WIPP Updates

me | 2/28/2014 | self

[logi_cal869]

I just sent an email to someone outlining some 'odd things' about the WIPP 'radiological event'.

Most following it know the best sources (perhaps a bit fringe, but detail-oriented nevertheless) are:

https://www.radcast.org/updates-on-wipp/ and http://pissinontheroses.blogspot.com/

I'm avoiding speculation on radiation releases (for those that want to piss on my 'histrionics'), just noting some really large discrepancies in what's been released to-date, as it's a template for future radiological events.

Here is the base content of the email:

Sorry for the length. No way to condense this further as I have my own analysis below not really elaborated in the linked blogs.

First, on the "Exhaust System" at WIPP: That last email contained a couple of links about the site's systems, in particular the so-called 'exhaust system'.

The latest reports put the systems 'emergency response' at 30 seconds to a minute based on feedback from Continuous Airflow Measurement (CAM) sensors.

From this report dated March 3, 2011:

"Although EPA determined that NESHAP monitoring is not needed for disposal activities..."

NESHAP is National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants . Part H, as their voluntary MOU with EPA outlines, can be found here.

Recall, again, after reading that that EPA determined NESHAP monitoring is not needed for WIPP.

On the exhaust specifications:

The exhaust air from the underground facility is continually sampled at Station A, which is located approximately 21 feet, or 1½ shaft diameters, below ground level in the exhaust shaft (see Fig. 1).

That's a 14-foot diameter exhaust stack. I'll come back to that.

The nominal velocities of the return air in the upper exhaust shaft are 2.0 m/s, 8.6 m/s, and 13.3 m/s to 17.9 m/s for the filtration, alternate, and normal ventilation modes, respectively ([9], Section 2.1)

I calculated that's 255 cubic meters/second. If the release was 30 seconds flat, that's 7650 cubic meters of air expelled before filtration kicked in.

POTR blog asserts 10,000 cubic meters of air expelled (Note: I still question their Bq results):

(1) The DOE WIPP site released a Plutonium Cloud on Valentine's Day which we calculate to have been 330,000,000 Becquerel in size, released over an approximate 30 second period in an estimated 10,000 cubic meters of air. All of which rapidly shot Northwest towards Denver. We also see a significant risk of additional explosions and more significant releases (see more info below)

(Ok. That's an error rate that's not 'huge', but I think they were calculating based on volume from a different source. You have my source above (also here). I think the 2 numbers are close enough. Basically they're asserting WIPP's exhaust ventilation rates 20,000 cubic meters/minute, or 25% more than my results. If that data exists elsewhere, I didn't find it. Even if we conservatively estimated a 25% Error in their calculations, it still pales, you know?)

What's now asserted is that the exhaust didn't switch to filtration mode in 30 seconds, but between 5-20 minutes based on 'reliable source inside'.

Based on the new information, and the historically credible nature of the provider, we are revising the Plutonium release event time estimate to have occurred over a period of 5 to 20 minutes (if not longer). This means that the volumetric size of the Plutonium Cloud was 10 to maybe 100 TIMES larger than previously calculated. We will follow up with calculations in the near future.

Worse, the press conference yesterday had Farok Sharif, Project Manager for the Nuclear Waste Partnership (the contractor that operates the site) speaking of "The Recovery Plan" (starting at 1:40 here):

"...this is the scaffolding we have set up...The first thing that we want to do is to stabilize the mine ventilation system...we actually built mockups before they showed up onsite, to make sure that once we establish this that the facility is going to work..."

That statement should be a very big red flag, ya know? The only reason to 'stabilize the ventilation system' is if it could have been damaged. It could only have been damaged from an explosion. An explosive event might have prevented the automated system from going into 'filtration mode' immediately in 'real time', just like the 'inside source' asserts. Explosive how? Well, the type of 'transuranic waste' deposited at WIPP is similar to what's in the tanks at Hanford and can, potentially, product hydrogen & methane, just as the tanks at Hanford have (they've 'burped' before; I just can't imagine they didn't think of this at WIPP before presuming, of course, that's what happened. IMHO, it's the only thing that explains the concentrations of airborne particles).

On the "contaminated workers":

From a WIPP news release via CNN:

"An air monitor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant detected the spike in an isolated area half a mile below the ground."

That's interesting, as the only air monitors I find details on are the 3 CAMS at the exhaust port, at Station A, 21 feet from the exhaust port exit.

Regarding 'radiological releases' and 'human contamination, originally the news releases from WIPP outlined the day FOLLOWING the 'event' as follows:

"Department of Energy Officials said that all non-essential personnel were allowed to return home this evening after radioactive tests resulted in the employees testing negative for contamination."

By the 28th, 'biological assay' tests were finally returned:

"Employees present the night of the event were checked for any external contamination before being allowed to leave the site. The site’s Radiological Control Program collected biological samples from each employee to check for possible exposure from inhaling airborne radioactive particles.

The baker’s dozen tested positive in that test, a bioassay. A bioassay of this type is a radiological assessment of internal exposure to radioactive materials. They are taken when contamination from outside the body is suspected to have been inhaled or ingested."

