these nuclear issues seem like absolutely NOTHING! Uncontrolled coal seem fires (some of which have been burning for literally more than a hundred years) account for 3 percent of global greenhouse emissions. Also the land made unusable by coal DWARFS the nuclear issues thousands of times over. Tell the folks in Centralia Pennsylvania that coal was never dangerous to anyone other than miners. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania
Efficient green energy is not here yet and is likely still decades away. NG shows much promise but can not replace coal on it's own. Coal does thousands of times the damage to both people and the environment even if people don't realize it because it doesn't make such catchy headlines. Nuclear power is our best bet right now. New technologies have significantly reduced the amount of waste produced. The problems we see here were created 70 years ago because we were more interested in making bombs than we were in considering the long term affects of that process. To say that we should abandon nuclear energy because of a completely unrelated issues is ridiculous but of course, as we see in many posts here, lemmings usually are ridiculous.
when it all leaks into the Columbia river your salmon dinner will already be nuked &cooked
Bring the funding for the space program back. Bottle it up and put it on a rocket
TheKhanKubla
It's the stuff that has a short half-life, measured in minutes or even seconds, that will kill you. Radiated particles with a half-life measured in thousands of years are literally all around us, the vast majority of which are naturally occurring.
And apparently you can not understand the concept that the radiation produced by a bomb is thousands of times more deadly, can you? Suggesting that a meltdown is far worse than a bomb because the radiation lasts longer shows you really don't have as good of a grasp on the subject as you think you do.
Unless I am mistaken, the radiation from an atomic bomb is a side effect. It is the blast that does the damage and what kills the most. :-)
john-737278
You are mistaken. The blast does the damage but it is the radiation that kills the most people over the long run.
Liberals are all about saving the environment. But when it comes to Nuclear Energy (the cheapest energy out there, which could have the smallest impact on the environment ever when handled properly), they freak out and go into panic mode. They don't want real solutions, instead they up vote Von Braun's ideas of "Using alien technology to get cheap energy." Wow! Really? How can the liberals claim to be the "educated" class, when in reality its the exact opposite.
It was a joke, but you are mistaken. Drop one on NY and tell me that in the long term it will kill more than ten million.
My comment was based on the fact that all radiation is deadly based on dosage. And splitting hairs about it is silly.
john-737278
Perhaps you should have just said that then instead of making some cryptic comment hoping that others would guess what you were trying to say.
And btw, you do realize that those 10 million (8 technically) people in NYC are spread out over 300 sq miles right??? So yeah, I have NO DOUBT that more of those people would be killed by the initial dose of radiation they'd receive than would be killed by the blast itself. So, once again, it is YOU who are mistaken.
Backcountry164
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tsar_Bomba_Paris.png
1400 Square miles
How many in that blast zone?
AC Robertson, I see you're still evangelizing for the petroleum industry. Whether it's nuclear energy, coal, or efforts to slow down climate change, if it would result in less use of petroleum, you are guaranteed to be against it, and to use simplisitic arguments to try to make your point. How much do they pay you?
2little2late, did you believe in the propaganda from PRIVATE BUSINESS that smoking Marlboro would make you a man or that you could eat all the burgers and fries you wanted and not clog up your arteries??? Are you a libertartian type who thinks that GOVERNMENT propganda is evil because it's from the GOVERNMENT but the lies and propaganda from business is OK because it's from the private sector.
Do you go to the beach after the GOVERNMENT has issued a hurricane warning because if it's from the GOVERNMENT it must be evil? Do you hide in a cave with your assault weapons waiting for the GOVERNMENT to come and get you?
john-737278
ROTFLMAO!! That was the largest bomb ever made and would never have had a practical use as it was too big to fit on an ICBM. It was literally 2 1/2 times the size of any weapon ever actually deployed by the Soviets and more than 5 1/2 times the size of the largest US warhead deployed. Nice try but once again you fail!
