– Radiation levels spike 7,000% at US nuclear site — AP: Workers shelter inside buildings — Officials: It was less than we anticipated; Contaminated sample so safe “it could have been… put in someone’s lunch bucket” (VIDEO) (ENENews, Nov 11, 2014):
AP, Nov. 6, 2014 (emphasis added): A pair of air samplers at [New Mexico’s WIPP] nuclear waste repository detected low levels of radioactive contamination after workers restarted one of the fans… workers took shelter inside buildings before restarting the fan
Carlsbad Current Argus, Nov. 10, 2014: A new small, but measurable amount of radiation was detected… [Tim Runyon, of WIPP Recovery Communications said] officials were expecting a small radiation leak
U.S. Dept. of Energy — WIPP Air Sampling Results for Station B (pdf), Nov. 6, 2014:
- Lab: Station B results represent the amount of radioactivity released into the atmosphere
- 10/21/2014 7:40 AM to 10/22/2014 7:50 AM — Alpha emitters (see chart): 72 dpm
- In the months before this spike, average test result for alpha emitters were below 1 dpm
- Test results for alpha emitters at Station B have not been this high since the first week of the Feb. 14 WIPP disaster
WIPP Town Hall, Nov. 6, 2014:
- Tammy Reynolds, Deputy Recovery Project Manager for Nuclear Waste Partnership: On the 21st, we put that fan back in service… We wanted to make sure we were prepared if there were some particles that came lose… We were very pleased with the results… It was less than we actually anticipated… much less than any person would ever be… impacted from.
- Russell Hardy, Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring & Research Center (created by DOE funds): We did see a small amount of Americium-241… a few hundred feet from Station B… This filter could have been… folded up and put in someone’s lunch bucket, that’s just how small this is… It’s measurable, it’s there… it does not pose any concern to public health. (Public health refers to entire populations, not individuals –WHO)
Nuclear Hotseat w/ Libbe HaLevy, Oct 21, 2014 — Don Hancock, Southwest Research & Information Center (at 22:30): Their analysis… showed the starting of that fan, it’s a different fan than the one that’s been operating most recently… could trigger some additional radiation coming out… Because the site is contaminated, there’s constantly the possibility that additional contamination can be released… This is an ongoing problem, and will be… unless the site is closed up… The DOE is proposing many activities that are very likely to release a lot more radioactivity than [the fan restart]… People are correct to be concerned… We’re talking about this going on for years into the future if DOE’s plans are approved.