Only like “the contents of a can of soda…” – How they spin the gravity of Hanford’s leaking nuclear waste tanks…

(This is a follow-up on 
The Hanford Site, holding the Pacific Northwest at Nuclear Gunpoint 
from the end of May 2013.)

After my visit to the B Reactor, I drove a half hour into the Hanford Site, until I reached the armed checkpoint, where I smiled at the guard and said “I guess this is as far in as I can go, right?” Without the proper badge, I had to U-turn. But I could see the worst contaminated site in the distance (with the cranes), where the cleanup operation is in full swing.
Hanford Site, Washington
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013

The shortlink for this blogpost is http://wp.me/puwO9-23a

I read stuff…  Like this, dutifully reported by King 5 News, whose reports on the Hanford Site have helped bring this issue to the regional mainstream’s attention.  I would appreciate it if they dug just a notch deeper and pointed out the deceptive cold war tendencies still at work:  The nuclear industry has always been incapable of telling the whole truth.  Seems to come with the territory.  Hard to shake, apparently.   It happens all the time.  Here’s an example I noticed today – read/watch this report:

Leak in Hanford double-shell tank getting worse

So, in it, they quote from the private contractor WRPS [my emphasis]:

“A spokesman for Washington River Protection Solutions said only a small amount of liquid has leaked. “AY-102 continues to leak small amounts of waste material into its annulus.  The current best estimate is that the liquid volume at the leak accumulation site has increased from approximately 0.2 gallons on September 26, 2012, to approximately 0.4 gallons on June 12, 2013.  The increase between the last two inspections was approximately 0.1 gallons or about the contents of a 12-ounce can of soda,” the spokesman said.  WRPS is the private company that manages the Hanford tank farms for the Department of Energy.”

“Can of soda…”  Nice sound bite try…   Okay, 12 ounces of waste from AY-102…  Are they serious?  They call that small?  Comparing it to a can of soda to belittle it?  For real?  Do they think this is funny or something?   Here’s my calculation for that “can of soda” “little amount” of waste leaking INCREASE (since last inspection) into the annulus of tank AY-102…

0.1 gallon is volume, translates to… [gallon to liter]… is 0.3785412 liter, lets round up to 0.38, and then go extreme conservative in this estimate by taking the density of water (about a kg per liter) and – for ease of calculation – let’s just say that only 0.4 kg (400 grams) leaked out, an amount that could certainly fit in a 12 ounce soda can.  With as many heavy metals as are in there, it’s almost certain to be significantly more, and it’s very unlikely to be less, so I’m pretty sure “0.4 kg” is not exaggerating the guessed weight to guess how “little” leaked since last inspection.  Remember (from my blogpost 2 weeks before) that the stuff leaking out of tank AY-102 contains 3,363,300,000,000 Bq/Kg of Cs-137.  Easy:

0.4 kg x 3,363,300,000,000 Bq/Kg = 

So a “small leak”, right?  134,532,000,000 Bq of Cs-137 + 2/3rds more of other radioactive isotopes and extremely toxic chemicals.    That’s the 0.1 gallon that leaked since last inspection; all in all 4 times that has leaked into the annulus, so far.

But for this soda-can-style “tiny amount”,  let’s just ponder the Cesium-137 alone (half lafe: about 30 years, dangerous for half a millennium).   What does that even mean, right?

Well, to give you an idea, the Permanent Control Zone of  Chernobyl starts at 555,000 Bq/m^3.  (See my fallout map comparison of Chernobyl versus Fukushima, and – related to this: my blogpost re. Fallout maps for the United States) To get an idea of how bad the contents of such a “can of soda” are:  how many square meters can you contaminate with that “can of soda” that it would equal the contamination of that (mandatory & permanently closed) hot zone of Chernobyl ?