If you want to stick to plausible and realistic examples check this site out- http://www.carloslabs.com/node/16
That was fun, thanks. I just dropped it on Detroit, Chicago and LA
Many of the nuclear warheads the US has or had are half of Tsar at 25 Mt. FYI both the US and Japan estimate that of the people killed in Japan only around 20-30% were from radiation sickness. The rest were from the initial blast and burns.
john-737278
The largest nuc warhead the US MADE was 25 mt, the largest warheads the US DEPLOYED was 9mt.
Fat Man and Little Boy were some of the smallest devices ever detonated. If you want a plausible and realistic estimation of what would happen you should avoid using the extremes on both ends of the scale. The fallout for a 9mt bomb is obviously going to be much more far reaching than that of a bomb 600 times smaller.
Many of the I think Tritons were fitted with 25Mt
I still think your splitting hairs. The 9Mt would have a larger kill radius and kill more with the initial blast, but I think it would still be proportional. I hope we never find out.
Back in 1978 I spoke with a nuclear scientist who told me that he and his fellows had assumed while they pursued their research on nuclear power that other equally capable minds had been diligently researching how to safely process and store the toxic waste materials. It was when he realized that pretty much zero such study was going on that he became adamantly opposed to any further nuclear development. That was 35 years ago. Has anything changed? Enough?
And where was this "nuclear scientist" from?
And did he happen to pronounce it "nucular" and have a degree from the University of Monkey Business?
For as long as nuclear technology has existed, scientists have been working on all aspects of it. Do yourself a favor, google "national laboratories," and check out places like Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, Sandia, Lawrence-Livermore, Pacific Northwest, Idaho National Lab, Argonne, Brookhaven, NREL, NETL, and the whole slew of nuclear science laboratories. Or don't. It is easier to be ignorant to a subject.
You know what Matt-3468366 ignorance is found at many levels. It's pretty easy to go online and google where nuclear laboratories are in the U.S. then make fun of another person posting here. JustMe had a very valid point to make and you felt the need to bad mouth him/her. I was born in Hanford, Wa. and was one of the many people who were used as guinea pigs for the federal government and the war machine at the time. The "scientist" were only interested in making a big bomb and killing as many people as they could with it and the "research" that they did regarding affects on human beings was sealed for 40 years by our government so that the people, American citizens, could not learn what had happened to them. So many died and so many are ill and our government still does not take responsibility for that and you delude yourself into believing that they are on top of nuclear waste? Who is the ignorant one here?
Lucindia, thank you for saving me the trouble of refering to Matt, and THANK YOU, oh great ones,for allowing me to "reply".
Lucinda,
In reality, the scientists at Los Alamos were tasked with building a weapon faster than the Germans, who had already made progress on their own atomic bomb, beginning in 1938 - and they most surely would have used it.
And in case one forgets history, the atomic bomb was used to avoid a land invasion of Japan - an invasion that most likely would have resulted in more than 1 million deaths (mostly Japanese civilians). The bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved nearly a million lives.
But it wasn't just Japanese civilians that were saved. Several hundred thousand American soldiers were slated to take part in that invasion. Many, many American and Japanese people under the age of 67 might not even be here at all if that land invasion had happened.
From the safe distance of 2013, I can understand how nuclear bombs look like evil to those who know little to nothing about WWII. But the fact is, Little Boy and Fat Man may very well have saved your own father's or grandfather's life - and therefore yours.
Those scientists were patriots protecting this country from a Nazi atomic bomb. If Hitler hadn't been stupid enough to invade the U.S.S.R., Germany could very well have had a bomb before us. And we definitely were in his sights.
Read some history.
History including the fed governments nearly perfect record of failing to follow through with any long term plan to do something with nuclear waste? This stuff currently leaking at Hanford has been around since WW2 and the current plan to turn it to glass is behind schedule for a 2019 date?
And the feds vision is getting more and more short-sighted.
Physicist-retired
You (and to be fair, most other people here in the US) have confused history with propaganda. The atomic bombs were dropped on Japan as a show of force to the new, soon-to-be enemy, Soviet Union. The Japanese were already beaten and surrender talks had already begun. The US wanted unconditional surrender, the Japanese were asking for one thing, they wanted to keep their emperor who they viewed as a god. This third option is left out of the history books because it removes the justification for using such horrible weapons.
