150,000 SQ.KM of Pacific with Fukushima nuclear material - ‘Remarkable’ amount released in ocean

[mick063]

21. I have to disagree

Last edited Mon Apr 22, 2013, 11:05 PM - Edit history (5)

The volume that leaks out of the tanks is an unknown.


It has been revised upward in the last few years from a few gallons a year to hundreds of gallons a year. These have all been estimates.


There are millions of gallons of waste in single shell tanks. The vitrification plant (process that solidifies the waste into manageable logs) is years from completion. There is no major construction underway to build enough double shell tanks to hold all of the waste. Known "leakers" are transferred to the newer double shell tanks, but that is not a fast process, and old technology has not allowed for 100% transfer as well. Hence, this waste will continue to be stored in tanks built as long ago as 1944 far in to the future.

The tank leaks are not diluted well because they require water medium for movement. These tanks are located in a desert that receives less than ten inches of rain a year. Without a good, consistent flush of rain water, the contaminates will dwell in the soil, moving slowly down with each rainfall. An ever expanding underground cloud. In effect, a channel direct to ground water will be created and will eventually becomes saturated. Upon saturation it will "dump" a large volume in a short period of time. This ground contamination is not comparable with the ocean when speaking of dilution.

Where Fukishima as an instant, acute effect on the environment that can dissipate over a shorter amount of time, the tank waste is a slow, methodical contamination over expanding areas that cannot be cleaned up with current technology. Note: In the nuclear clean up world, clean up = dilution.


So it is a matter of what snapshot in time you wish to take the photograph. There will be a time when these tank wastes far exceed the contamination from Fukishima but in a more localized area and with a great deal more persistence. That is until it eventually travels to the Columbia River.

Edit upon discovery: Last revision estimates that up to 1 million gallons (that's right...1 million) have leaked from the tank farms. This is bad stuff. I know of a couple occupational exposures that resulted in debilitating injury. The word from the workers is vastly different from official accounts.

The Government Accountability Project claims that between 1987 and 1992, it took only 16 vapor releases requiring medical attention to trigger large scale investigations by the DOE, the then tank farm contractor Westinghouse, the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, the DOE's Office of Inspector General, and, upon invitation, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The investigations resulted in widespread changes onsite.

Now, over a decade later, the rate of worker exposure to chemical vapors has increased 750 percent, and over 1200 chemicals have been documented in the vapors contained in the tank headspaces.

The report claims workers exposed to the tank vapors have health effects ranging from nosebleeds, persistent headaches, tearing eyes, burning skin and lungs, constant productive coughs, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea and increased heart rates. Despite these conditions, says the Government Accountability Project, CH2M Hill fails to require basic respirators in the tank farms, denies worker requests to use supplied air, and is planning to reduce the level of personal protective equipment used by tank farm workers.

I would like to note that WRPS is the company that currently operates tank farms and not CH2MHill which was the contractor at the time of this report..