134,532,000,000 divided by 555,000 = 2,424,000 m^2 (square meters) = 0.93591 sq mile

So about 1 square mile would reach that extreme level if it nicely stayed in such a square mile.  But it it were to spread along the bottom of the Colombia River, let’s say a half mile wide for its first 30 miles (so by the town of Richland and Kennewich), just for the sake of ‘getting an idea of the scale of this stuff’s radioactivity, pretending that it wouldn’t wash out to the Ocean to add to the Fukushima contamination of the Pacific Ocean, it would leave that beautiful river stretch… with an activity rate, just for Cs-137, of…

555000 Bq/m^2 x 0.93591 sq mile / 15 sq miles =34,628 Bq/ m^2 over 15 miles of Colombia river, a half mile wide…  (and this is just a quarter of what’s leaking into the space only protected by one more barrier before reaching the soil!)   I’m sorry but, comparing it to just a “can of soda” may score some dark humor chuckles to people on the inside of this mess’ cleanup, but that’s incredibly deceptive, ’cause that really doesn’t sound like much at all.  And clearly: it is no “small amount”.

If it would make it through the second layer and keep going, it’s enough to significantly toxify the Colombia River, a drinking water and irrigation source for millions of people, for centuries to come.

Now let’s have a look at the average daily leaking:

[to repeat the quote, different emphasis of mine:]  “AY-102 continues to leak small amounts of waste material into its annulus.  The current best estimate is that the liquid volume at the leak accumulation site has increased from approximately 0.2 gallons on September 26, 2012, to approximately 0.4 gallons on June 12, 2013.  The increase between the last two inspections was approximately 0.1 gallons or about the contents of a 12-ounce can of soda,” the spokesman said. 

0.2 gallons increase from Sept 26, 2012 to June 12, 2013 = 259 days (not counting begin and end days).    So, to double the amount released from 0.1 gallon = 134,532,000,000 Bq of Cs-137 (+ 2/3rds of other radioactive isotopes and extremely toxic chemicals I’m not even looking into here) TIMES 2 = 269,064,000,000 Bq … in 259 days =  1,038,857 Bq PER DAY of just Cs-137 is leaking (+ 2/3rd of the rest, some of which is much worse, even including Plutonium traces).

Over a million becquerels of highly carcinogenic radioactive cesium-137 is leaking out of the interior of one tank EVERY DAY … and the spokesperson for the company in chanrge of cleanup spins that to sound as if that’s no big deal, just a “small amount,” just like “a can of soda”?      My goodness…  not sure if they’re’re trying to be funny, but in any case, I sure wish they’d stop the belittling.  That is not “small”, that’s actually extremely serious.  I’m pretty sure they’re aware of that.

Love how they’re all trying to keep this mess contained; everyone appreciates that, but there really is no reason to make this sound any bit less serious than it is.

“Can of Soda” translation:  The equivalent of radioactive Cesium-137 that could cover 4 square miles with a contamination as severe as the “Permanent Control Zone of  Chernobyl” has already leaked from the interior of Hanford tank AY-102 to its annulus.  Over a million becquerel of Cs-137 leaks out of the interior of the tank EVERY DAY, on average.  Only one barrier remains before it reaches the soil and starts making its way to the Colombia River.  The leaking continues.   

And there’s also this other news piece, this one from June 2, 2013 in The Seattle Times:

Will Hanford ever be cleaned up?

To quote:

“So what does all of this mean for the environment and the safety of nearby communities?

The groundwater at Hanford already is contaminated, but scientists gauge the risks to be minimal because it would take decades for contaminants already in the soil to reach the Columbia River. The closest tank sits five miles from the river, home to endangered fish and a source of drinking water for some 175,000 people immediately downstream.

“From the standpoint of worrying about an immediate hazard, we’re not there,” said Ken Niles of the Oregon Department of Energy. “But the problem is that resolving these issues at Hanford takes so long.””

Scientists gauge the risks to be minimal, and there is no IMMEDIATE hazard…  meaning…. , to translate the spin:  the risks are extreme and given the extreme difficulty of handling this kind of waste, there isn’t that much time left to prevent much worse.

Why is it so hard for the nuclear industry to be non-deceptive?

Radioisotope Analysis Results for sampled Seaweed, Soil & Mushrooms – (Northern Humboldt County, California)

Okanogan Valley, Northern Washington (USA) – June 5, 2013 - [DISCLAIMER]

• –> The shortlink for this blogpost is http://wp.me/puwO9-22Y

In my blog post, “Radiation Fallout Maps for the United States (May 1, 2012)”, I pointed out that land spots in the Pacific Northwest received more radioactive fallout from the (ongoing) Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster than some areas in Eastern Japan, and that more testing of soils and an extensive radiation mapping effort for all of North America was called for.  That remains the case.