In addition, the bombs themselves had little to do with the Japanese decision to surrender. Hiroshima and Nagasaki get all of the attention but in fact were not even close to the worst bombings the Japanese had suffered through. Are we really to believe they cared one bit whether one plane destroyed a city as opposed to a hundred when they could do nothing to stop either?
The real reason the Japanese surrendered when they did was the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. The Japanese feared losing even more ground to the Russians and they realized, much like the Germans, that they'd be MUCH better off surrendering to the Americans than face invasion and occupation by the Soviets.
Backcountry - you are correct, thanks for the clarity. This forum needs it.
Backcountry, unless you've been speaking with Harry Truman's or Hiirohito's ghost, your theory is just another load of propoganda. While there may be some circumstantial evidence to support it, you have no proof. You do not know the "real" reason japan surrendered any more than you know the "real" reason Truman gave the go-ahead. What you say is pure speculation. I am not saying that your assertion is incorrect, but the fact is it is merely an assertion for which you have only circumnstantial evidence, and apparently a delusion regarding your own lack of fallability.
joe mota-7760501
You've heard of Occam's Razor right? Regardless of what I can prove or not, only a fool believes the less plausible explanation when those presenting that explanation are clearly biased. The idea that the use of the bombs prevented the invasion of Japan is utter hogwash based on the widely available evidence without the need to speak to the ghosts of Truman or Hirohito. Frankly, anyone who believes the atomic bombs ended the war or led to the surrender of the Japanese hasn't spent one second actually looking at the facts.
I suggest you read through these primary sources from the National Security Archive (now declassified), backcountry:
The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II
Page 7 of this declassified document specifically discusses Russian assistance. I'm afraid you're mistaken.
This is why I usually avoid discussions here. We can disagree without being disagreeable.
BTW, I did my postgrad work at Los Alamos. I knew some of those guys. Just an FYI.
Physicist-retired: No kidding! I'm at LANL now. Small world.
@Physicist-retired:
your comments are most appreciated. can there truly be so few people who have listened to the tapes of Japan's emperor and his stanch stance on not surrendering?
what i don't understand about this discussion is that no has pointed out that the contents of the tanks settle as they sit. it's like a box of cereal that is full at the factory but looks half full by the time it gets to your house. doesn't mean the cereal has actually gone anywhere.
.
. , indeed.
Who cares about Washington? O'Bama voters F-um...................Savages
Waste has already reached the Columbia River over 10 years ago. Notice was given to the Indian tribes, along the river, not to eat more than one fish a week. Failure to follow these instructions "would result in each tribe member not having to purchase a night light".
Glow wherever you go!
the salmon they caught were already nuked &cooked without going into the microwave ! they have 3 eyes like the simpsons too !! prepared with Mr Burns "secret recipe" with secrete ingredients
Expect a cover-up.
What do you think THIS is? If this hasn't been a cover up,we would have known about it a long time ago. A million gallons didn't seep overnight.
It's just the situation has gotten to the point where they need to start confessing the sins. Also known as 'COVERING YOUR ASS'
"I'm from the government and I'm here to help" enough said.
Ship the waste to Iran. The get something nuclear and the US gets rid of Iran.
Ah yes this is the ideal topic for the post WW2 spoiled brat generations to whine about. They want their home electronic conveniences, their electronic gadgets, their Suv's and their clean environment. Above all make the other guy make the sacrifices for their clean environment. Break out the Kleenix for this topic.
Isn't anyone else a little concerned that 1,000,000 gallons of radioactive waste has already leaked into groundwater and is making its way to the Columbia River? Here's where I think we should be doing something: digging down to contain the leaks before they go further, drilling wells to find out where they are and how much, etc.
They have already spent billions on the damX vitrification plan that won't help anything we're presently dealing with for decades. Isn't this worth a few 100 million to try and contain these leaks. Are we just going to wait until the waste hits the Columbia River and sterilizes the whole river and we have to abandon all homes and industries along the river, plus not have boat travel?
