Kitty Litter Shuts Down Sole US Nuclear Weapons Waste Facility

[eridani]

Things like this happen not because engineers are stupid--they happen because figuring out all potential effects in a complex system is difficult. Which is why shit happens.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/29496-focus-kitty-litter-shuts-down-sole-us-nuclear-weapons-waste-facility

Now it’s official: using the wrong kitty litter can cause a severe and expensive nuclear accident at the nation’s unique underground radioactive waste containment facility, shutting it down indefinitely.

What’s NOT official yet is why the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) used organic kitty litter that caused the nuclear waste accident in the first place, or why LANL used that kitty litter in some 678 other drums of radioactive nuclear weapons waste now located at LANL and other locations. It’s also NOT official that the wrong kitty litter was deliberately and deceitfully used for more than a year. Nor is it yet clear why the federal government, having violated New Mexico environmental laws, refuses to pay the state $54 million in fines for federal law-breaking.

Last winter, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) appointed a Technical Assessment Team of independent experts from other government labs, and the team spent most of a year investigating the 2014 Valentine’s Day radiation-release accident at New Mexico’s federal Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP). On March 26, 2015, the team produced a 277-page report that concluded that radiation was released from the facility when a single container (Drum 68660) over-heated and failed because the nuclear weapons waste it contained was packed with the wrong kind of kitty litter. That kitty litter was “chemically incompatible” with the other contents of the drum, causing it to overheat, creating gases that forced open the lid in a “thermal runaway” that led to the spill that released radiation to the environment and that still renders a large section of the underground storage area lethal to humans.

[Wilms]

1. I truly appreciated their effort to go "organic", but you're right. Shit does occur.

[Man from Pickens]

2. this issue doesn't seem to be that complex

If they used kitty litter because of the presence of an essential chemical, and then put someone in charge of the disposal who didn't understand the chemistry, and that person switched the type of litter being used without understanding the consequences of changing the chemistry, that's an education/training failure, not a complex-systems chaotic behavior problem.

This is the "cargo cult" problem, where people imitate something they saw work without understanding why it worked, and then can't figure out why the imitation doesn't work. Expect this to become more and more common as the generation of engineers which built a lot of the infrastructure on which modern society depends move into retirement, to be replaced by technicians who know how to go through the motions/process/procedure without fully understanding what they are doing.

[mackdaddy]

3. This is a major ongoing domestic nuclear disaster no one has ever hear of.

I posted this reply before, but Look at the headlines of this for the last few months on News aggregator ENEnews:

Here is the link to read these articles: http://enenews.com/?s=wipp

02:30 PM EST on January 23rd, 2015 | 457 comments
AP: Ceiling collapses at WIPP nuclear waste dump — Officials: Roof has separated — “Ground control a significant concern for all of us” — 6 other areas at risk due to ‘significant bolt loss’ — Failures are exceeding safety levels (VIDEO)

03:35 PM EST on December 1st, 2014 | 169 comments
‘Worst Case Scenario’ has happened at US nuclear site — Robert Redford film predicted 2014 WIPP disaster: Plutonium release due to chemical reaction in burst nuclear drum is ultimate catastrophe… Most significant issue is combustible waste exposed to high heat, everyone understands that (VIDEO)

02:36 PM EST on November 17th, 2014 | 215 comments
“Patented explosives” reported inside plutonium waste drums at US nuclear facility — TV: So volatile, experts comparing it to ‘bomb’ — Official: I’m appalled we weren’t told about real and present danger — Over 5,000 drums a threat — Invisible reactions may have already occurred (VIDEO)

06:28 PM EST on November 11th, 2014 | 413 comments
Radiation levels spike 7,000% at US nuclear site — Coming from Plutonium, Uranium, Americium, or other alpha emitters — AP: Workers shelter in buildings — Official: Contaminated sample is so safe “it could have been… put in someone’s lunch bucket” (VIDEO)

10:25 PM EST on September 19th, 2014 | 206 comments
Reuters: Investigation suggests another drum with plutonium ruptured at US nuclear site — TV: “There are new concerns at WIPP that there could be another radiation leak” (VIDEO)

09:52 PM EST on September 11th, 2014 | 182 comments
Plutonium found in city nearly 30 miles from US nuclear site — Newspaper: Explosion ‘melted through’ container causing radioactive release — More Pu-241 went airborne than all other types of plutonium combined, yet not included in test results

05:16 PM EST on September 6th, 2014 | 120 comments
Top Official: “Really concerned” over radiation release at US nuclear site; Feds “have put a noose around scientific personnel”… they refuse to reveal crucial information about WIPP disaster — Investigators becoming suspicious — Nuclear Expert: “It sure seems like there’s a cover-up” (AUDIO)

10:52 PM EST on August 24th, 2014 | 166 comments
LA Times: ‘Horrific Comedy’ at US Nuclear Site — “Mounds of radioactive white foam laced with plutonium” spewed out — Gov’t failed to do any radiation tests when releases peaked after ‘major’ leak — Experts: “Risk of additional eruptions is real” (VIDEO)

09:38 PM EST on August 2nd, 2014 | 123 comments
Lab Director: Expect radiation spikes coming from US nuclear facility — Gov’t pays for more air monitors to see impact on populated areas — DOE warns of ‘ignitability’ of 368 containers at site; “Significant fire risk” — Top Official: Material at WIPP “just disintegrated… got very hot, very quickly” (VIDEO)

02:59 PM EST on July 24th, 2014 | 191 comments
‘Green burst’ and ‘criticality event’ under investigation by gov’t in connection with plutonium release at U.S. nuclear site #WIPP — Official: Underground fire may have initiated reaction in ruptured radioactive waste drum — Concern over possible arson/sabotage? (VIDEO)

01:55 AM EST on July 13th, 2014 | 536 comments
Gov’t Report: Nuclear waste was up to 1,600°F during WIPP plutonium release — Concern that heat ‘chemically or physically changed’ contents of other drums — Increased hazard of spontaneous reaction… may have already occurred — Over 50 drums at risk (VIDEO)

02:28 PM EST on July 5th, 2014 | 319 comments
Internal Memo: 10 times more WIPP nuclear drums risk exploding than media reported — Expert: Data shows increasing amount of radioactivity going into environment — Official: Something “caused drum to later catch fire”; Gov’t should investigate if truck fire & electrical surge led to the radiation release