Trinidad Beach, Trinidad, Humboldt County, Northern California
One of the locations I sampled from, in this case a small amount of Dulse and Rockweed seaweeds.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, April 2013.

On March 25, 2013, I started out with the blog post, “Seeking Lab for Radio-isotopic Analysis of Samples. Suggestions Welcome,” to which I added the couple suggestions (received by email).  I ended up going with EMSL Analytical,  Inc, for the combination of high quality, broad range of isotopes tested for, prompt clear communications, and price.

At the beginning of April, while gathering samples of various soil locations and food items in Northern California, I reiterated my point of “Why I think Humboldt County California needs Its Fukushima Radioactive Fallout Mapped“.  That’s just where I was living at the time (currently in the process of moving north of there), the same holds true for all of Western North America, which is quite obvious when you look at the maps provided in the blogposts above.

Due to the high cost of quality testing (@ $125/per sample), and with a maximum budget of $600 designated for this (many thanks for the support!!!), I ended up only getting 4 samples fully analyzed : 2 soil samples, a mixed wild mushrooms sample, and a sample of local Pacific Ocean seaweeds.

(I either ate or tossed all the other samples I had gathered.)

A description of the 4 samples, their laboratory testing results,
and my commentary, are this blogpost.

The Samples:

• Mushrooms:    

Morel and Chantrelles from Sig Rivers National Forest, mixed into one sample.

50.3 g mixed mushrooms:  Combination of wild CHANTERELLES mushrooms (25.2 g (dry weight)) + wild MOREL mushrooms (25.1 g (dry weight)), from same area: reportedly gathered during rainy season (November-December 2012) from Six Rivers National Forest, near Weitchpec, Humboldt County, Northern California.

According to this Health With Food article from March 20, 2011, “Mushrooms That Absorb Radioactive Cesium 137“, both Chanterelles and Morels are “low-radioactivity” mushrooms, which makes the result (see below) all the more striking.

• Seaweeds:

Seaweed sampled from Trinidad, CA

64.1 g (WET weight,) of mixed seaweed, mainly Dulse (red) and Rockweed (green) from Pacific Ocean Beach between Trinidad head and College Cove, Trinidad, Humboldt County, Northern California, Sampled at low tide on April 21, 2013.

.

.

•  Soil Sample “#2″: 

  500.0 g (partially moist) Soil from bottom of small already-dried-out meadow pool/pond, sampled on April 29, 2013 from edge of Six River National Forest, near Willow Creek, Humboldt County, Northern California .

• Soil Sample “#3″:

500.0 g of fresh rich compost soil, made from compostables from Northern Humboldt County, Northern California   Sample ingredient bought from Northern California farm store; Sampled on April 29, 2013.

• The Results:

——- Laboratory Report ——-

Gamma Spectroscopy   [ATTN: Michael Van Broekhoven – EMSL Case 381304728]

Project: Mushrooms, Soil, and Seaweed Analysis

Procurement of Samples and Analytical Overview:

All of the samples that were submitted for Gamma Spectroscopy analysis were received on May 2, 2013. The soil samples were placed into appropriately labeled aluminum pans and placed into a drying oven to remove all moisture.

The samples were then poured into a quart sized paint can and shaken to homogenize the samples. Each sample was then transferred into an appropriately labeled 500mL Marinelli beaker and counted for 8 hours using a high purity Germanium gamma detector. The mushroom and seaweed samples were analyzed in their entirety since insufficient sample was submitted and counted for 16 hours to help achieve lower detection limits. All samples were analyzed using the EMSL “P” Library to look for specific isotopes. This library mainly focuses on Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM) along with the addition of Cesium, Iodine, Zirconium, and Cobalt.

All results are considered to be close to background radiation, even though some Cesium was detected in the soil samples, the amount of radioactivity detected is considered to be minimal.” [For my own additional commentary, see below the test result table]

Descriptions & Definitions:

“MDA – Is the minimum amount of detectable activity associated for a particular measurement.

<MDA – Refers to the fact that the amount of activity was lower than what the instrument could quantify for a particular measurement.

Important Terms, Conditions, and Limitations:

[...]

Warranty: EMSL warrants to its clients that all services provided hereunder shall be performed in accordance with established and recognized analytical testing procedures and with reasonable care in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. [...]