I mean, this is really serious folks. What about when this radioactive plume hits the oceans and continues for another several hundred years. Once those plumes hit the river, it will just keep coming, so we have to stop them NOW!!!
Government: please stop all the bull ShiXX and get your butt in gear. At least drill a few holes and find out what a HELL we have created for ourselves. The Columbia River is the basis of income for 10's of millions of people, are we going to let radioactive waste drain into it? I don't care if the experts say it will be another 50 years until it reaches there (I actually haven't read ANYTHING related to this and this in and of itself is alarming), if we don't start now, we're toast and no excuses. Thank goodness I'm upstream of this pit from Hell!
I am worried too. One million gallons of nuclear waste is running loose and it barely makes the news.
They already have dug wells and have pump and treat stations setup to clean the groundwater at Hanford. Please educate yourself, type in Hanford in youtube and see what is actually already being done on site. I have been working at Hanford for 5 years and the scare the public gets is humerous to me. There is a section on the video about the pump and treat stations and all of the cleanup efforts.
Ahh your one of the ones working at the "Lazy H Ranch"....my tax dollars at work. There is more money being wasted out at the Hanford sight than any Government installation in this country.
Rural WA. -
I'm with you, where do you want start?
sincerely, Rural King county
the tanks settle, it's like a box of cereal you purchase at the store that looks half full but if you weigh it the entire 16oz is there.
it's BS that this got so out of hand when they measure with a 'dipstick' in a 1 ft by 1ft area that doesn't tell you a darn thing about how much water has evaporated and how much the contents have settled out.
@ Paul-2646797: and i don't know where you get off calling it the 'Lazy H Ranch', while there might be some dumb*asses out there and too many engineers trying to reinvent the wheel, there are lazy ass*s everywhere. everyone i know at Hanford works for their paycheck.
Since the problem's not going to go away, let's revisit the Yucca storage facility.
Energy production does not have to involve Nuclear Plants, or Coal Plants or Hydro Plants. Energy production does not even have to involve Wind Generators or Oil/Gas. Energy Production is produced with Zero Point Energy by the Black Projects deep underground to run all their energy needs and it is aquired through Free Energy Sources which involve strong magnetic currents crossing copper wiring to equal any amount of voltage that one could possibly require. This way the U.S. special research groups and special opps are self sustaining from any outside source. This is the real reason that the U.S. Govt, who is now ruled by the U.S. Military Industrial Complex, prevents the public from knowing how UFOs are powered, it would COMPLETELY wipe out the need for any oil or gas or nuclear plants or coal plants and since the rich elite use all this money to control the population then the elite needs to keep this secret a secret. But there are now organizations such as one called AOTBUSHT that is dedicated to forcing this forbidden technology into mainstream society and we do not care if the Military Industrial Complex, who has been identified as a Domestic Terrorist Group, likes that FACT or not. We are ready to fight any technology war to release Free Energy to the world and at the same time remove all capitalistic corruption from power in the U.S. and the rest of the world.
It is almost as if the Military Industrial Complex wants there to be as many Nuclear Plants all over the world as possible so that when the time is right and earth quakes occur "naturally" and compromise those facilities that there will be TOTAL surface distruction as seen in the Fukashima Nuclear Plant in Japan which incidently has contaminated all the air over the entire earth to the point where EVERY human being WILL form cancer. Now try and imagine what it will be like if/when ALL the world's nuclear sites are compromised....... now you know why the Military Industrial Complex [MICY] has spent 40% of the U.S. GNP on building Deep Underground Bases over the last 25 years! The U.S. Govt and their puppeteers in MICY can all kiss our *&^%, we have decided to by-pass these sloths and introduce this forbidden technology of Free Energy to the world for FREE and stand ready to resist the bastards when they desperately try to shut us down, all 20 million of us world wide. Long Live The Rebellion! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Haha, "zero-point energy projects."
Hey pal, my degree is in quantum chemistry, what's yours in? Do you even understand the zero-point energy?
