nuclear-news

Plutonium danger in Los Alamos nuclear plan

In the event of an earthquake and inadequate safety features, highly carcinogenic plutonium smoke could escape the building, rendering the land beneath the plume too contaminated for use.

“It would be like a dirty bomb,” Mello said. 

Nuclear watchdog groups slam New Mexico plan, By Zelie Pollon, Santa Fe, New Mexico | Wed Apr 27, 2011 (Reuters) – The U.S. government should rethink plans for a multi-billion dollar plutonium complex at Los Alamos after the recent nuclear catastrophe in Japan and the discovery of increased seismic risk in New Mexico, nuclear watchdog groups said.

A hearing began on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on a lawsuit filed by the Los Alamos Study Group seeking to block any further design, construction or funding of the proposed Chemical and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility until adequate studies of environmental impact and alternatives are complete. Arguments are expected to continue on Monday.

“The real question is whether Los Alamos and the country need this facility at all,” asked Greg Mello, executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group. “Between now and 2023, this facility will generate nothing but cost to national security, to the environment, and to the taxpayer, no matter what design they choose. So the point is: Why build it?”…

.. The new building would support the plutonium pit production facility, which is used for manufacturing plutonium, stockpile surveillance, plutonium heat source fabrication for deep-space NASA missions, and other research and development involving nuclear materials, Roark said…….The project “is an important part of our effort to invest in the future, build a 21st-century nuclear security enterprise, implement the president’s nuclear security agenda, and improve the way the (National Nuclear Security Administration) does business,” said Josh McConaha, deputy director of public affairs for the administration.

But critics such as Jay Coughlin, executive director of Nuclear Watch NewMexico, say that seismic issues are a “very serious concern.”

….Los Alamos, located 35 miles northwest of Santa Fe, is the home of the world’s first atomic bomb, created through the top-secret Manhattan Project during the early part of World War II. The first bomb was tested at the Trinity site in south-central New Mexico in July 1945; two atomic bombs were then dropped on Japan the following month. To this day, New Mexico maintains the nation’s largest nuclear weapons arsenal.

Mello’s group says that recent cost-cutting proposals at the lab involve eliminating essential safety features.

In the event of an earthquake and inadequate safety features, highly carcinogenic plutonium smoke could escape the building, rendering the land beneath the plume too contaminated for use.

“It would be like a dirty bomb,” Mello said.   http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/27/us-nuclear-new-mexico-idUSTRE73Q7CI20110427

April 28, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, technology, USA