Limits of Liability: In no event shall EMSL be liable for indirect, special, consequential, or incidental damages, including, but not limited to, damages for loss of profit or goodwill regardless of the negligence (either sole or concurrent) of EMSL and whether EMSL has been informed of the possibility of such damages, arising out of or in connection with EMSL’s services thereunder or the delivery, use, reliance upon or interpretation of test results by client or any third party. We accept no legal responsibility for the purposes for which the client [that would be me] uses the test results. [...]  The data and other information contained in this report, as well as any accompanying documents, represent only the samples analyzed.  [...] They are reported upon the condition that they are not to be reproduced wholly or in part for advertising or other purposes without the written approval from the laboratory.”

• Samples Test Results: 

SO, to put the Iodine-131, Cesium- 134 and Cesium-137 results in SI units (International System of units):

• 

Four spring 2013 samples from Northern California,
Analyzed by a qualified lab to check for evidence of radioactive fallout
from the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear distaster in Japan, 5000 miles away.
Table: Michaël Van Broekhoven, allegedlyapparent.wordpress.com

• !-> Implied likely Surface Soil Contamination:

Soil sample #2 (500 grams partially moist) was taken from an area near where I used to live, that I suspected could have elevated levels due to rainwater having gathered there in a pooling area that had already dried up after a very dry spring.  I’m multiplying it by x60 to get an approximate (conservative) surface contamination estimate; leaving me with this very possible level of 803.4 Bq/m2 (give or take a couple hundred Becquerel), for ease and to make sure not to exaggerate, I feel very confident to say that the contamination in that most-likely-contamination-elevated area* surpasses 500 Bq/m^2, and might even measure above 1,000 Bq/m^2 if the Cesium seeped deeper into the soil over the past 2 years.  Knowing how I gathered the sample, 500 Bq/m^2 (in a lower lying area of perhaps 200 m^2) is more than likely, but remains speculative due to not having precisely measured the surface area sampled.

*Important note:  ”Hotspot” would really not be an appropriate term for such levels that pose practically no threat.  Based on the fallout maps of Chernobyl and Fukushima, I wouldn’t be concerned until levels surpass 10,000 Bq/m^2, or food items were to surpass half the old maximum level of 100 Bq/kg Cs-137.

In any case, this makes it significantly higher than the highest Cs-137 contamination reported by the USGS in 2012 (240 Bq/M^2 near Los Angeles, see my Fallout Maps of the United States):

Added data in red is a a calculated conservative “guestimate” based on a soil sample with 13 Bq/Kg of Cs-137

Some more thoughts on this:

• If the samples I had tested were representative of the vast untested regions of the Westerns US, then contamination is low enough for me to still not really be concerned about health-hazardous widespread food contamination in the US west.   However, these results are among the highest (if not THE highest, not sure about that one yet) that I’ve seen for Fukushima** contamination of North America, the likelihood of far worse contamination existing and remaining unknown to residents and farmers remains high.   (What you do not know may significantly impact your quality of life.  Ignorance is NOT bliss.)
• My suspicion that ‘hotspots’ may exist throughout the American and Canadian west is clearly not unreasonable: If just one sample can test higher (well, it did!) than what the US government has reported so far, then it’s rather likely that far higher contamination exists as well.  The case for having North America’s radioactive fallout mapped and scrutinized in detail, just as was done (with US help) for Japan, to find out if problematic levels exist on farm land, remains called for.  The US government’s continued refusal to do so suggests outright contempt for the health and wellbeing of its population.
• Although the radioactivity levels found are troubling and underscore the madness of nuclear technology, in themselves these results are not worrisome enough for me to change my eating habits (in my opinion – and make sure to read my DISCLAIMER), but the fact that just ONE totally random sample of mushrooms from Far-Northern California shows a contamination level of radioactive Cesium-137 measuring 23 Bq/Kg, one of the highest so far found in North America (!), suggests that it is quite possible that levels exceeding the old health maximum level of 100 Bq/kg may be reached in patches of forest with heightened fallout contamination throughout the Pacific Northwest.  This underscores the need for detailed fallout maps and more testing by agencies such as both the EPA and FDA, who have been downplaying this disaster since the very beginning of it.
• Compare the mushroom result with these 2012 findings of Cs-137 contamination of mushrooms in Japan, and this Ex-SKF translated AUGUST 6, 2012 report: “31,000 Bq/Kg of #Radioactive Cesium in Wild Mushrooms in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, Highest “Official” Measurement Ever”  In Europe, the safety limit was raised to 600 Bq/Kg (not because Cs-137 is less carcinogenic there, but because even that lower standard is still surpassed in various areas due to the fallout from Chernobyl in 1986, see article from Finland: ‘Mushrooms Contain High Radioactive Cesium Levels’, which also states that rinsing and boiling can remove as much as 75% of the cesium from the mushrooms.
• Other people have been doing tests as well.  See for instance the reports by EnviroReporter, which included (in August 2012) the finding by Security Tokyo that California Oranges sold in Japan measured 13.23 Bq/kg of Cs-137. (see here).