Come on Matt 3468366, VonBraun has an internet doctorate degree , his own blog ego and some good ole marijuana. This makes him a genius. VonBraun is also one the the elite progressive revolutionaries.
I have a masters in Quantum Physics and yes Free Energy does exist and is referred to as Zero Point Energy. How could you have a degree in any of the sciences and not know that? Here are some verifiable sources for people who have just crawled out of a cave similar to the one you just crawled out of:
Tom Bearden = Inventor Free Energy Generator = Colonel, USAF = Holder of such Patents = Physics Degree = U.S. Govt Physicist, Retired = World Known
Adam Trombly = Inventor Free Energy Generator = Physicist = Holder of such Patents = Physics Degree = World Known = Successfully demonstrated his device infront of U.S. Govt panel of inquirey with many other nations's scientists attending who verified such apparatus
John Searl = Inventor of Free Energy Generator = Holder of such Patents = Professor of Physics = World Known = Successfully built and generated High Voltage for UK ministries of the sciences and their inspection of such apparatus
Thomas T. Brown = Inventor of Free Energy Generator = Holder of MANY such Patents = Patents granted to Thomas by the U.S. Government Research Facilities in Los Alamos, Cal Tech and other secret research bases both military and civilian = World Known = Not only did Thomas build a Free Energy device but applied said High Voltage to a Field Propulsion system that allowed a Gravitic Craft [classifed] to escape earth's atmosphere in seconds = Military Contractor for building his Generators to facilitate independent use of energy generated by NO OUTSIDE SOURCE to Military Underground Bases in the U.S. and Australia [PineGap]
Paul Pantone = Inventor of Free Energy Device = Holder of such Patents = Physics Major = World Known = Successfully demonstrated his Energy Device to thousands
Paul LaViolette = Inventor of Free Energy Devices = Holder of such Patents = Physics Major = World Known = Successfully produced High Voltage from such device and applied it to Field Propulsion
Howard Johnson = Inventor of Free Energy Device = Holder of such Patent = Physics Major = U.S. Government Physicist, retired = Successfully demonstrated his Energy device before U.S. military, Dept of science, U.S. Navy
and I could mention about 1,300 more certified successful Free Energy Inventors. What is suprising is why you have not heard of ANY of these WORLD KNOWN DEVICES and yet you 'claim' to know physics? Well, allrighty then my little friend, what ever you say ......
Haha, you're funny.
You do know that the zero point energy refers to when n=0, right? You know, the whole quantum number thing, with n, l, m(l), and m(s)? I kind of feel like replying to you any further would just be a waste.
Also... Bearden claims his PhD is from "life experience and accomplishment" except for the fact, you know, he hasn't done a single thing. Good call. Google is clearly not your friend.
Again, U = q+w.
That's not a suggestion, it's the law.
You are quite obviously not aware of Tom Bearden's credentials and yet you stand to ridicule him. What kind of person would do that? The un-informed? Your ego gets the better of you and no, you are not in any condition to spar with me on Quantum anything at this point. Go back to your Newtonian sandbox and play....
"I have a masters in Quantum Physics"
So how was it at the University of Phoenix?
Whoa VonBraun!
Time to loosen the paperclip belt holding your aluminum foil hat on. I think it's cutting off the circulation to your brain!
BEWARE! That foil comes from Alcoa... A known leader of the MIC. Don't let them dupe you Vonbraun! Remove the hat and step away slooooooooowly...
Would this "condition" you speak of happen to be "mental illness?" Because in that case, no I am not in any "condition" to speak quantum with you.
You are aware that quantum mechanics and thermodyamics are linked together, right? It has nothing to do with "Newtonian" or classical treatment. You can't create energy from *nothing*. Please, list Bearden's credentials, with source. I'm fascinated, fascinated, that you stick to this as long as you do.
Or wait, you'll just come up with a BS excuse not to reply, or to claim you're "so above it" that you can't be bothered elaborate. Please, tell me, how does this "zero point energy" device work. You don't need to go into specific "trade secret" details, just tell me of the general physics behind it.
