"Plutonium fuel could be used at Hanford power plant" - MOX

[suffragette]

Plutonium fuel could be used at Hanford power plant
Washington's only nuclear-power plant is considering use of the plutonium fuel that has raised special concerns about one of Japan's damaged nuclear reactors.

By Sandi Doughton
Seattle Times science reporter
March 18, 2011

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014539881_plutonium19m.html

Officials at the Columbia Generating Station, on the Hanford nuclear reservation, have been quietly discussing the use of so-called mox fuel for at least two years — but had hoped to keep the fact out of the news.

In the case of an accident, some experts say fuel made from highly toxic plutonium can produce more dangerous fallout than standard uranium fuel. Plutonium fuel is also harder to control, said nuclear scientist Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.

The nuclear-watchdog group Heart of America Northwest sued the plant's operator this week, alleging that Energy Northwest improperly withheld information about the proposal requested under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

~~~
But officials wanted to keep their studies quiet. "I assume this info will stay between PNNL and DOE NNSA," said a December 2009 e-mail released last year to the environmental group Friends of the Earth under a public records request. "Just don't want any unexpected press releases about burning MOX fuel in (Columbia Generating Station)."




Wonder why they were trying so hard to keep this quiet?


More info on the plant here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x653404

[Raksha]

1. That is fucking INSANE!!! A lot of people have already died because of Hanford,

my husband being one of them. A little history for those who don't know already: The bomb that was dropped on Nakasaki was built at the Hanford Atomic Reservation, which at one time was the filthiest nuclear installation ever. They dumped the water used to cool the reactors back into the Columbia River, and no were ever posted, even though it concentrated in the bodies of the fish and polluted the food chain in other ways.

I can damn well believe they want to keep quiet about the plutonium, but why are they even considering it?

[suffragette]

2. The article's paragraph on "why" is odd to me

From the article:
Use of plutonium reactor fuel could help draw down stockpiles from weapons production and dismantling of nuclear warheads, Olson said. And because the country is anxious to find an application for it, plutonium fuel could be cheaper.


I haven't heard "the country" demanding additional applications for old nuclear weapon parts. I have seen and heard much more concern about storage of all this nuclear fuel/waste that is generated from the nuclear plants and weapons.

Agree with all you wrote and I'm sorry for the loss of your husband.

:hug:

[Raksha]

3. I just read the article all the way through to the end.

Re I haven't heard "the country" demanding additional applications for old nuclear weapon parts. I have seen and heard much more concern about storage of all this nuclear fuel/waste that is generated from the nuclear plants and weapons.

"The country" isn't demanding it. The government is desperately looking for a use for the radioactive material from dismantled nuclear weapons because of all the deadly isotopes it produces, plutonium is by far the most deadly. And it remains deadly the longest too. According to this article it has a half-life of 250,000 years! So basically there is NO safe way of disposing of it were you can guarantee its safety in perpetuity.

They want to use it in nuclear power plants essentially because it's a relatively safe way of getting rid of it. But it's ONLY relative. If something goes wrong MOX fuel containing plutonium becomes an instant nightmare, as we are seeing right now at Fukushima.

The rare bone marrow disease that killed my husband is consistent with exposure to plutonium. :cry:

From the Seattle Times article:

What it is

Even uranium fuel contains some plutonium, which is produced during the fission process. Mox fuel, which is a mixture of uranium and plutonium, contains a higher proportion of plutonium — between 5 and 9 percent, Makhijani said. Plutonium has a half life of 250,000 years. Inhaling a few particles can cause lung cancer.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is building a $4.8 billion plant to turn weapons-grade plutonium into fuel at the Department of Energy's Savannah River site in South Carolina. But so far, few utilities have expressed interest in using it.

<snip>

The lung cancer part fits too. My husband's father (who passed away before I met him) died of lung cancer. The fact that he was also a heavy smoker may have obscured the true cause and certainly didn't help, but I believe the real reason was because he worked as a pipefitter at the Hanford Atomic Reservation and brought the particles home on his clothes, etc. This was in the early 1950s and safety precautions were practically nonexistent.

[suffragette]

8. That's how it read to me as well - PR spin to sell a way to re-usethis stuff

because they keep generating it and can't store it.

They know people will be against it, so they try to keep it secret until after it's a done deal.

It's terrible what has happened to your and other families near Hanford.

I hate to think how more could be affected in they go in this direction.

And all while wind output is exceeding forecasts in the same region.

See the other OP I linked in this OP.

Also, there's this:
http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/25038043-41/power-wind-grid-lines-region.csp


They should be working on ways to upgrade the grid to more effectively use the wind power generated ( and I'm sure there would be many other positives from upgrading) and use the funding that would go to increasing nuclear to upgrade the grid.

[Tikki]

5. Hi Raksha...I am so sorry...my Mother-in-law, also, was a...

victim of Hanford's irresponsible handling of reactor emissions.

We need to keep the pressure on these fools to clean up (if ever possible) before
they spread more deadly filth.

Tikki

[Raksha]

7. Thanks, Tikki. I'm sorry about your MIL. There were so many victims.

I added some more information about my husband and his father in my second post. Of the four people in the family who lived there at the time, NOT ONE was unaffected. My husband was seven years old at the time they lived in Yakima and his older brother (half-brother, actually) was about 13. He is the only one still alive, but he has suffered from numerous health problems for most of his life. He also has a bone marrow disease, not quite the same as my husband's (which eventually became myelogenous leukemia) but obviously related and obviously from the same cause.

My husband passed away in 1994, and I learned about the Hanford connection about a year later. I've had a long to get used to it (if you ever do) but all of this makes me so mad I could just scream.

[nilram]

4. Hanford is about 175 miles from Seattle -- regional population of 3.5 million

And 200 miles from Portland, regional population of 2.2 million.

That's a total 5.7 million. I can see why they'd wan to keep it quiet.

[lonestarnot]

6. Wow! Talking about nutfuckery! Right there!

[suffragette]

9. Yep

[lonestarnot]

10. Again yep!