**I say “Fukushima contamination”, but an unknown percentage of the manmade radioactivity found can also be left from Chernobyl and nuclear tests.

—- end report —

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My visit to Hanford’s “Reactor B’, World’s First Full-Scale Plutonium Factory.

Inside the B Reactor remain many off-limits areas that have not been sufficiently decontaminated to allow visitors.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven

To visit this monumental relic of  modern industrial war insanity yourself, go here.

As I mentioned in my previous blogpost, “The Hanford Site, holding the Pacific Northwest at Nuclear Gunpoint“, I visited the ‘B Reactor’ at the Hanford Site.

Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first nuclear bomb, tested at the Trinity site, and in the A-bomb used to annihilate the (almost entirely civilian) city of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945, killing more than 60,000 human beings in a flash, and tens of thousands more in the minutes, days and years following the nuclear blast.

As part of my checking out what’s up with Hanford, I visited ‘Reactor B’ in the 100B area on a public tour.  It’s the only part open to all of the public.  For a tour of part of the highly radioactive area, you have to be a US citizen and be cleared after a background check.  The tour guides on the B Reactor Tour were all super friendly and especially enthusiastic about telling the historic stories of the scientists, operators and building crews.  You get some regional history on the way, some geology, and once you’re inside the B Reactor building, you get blasted near-non-stop with war and cold war history and basic nuclear physics and engineering.

Greetings… If you’re not Gung Ho about obliterating fellow human beings, you may be looked at with a slight hint of suspicion.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013
(biometrics of other visitor blacked out)

The most commonly used adjective to describe it was “amazing”.  Amazing engineering feat, amazing focus and dedication, amazing luck, amazing precision, amazing craftsmanship, amazing ingenuity, amazing secrecy, just… yeah, all of it really was and somehow remains…

‘amazing’…

There I stood. A snapshot after spending over an hour inside that monstrocity.
Myself in the B Reacor parking lot, Hanford Site, Washington State. May 28, 2013

You’re greeted by very well-informed scientist-type guides, some whom used to work inside these nuclear weapons factories for years or decades (and proud of it).  On my tour, Tour 23, most other “nuclear tourists” were locals, most of whom worked on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in one capacity or another themselves.  They too shared some stories.  None touched on the horror unleashed…

The cold face of adversity taken to the extreme, this place is a nightmarish hell world of make-belief and senseless denial of epic proportions…  It lacks a prayer room to bawl your heart out.

One of many documentaries on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (almost all of ‘m buying into the war logic). CLICK IMAGE to watch on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4NB3dl_roQ

On the tour, the atmosphere is casual and cordial, very well guided along an inside trajectory that includes videos, demonstrations and stories.  Here’s a selection of photos from visiting that horrific place of death and destruction:

The main hall showing the face of the reactor core, where the Uranium fuel would be loaded into the graphite holes. The nuclear reaction, moderated by neutron-absorbing Boron rods would create Plutonium, which would be exstracted from the fuel chemically at a different plant.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

Close-up of the Uranium rod loaders.