Wow, where does one get in on the action for investment purposes?
Matt - I believe in thinking outside of the box in my corner of my parallel universe. Which one do you live in?? And what does the first law of thermodynamics have to do with reality anyway? You know I'm joking.
And... Facebook! "FACE" "BOOK"!! KOO KOO KOO KOO
Youtube has some amazing videos of nuclear test blasts. (sigh). Can't we do better? It's come to this.
I feel sure that space travellers don't go across the universe or across dimensions of time-space on the force of nuclear thrust.
Maybe I should just go back to gazing at my navel. So many chakras, so little time.
Matt,as I am amazed at little things, including your brain,could you explain the peizoelectric effect to me?For jollies,why can't I make a flexible crystal,incorporate it into a strand and wind myself a piezo tire? If I did,and placed it on the ground,wouldn't the vibration caused by rolling generate electricity to run a motor (or engine,as the terms have become the same) in order to drive a vehicle down the road in order to cause a vibration to generate the electricity to drive the vehicle down the road? Where is the fallacy? God knows,looks like free energy to me!
Some posters appear to maintain and repeat that same old argument that the earth must be flat.
Apparently VonBraun is pleading the 5th.
VonBraun's ButtBuddy, Tom Bearden, has some interesting things to say about technology; but unfortunately destroys his credibility every time he creates another Google video, due to the use of rampant "us versus them" Cold War cliches, in which in Tom Bearden's mind the bankrupt Russian government is the source of all Weapons Of Mass Destruction technology.
What the hell is a 'Masters in Quantum Physics'?
Sounds like Sheldon's on a bad trip.
It's funny all you nay says work harder at denying the fact there is more out there. Then you speak of your degrees in quantum physics. Read very carefully, most of you are only as smart as the professor who taught you. Let's see Einstein never graduated from high school. They claim Tesla was a loon, but yet all of his ideas are still being used. Evidently the government took more of his papers than their letting on. Where are all these new style weapons coming from. Tesla knew what would happen that's why he kept his ideas to himself. Instead of using his work for the good of mankind our government wants to destroy us.
If a "retired physicist" has to ask this question, they really don't deserve to learn the answer.
Blu,
Einstein graduated high school in September 1896, and earned a PhD from the University of Zurich in April 1905.
Debi,
Simply put, there is no such thing as a 'Masters in Quantum Physics'. Any physicist knows this. One may have a Masters in Quantum Mechanics, or a Masters in Physics, but the 'Masters in Quantum Physics' does not exist.
Physicist-retired and Matt - thumbs up for your posts. You both have the appropriate backgrounds to intelligently argue your points. If I have a choice between an ophthalmologist doing eye surgery or an undergrad who read up on the procedure, it's a no brainer who I'll pick. So please, carry on. I'll get the popcorn.
Wow. Some Turd Boy lying about his non-existent scientific credentials.
Hmmmmm...
Einstein took an equivalency sxam. He only excelled in 2 subjects barely allowing him to pass the exam.
You want the Government to do what?
Won't happen... Senators are too busy shtuping some other Senator's daughter. Too busy in Washington DC playing Hide The Salami. No useful gub'ment work gets done.
How about storing it on one of the other planets? Some of them are already deadly contaminated. Seems like the perfect place for that kind of stuff.
If we had containers we could launch into space that would survive a Challenger-shuttle type disaster, we'd never need to launch them into space in the first place.
Humans have never landed on The Moon. The Moon landings by humans NEVER HAPPENED. NASA has never ventured beyond several hundred miles above Earth. EVER.
HOW do you expect a spaceship to be designed to shuttle contaminated waste to "another planet"?? The mentality of someone who watches too many movies and does not read enough non-fiction.
Well von braun. surely if its so good it would have been in use long time ago???
It's clearly a conspiracy involving the government, big oil, big nuclear, big solar, big foot, and big mac. Those that deny the existence of the conspiracy are part of the conspiracy.
The naive thinks like you do. No, actually, it is suppressed, heavily for obvious reasons.