Recall the 'night of the event' refers to the evening of the 14th/early morning of the 15th. The 'initial tests' were returned from the lab today, the 28th. Well, gee...there are testing standards for 'Bio-assay' tests. See here and here and here (these papers from Idaho State University on Radiation Safety and Training are based on the same regs that bind WIPP)

"A bioassay is required whenever personal contamination or injury caused by a contaminated object occurs, or if airborne radioactivity may have been inhaled"

and

"The optimum time for performing a bioassay is within a few days after a potential exposure."

Well, they must have felt something much more serious than what they were dishing out to the public must have happened to have what can only be defined as 'an abundance of caution' to perform a bio-assay the SAME DAY as the incident. Read "SERIOUS RADIOLOGICAL EVENT" endangering workers (public be damned). As for the lab tests themselves:

"Laboratory testing may also be performed to determine if radioactive materials have been absorbed, ingested, or inhaled. This typically involves collecting samples of urine (and sometimes blood); it can determine the presence of a particular radioisotope, the unstable, radioactive form of an element such as iodine-131, and can be helpful in making treatment decisions. In addition, laboratories can perform tests that would detect any biological effects from exposure, such as a drop in the number of blood cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets) or abnormalities in chromosomes, which would be useful in assessing short- or long-term damage from radiation. Currently, few laboratories are certified to test human samples for radioactive atoms or nuclides (radionuclides); they include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a few public health laboratories, and one reference laboratory. In addition, only a few types of radionuclides can be identified with current testing methods. However, the CDC is in the process of developing a new urine test to determine whether a person has radionuclides in their body and, if so, what type and how much is present. Results from the test would help to identify those exposed, evaluate their risk of complications from the exposure, and help make treatment decisions. The goal of CDC's program, called Urine Radionuclide Screen (URS), is to have the capability to detect and measure at least 20 different radio-nuclides that are considered to be high-priority and to provide results in 24 hours rather than the current 2-3 days."

(You might also want to take a gander at this report, "Baseline Measurements of Internally Deposited Radionuclides in the U.S. Population"...it exposes the fact that no reliable technique yet existed in 2006 to measure levels of ingested/inhaled radiological contamination,

"High quality urinary excretion and blood assay data on plutonium and uranium do not exist for the general U.S. population. Moreover, classical bioassay monitoring programs within the U.S. lack the necessary isotope detection sensitivity to even comply with the latest U.S. Department of Energy implementation of federal regulation 10CFR 835 for in vitro bioassay monitoring of plutonium."

...I can't find that these tests yet exist.)

Didja catch that? First off, the CDC's test, "Urine Radionuclide Screen" is not developed yet. The passage above asserts that a radiological urinalysis 'bioassay' can be performed in 2-3 days....

...it took them FOURTEEN DAYS to notify the public that the workers had received internal contamination. Did the workers get their notifications in 2-3 days, or not? That's presuming it was just a 'urine test', which doesn't jive with the links above for bioassay testing for plutonium contamination, unless they were just 'going through the motions' for the workers. There are only 2 labs that can perform "Cytogenetic Biodosimetry": Oak Ridge National Laboratory & Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Md. Invasive bioassay can include swab from the airway or blood sample, as I understand it. Just in case I got it wrong, I found this : (snippet of Table on page 4)

Assessment Method	Time for Analysis	Estimate cost per sample
cytogenetics (i.e., 20-50 metaphase triage; 1000 metaphase analysis)	>3 days	$500-3,000

And a bunch of science on making Cytogenetic Biodosimetry more efficient for testing population in the event of a mass-casualty nuclear event. Net result on the 'Contaminated Workers':

Why the additional delay to notifying the public of the results of testing that is asserted to take only 2-3 days?

Final statement: "The public is safe."

Latest 'news' prior to today (source...not high on my list as being 'unbiased')

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/us/nuclear-waste-repository-set-to-reopen-after-leak.html?_r=3 Latest 2/28:

Onsite and nearfield tests returnedFrom RSOE EDIS - Emergency and Disaster Information Service, this is the listing of information provided on the 'event':

And the absolutely latest just before I hit 'send':

http://enenews.com/most-likely-a-worst-case-scenario-at-wipp-npr-huge-chunk-of-salt-believed-to-have-crushed-drums-of-radioactive-waste-after-falling-from-ceiling-abc-investigators-now-admit-that-prob

[WHBates]

The problem is that you are conflating the weapons program and commercial nuclear waste program. Not even close even if DOE is ultimately responsible. You are correct that the government has mismanaged everything it touches but to expand that to somehow say (there for) we need Thorium reactors to save us all. That is just non-sense.

[logi_cal869]

Los Alamos and WIPP both fall under DOE.

My comments on Thorium were part of a long-ago rant.

If I nitpicked every comment typed at FR, I’d get nothing done.

I’ve got better things to do...

[logi_cal869]

Interesting: Ceiling collapse and apparent cover-up (go figure).

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/11/17/world/u-s-nuclear-dump-site-managers-waste-near-ceiling-collapse/?fbclid=IwAR2qwlmgmkgpsLChlV26glgV80w0-BjaF2IvR2BXUilH-0aySxv47U8ESlc#.W_L6sZQUkdd