Many areas remain too radioactive to enter.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

Welcome, my friend, welcome to the machine!
Click image to listen to Pink Floyd
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013

The crucial water intake to prevent the reactor from overheating.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

Basically they tell you how to make Plutonium…
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

In the control room… Being blasted with physics and history made it difficult to feel into the space. I think the guides could tell I wasn’t really interested in all the blah blah blah of how “amazing” of an engineering feat this was… totally glossing over the fact that its sole purpose was inconceivable heartlessness: to kill as many complete strangers as possible in one blast.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.
(I blacked out the biometrics of local tourists)

Control Room video with archival footage and nuclear physics animations. The clock is left at the time the reactor first reached criticality on September 26, 1944
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013

Control Room panel

Old radioactive train wagon, which used to take the irradiated uranium, containing the sought-after Plutonium, to the separation plant.
Side of Reactor B, Hanford Site, WA.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013

One of many historic documents. Over 50,000 people were directly involved with the Manhattan Project, but less than 1% of those actually knew they were participating in building a weapon of mass destruction.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013

The war, however, never truly ended.  When stripped of nation-state identity, and seen as a human being on this Planet Earth, what started with the Manhattan Project unleashed nothing short of a nuclear war against the Earth herself.  Since those darkest hours, at least 2,084 nuclear bombs have been detonated on this beautiful Earth…

Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project’s “Trinity” test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan’s nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea’s two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).
Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing”the fear and folly of nuclear weapons.” It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.

My visit was not to drool over the science and the “amazing” engineering feat that was accomplished with the Manhattan Project, though, but to feel into this darkest of the darkest of humanity’s disconnect from the heart.   For my reflections from that angle, see my blogpost, “Towards Pacifying the Darkest Dance – Exploring the Non-Physical Dimensions of Radioactivity.”  (->when written, this will be a hyperlink.  Note: The writing of this blog post could be awhile.)

MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH

The Hanford Site, holding the Pacific Northwest at Nuclear Gunpoint

‘Hanford Nuclear Reservation’, just outside Richland, Washington

All over the area are buried nuclear waste sites, even in the parking lot of the public access B reactor.
All Photos by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013

• The shortlink for this blog post is http://wp.me/puwO9-1Vh

(before midnight May 27, 2013: 8336 Counts in 3hrs 32 min = 39.3 CPM background radiation, completely normal a meter off the ground on clean surface indoor, at a motel in nearby Kennewick, WA.)

• Soundtrack for this blogpost: The timeless and updated ‘Radioactivity’, by Kraftwork, as brought at a No Nukes 2012 event in Tokio, Japan. 

• In this blogpost, my attempt to grasp how serious it is that many of the Hanford Site’s underground nuclear waste storage tanks are already leaking.

‘The Hanford Site‘, as it is known now, is a mostly decommissioned nuclear weapons fission material production complex on the banks of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, operated by the United States federal government’s Department of Energy.  Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project in the tiny town of Hanford in south-central Washington, the site was home to the B Reactor, the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in the world, and at the height of its humanity-threatening madness supplied plutonium for tens of thousands of nuclear weapons.  It is now the focus of a mind-bogling cleanup challenge.

To the right of the Colombia River, the B Reactor, with also visible further in the background along the river some of the other reactors that were used to manufacture the nuclear fuel for tens of thousands of nuclear bombs.
Hanford Site, Washington (USA), May 28, 2013.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven.

The site has been known by many names, including Hanford Project, Hanford Works, Hanford Engineer Works or HEW and Hanford Nuclear Reservation (which I still think is the best name for it) or HNR.   Location:

Located in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, West of Idaho, North of California and south of the Canadian province of British Colombia, the Hanford Site lies upstream the Colombia River from agricultural areas that depend on the river for irrigation, as well as cities such as The Dalles and Portland, Oregon.

Having Chai at a corporate coffee establishment, on the southern end of the ‘Hanford Site’, in Southeastern Washington. Click image for an other unannotated site map at http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/VisitorControl.

Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first nuclear bomb, tested at the Trinity site, and in the A-bomb used to annihilate the (almost entirely civilian) city of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945, killing more than 60,000 human beings in a flash, and tens of thousands more in the minutes, days and years following the nuclear blast.

As part of my checking out what’s up with Hanford, I visited ‘Reactor B’ in the 100B area on a public tour – See my blogpost about that: “My visit to Hanford’s “Reactor B’, World’s First Full-Scale Plutonium Factory.“

My visit was not to drool over the science and the “amazing” engineering feat that was accomplished with the Manhattan Project, though, but to feel into this darkest of the darkest of humanity’s disconnect from the heart.   For my reflections from that angle, see my blogpost, “Towards Pacifying the Darkest Dance – Exploring the Non-Physical Dimensions of Radioactivity.” (->when written, this will be a hyperlink.  Note: Could be awhile before I get to it.)