Suppression is not a good thing. Just like I can't suppress my cravings any longer. Now, I want a big mac and french fries.
Help Help I'm being repressed! Oh wait, he said suppressed. My bad.
I'll take an Arby's Max sammich , heavy on the Horsie Sauce , over a Big Mac ANY day.
And Arby's has curly fries.
And the long lean, milky white girly with the hanging swaying boobz works the Nooner shift. Arby's at the corner of Paseo & Jefferson.
VonBraun
ROTFLMAO! Right! Our government can't bulid a @!$%#ing barrel that will last 50 years but they can supress what would be the greatest boon to mankind ever. How can anyone fail to see how utterly ridiculous that is??
Free energy would create hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from advanced technologies that would be based on it. The potential for profit would DWARF the profits of all of the big oil companies combined but we are to believe that those people who would make massive amounts of money are just sitting around with their hands in their pockets because the government (or is it aliens?) says no? Give me a @!$%#ing break!!!
The fact is we will all die from cancer because there is no escaping the chemicals surrounding us. Agricultural runoff, road runoff, industrial dumping, human garabage, automobile exhaust, mercury in non-moving water bodies, natural occuring radon gas, etc. On top of all that, humans voluntarily expose themselves to tanning beds, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, pot, etc. Picture what is in the delta of the Mississippi River in New Orleans. The river's head waters start in the mountains of NC. From there, the river travels north to WVA and PA, west to OH and IN, south to IL, MO and OK, and finally LA. All along the 1,500 miles of river, chit is dumped into from all directions. By the time it reaches the Gulf of Mexico, it's not even water anymore, but a chemical soup.
So you're saying what? Let's just not concern ourselves. We're dying anyway.
No wonder the micro-brew from that area is good!
Science is nothing better than Alchemy. Scientists spin wonderful visions that the brainless politicians can't resist. Newclour energy will solve all our problems with only one caveat ( The waste products must be taken to another planet to dispose. )
The rest of the story has yet to be told about how the Scientists have mislead the world in an effort to feather their own EGO.
Even if Science were to have solved all the questions of the Universe they would most surly Fu*k it up because they have no concept of what they are playing.
I assume you see the irony of typing that comment on a computer, and sending it out over the internet.
Physicist-retired
Actually I would assume that he is utterly clueless.
Oh, so now sequestration isn't just causing longer lines at airports, it now will cause the Pacific Northwest to be contaminated by radiation too. Nope, no fear mongering going on here at all.
So you are telling us that leaking nuclear waste is not a problem? Or what exactly?
Let's all close our eyes and plug up our ears...that way we won't notice the nation coming to a halt.
On your side, Byron
A shame there are so many with their head in the sand.
I believe Anilof's point was to the fact that the pols want to cause as much fear and worry as they can so none of their pet projects have to continue with a cut in the increase of their spending. Oh, you haven't heard that the sequester only cuts the amount of the increase in spending?
Hanford is on the Columbia River. That river happens to go right past Portland, Oregon, and lots of other smaller cities.
Eventually it goes past Astoria and dumps into the Pacific at major salmon fishing location, the Columbia River Bar.
If this radioactive stuff gets into that river system, it's going to be curtains for the northern border of beautiful and pure Oregon, and the same for cities on the Washington side too.
As to the politics of money that might keep this from happening, who knows. But radiation doesn't obey Senate bills.
Read some facts please.....
Which facts, HH?
And Portland thinks its weird now................
The problem here is simple, the Department of Energy and its incompetent and lazy contractors cannot be trusted. If all 177 tanks leaked the word would be "not to worry, there's no threate to public health". What event do these folks consider to be a threat to public health in the State of Washington and Oregon? Probably nothing since they all live in DC!!!
Twistup - People around the world should be concerned. North Korea's nuclear bomb tests put radioactivity into the winds aloft that circumnavigate the globe. Wherever it rains the radioactivity falls to the ground in the raindrops. Nobody is safe from radioactive fallout. There is no such thing as safe nuclear anything. And if there were, what in the world do you do with the radioactive waste. Nobody knows what to do with it and nobody wants it.
The 21st Century Republican, Teapublican Cartel does not understand COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, COMPROMISE or GOVERNING in a DEMOCRACY.
The 21st Century Republican, Teapublican Cartel is ANTI COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, ANTI COMPROMISE, ANTI GOVERNANCE, ANTI MAJORITY RULE and ANTI DEMOCRACY.
The 21st Century Republican, Teapublican Cartel is a GRAVE DANGER TO DEMOCRACY, they are TERRORISTS!
What are you talking about? If it's Hanford, don't worry about the unions there. They padded their incomes as long as I've been alive. And, I'm old.
Romney said all we need for business to prosper is to end regulations and keep government out of the way. Any questions?
Not to worry Larry, Romney lost...this happened with heavy regulations in place.
Hanford hasn't produced plutonium in decades. The real shame is that they have spent decades trying to clean up the mess. This is an ongoing scheme by the government, contractors and the unions who have a special bargaining unit here. Nobody really works. They shuffle around trying to look busy and if they actually accomplish something they get fired or told to slow down. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been wasted. I know people who quit there 30 years ago because they couldn't stand the waste, fraud, and abuse. Even the last round of Obama stimulus pumped millions into this travesty. They don't want to clean it up, simple as that. I don't know if any progress has been made in 25 years. The coverup is incredible. Washington state tried to push them without any progress.
And it will drag on for more decades. Hanford provides a watering hole for nuclear physicists, engineers and designers. Whenever the industry slows down and dry up, they all head to Hanford until things pick up again. Every nuclear engineer and designer have been to Hanford at least once. There is no urgency to clean it up because the tax dollars keep pouring in. They play on the emotions and fears of the public of nuclear waste, so the Congress will always appropriate funds to keep it going.
Well considering I am working on site right now, I would say that we are doing things to clean it up. Most of the cleanup efforts have been going very smoothly. Tank farms, where all the waste is is waiting for Bechtel to complete the Vitrification Plant that was suppossed to be done already. Tank farms needs the Vit plant to glassify the waste and make it stable for long term storage. The unions here actually are working without a contract right now and looks like a furlough for 6 weeks will happen due to budget cuts. If you want this place cleaned up since you know so much about it, let the world know that our government and contractors don't want to pay the workers to clean it up. My company made 23 million in bonuses last year in cleanup efforts, none of which was passed on to the workers. Don't blame the unions, we are here to work.
That's why they call it the "LAZY H RANCH". Allen Luckyboy, you have spoken the truth! I've witnessed it for over 35 years. And you wonder why the government is broke.
I could have guessed Bechtel was invoved! The amount of fear without knowledge is astounding. We can not expect to make decisions if we do not consider FACTS. Pipeline anyone??
While nuclear could be good, we do not appear able to handle it. Thus, we should stick with fossil fuels which have become plentiful in this continent. They are relatively inexpensive and efficient. Someday, industry may come up with a better answer, but for now, the only answer is fossil fuels
Hm, that does not sound so well, and feels a little too close to where others and I live: Portland, OR. :-/
My uncle worked at Hanford - died of cancer. His son (younger than I am) died of cancer. My Southern Utah cousins that were in the path of radioactive fallout from nuclear bomb testing during the 50s and 60s dead or dying of cancer (all younger than I am). Don't tell me anything about the safety of plutonium, uranium, nuclear power plants until after you've thoroughly researched the plight of the Downwinders. There is no such thing as safe nuclear. What do you suppose they are going to do with Hanford's nuclear waste? Nobody wants it. The Columbia River water, waterfowl and fish have been polluted from radioactivity in varying degrees since the 40s.
"No such thing as safe nuclear?"
Okay. There's no such thing as safety, either.
Grew up in the Columbia Basin (North Richland) over the past 35 years. Married to my wife who grew up on a farm just west of Basin City, WA (Just over the river from the Hanford sight). My parents and her parents all died of cancer. And you wonder what has and is still leaking into the mighty Columbia River. This place is contaminated and will never be safe.