Now about the radioactivity stored at Hanford:

• MUST WATCH:  Reporters from Television station King 5 NEWS recently did an investigative report series on this extremely troubling nuclear waste site.   Highly recommended*:

MUST SEE:   CLICK IT to WATCH
http://www.king5.com/news/investigators/Hanford-officials-hid-leak-evidence-from-advisory-panel-208417861.html

*hat tip: ENENews. For this and other news sources that report on nuclear issues, see my short Nuclear News LINKS.  Other options also available in the above tab ‘Nuclear‘.

So, those unknown materials referenced in the Sept. 7, 2012 briefing (shared in the above TV report) were spotted during a photographic inspection conducted by technicians in the first week of August 2012 in Tank 241-AY-102′s annulus — the 2-foot-wide space separating the inner and outer walls of the tank.

For the Full report from which this image was plucked (original shows more), click image.
Source: http://www.hanford.gov/files.cfm/Attachment_2_AY-102DSTUpdate_110712.pdf

The sample was tested and showed measurable amounts of Cesium-137 and Strontium-90, two highly radioactive elements that are a byproduct of nuclear fission. Some Plutonium 239/240 and Americium-241 were also detected.  A reference to the results in a Leak Assessment Report made public on Nov. 7, 2012 says the materials were registering 800,000 dpm (‘disintegrations per minute’, same as CPM, counts per minute), an extremely high level of radioactivity.

!–> That report: http://www.hanford.gov/files.cfm/Attachment_2_AY-102DSTUpdate_110712.pdf  (In it, “River Protection” is the short name of the corporate contractor managing the cleanup operation: http://www.wrpstoc.com/ )

An excerpt from the report:

Source: http://www.hanford.gov/files.cfm/Attachment_2_AY-102DSTUpdate_110712.pdf

So, 45mR.hr “Window Open”…  I suppose that’s 45 millieRem, which converts to 450 µSv (450 microSievert in SI units). I use my own Radiation Units page for these conversions)… ok, that’s  high, but not insanely high for what this is (imo – and do read my DISCLAIMER). I’m not sure from what distance this measurement was taken.

(background radiation in the not-so-contaminated areas fluctuates between 0.05 and 0.20 µSv/hr, from what I could tell watching my Medcom Inspector Alert).

Now, for the Cesium-137, with a half-life of 30 years, dangerously radioactive for the next half millenium: 90.9 µCi/gm (microCurie per gram per minute)… what is that in the Si units Bq/Kg (Becquerel per kilogram), to be able to compare it more easily?

90.9 µCi/gm –> x60 = 5,454 µCi/g (per second, so it can be converted to Bq, which is always per second), which converted to Bq is: 3.363300E+006 Bq/g

To put these “202 million disintegrations per minute per gram”, in the SI unit Becquerel (disintegrations per second) and x1,000 for per kilogram, that translates to:

The stuff leaking out of the first wall of tank 241-AY-102 contains: 
3,363,300,000,000 Bq/Kg of Cs-137 !!!

WOWZA!   How much of that insanely radioactive goo is there in these double-shelled tanks?  Including other longer-living isotopes, in 2005:  about 2,960,000,000,000,000,000 Bq, according to this great overview document:

!!–> http://srnl.doe.gov/emsp/day1_overv/hanford-gaspl.pdf   -> Recommended to get the gist of what’s now being dealt with by thousands of people working on the cleanup effort at the Hanford Site.

Consider the potential devastation if the leaking that has already seeped into the ground, and the disastrous consequences if the current leakage were to escape the second wall, were to reach the Colombia River…    

Source: http://www.hanford.gov/files.cfm/Attachment_2_AY-102DSTUpdate_110712.pdf

So, just to grasp the seriousness of a tank like this showing signs of leaking:  if you take the contents of these double-shelled tanks (2,960,000,000,000,000,000 Bq (data from last link: 296 E+16 Bq), which consists of a little more than 1/3rd Cs-137 with various other (some much worse) isotopes) and ponder it smeared it out over its surroundings at the contamination level of the Permanent Control Zone of  Chernobyl (555,000 Bq/m^3 of Cs-137; so, for this example case with a mixture of isotopes, let’s say 1.5 million Bq/m^3, so that the Cs-137 would be at just above the highest Chernobyl Permanent Control Zone Cesium level); (meaning the actual contamination would be far worse)… this would terribly contaminate and render uninhabitable more than 760,000 square miles. (My fallout map comparison of Chernobyl versus Fukushima shows such contamination maps and legends for Cs 137 and Cs-134 for Europe and Japan)…. here’s the little calculation:

1.5 million Bq/m^3 = 1.5 million times a million Bq per square kilometer

Spreading the whole cocktail of these double-shelled tanks:

2,960,000,000,000,000,000 Bq divided by 1,500,000,000,000 Bq/km^3 = 1,973,333, km^3 which converts to just over 761,910 square miles.  For comparison: Oregon 98,381 sq mi + Washington 71,300 sq mi + Idaho 83,570 sq mi, + all of British Colombia 364,764 sq mi, add up to a combined 618,015 square miles.

On top of that, the Hanford Site holds more than double when other storage tanks and solid wastes are also considered.

Conclusion:

These big underground double-walled (and already beginning to fail) storage tanks contain enough radioactivity to utterly ruin the entire Pacific Northwest, and all waste combined at the Hanford Site, if not dealt with properly and timely, has the potential to practically render all of North America uninhabitable.   The Hanford Site is among the most pressing challenges to be dealt with on this planet.

There it is…   After my visit to the B Reactor, I drove a half hour into the Hanford Site, until I reached the armed checkpoint, where I smiled at the guard and said “I guess this is as far in as I can go, right?” Without the proper badge, I had to U-turn. But I could see the worst contaminated site in the distance (with the cranes), where the cleanup operation is in full swing.
Hanford Site, Washington.  
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

Hats off to the cleanup workers!   (You can follow the progress on Facebook.)

DISCLAIMER

Added June 4, 2013:  Shortly after I posted this, the AP wire send out an article by SHANNON DININNY on June 2, 2013, which was picked up by several papers, including the Register Guard and the Seattle Times.  They make great additions to the above:

• http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021110401_hanfordwastexml.html?prmid=4939
• http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/29959470-75/hanford-tanks-waste-tank-nuclear.html.csp

Mount Hood

The volcano Mount Hood, as seen from just north of The Dalles, Oregon, by one of the dams on the Colombia River. 
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, end of May 2013.

Multnomah Falls (Northern Oregon)

Multnomah Falls in the Colombia River Gorge, as seen from Interstate 84, just 30 minutes east of Portland, Oregon. All photos by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

“A waterfall as magnificent and memorable as any in the country is located just a 30- minute drive outside of Portland. Visiting Multnomah Falls, a 611-foot-tall roaring, awe-inspiring cascade of icy water, lets you experience the power and beauty of nature up close and with ease. From the parking area off of I-84, a 5-minute walk is all that separates you from the exhilarating spray at the base of the falls.”  - More information at: http://www.oregon.com/attractions/multnomah_falls

Some more photos from my recent visit to Multnomah Falls:

Multnomah Falls, one of the top natural beauty tourist attractions in Oregon.
All photos by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

Multnomah Falls, Northern Oregon.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013

Love that.
Multnomah Falls, Northern Oregon.
Photo by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013

The Colombia River Gorge, looking downstream from a bit further upstream. Northern Oregon, USA
Photos by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

Crater Lake National Park (Oregon, USA)

Info about Crater Lake:  http://www.nps.gov/crla/

Some photos I took when cruising around on top of this volcano:

At Crater Lake National Park, South-Central Oregon, May 20, 2013
Photos by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

At Crater Lake National Park, South-Central Oregon, May 20, 2013
Photos by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

At Crater Lake National Park, South-Central Oregon, May 20, 2013
Photos by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

At Crater Lake National Park, South-Central Oregon, May 20, 2013
Photos by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

Snowboarders at Crater Lake National Park, South-Central Oregon, May 20, 2013
Photos by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

I shelved my plan to camp up there as the forecast called for up to 10 inches of fresh snow that night.
At Crater Lake National Park, South-Central Oregon, May 20, 2013
Photos by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

One indent-scratch. ;-/
At Crater Lake National Park, South-Central Oregon, May 20, 2013
Photos by © Michaël Van Broekhoven, 2013.

May Peace Prevail on Earth