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Thursday, October 8, 2015

Los Alamos lab running out of storage for nuclear waste


Los Alamos lab running out of storage for nuclear waste

By Associated Press
Monday, October 5, 2015 at 10:05 am (Updated: October 5, 10:06 am)

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Los Alamos National Laboratory has only a narrow time frame before it runs out of room to store its nuclear waste.

The lab's radioactive transuranic waste is supposed to be sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, but that site was shut down last year after the underground storage area was contaminated, reported the Albuquerque Journal. Transuranic waste can include items like protective boots and gloves, machinery and sludge.

A Los Alamos waste drum at WIPP popped open because it contained an incorrectly packed mix of combustible materials, creating an estimated half-billion dollars of clean up work. The state Environment Department fined the lab $36.6 million for the accident and DOE cut its fee to the lab's contract operator by 90 percent.

The Los Alamos lab is expected to reach its maximum waste storage capacity sometime in the federal fiscal year that begins in fall 2016, according to a report from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board.

The storage facility was initially slated to reopen in March 2016. This summer, however, the U.S. Department of Energy said safety concerns and equipment setbacks delayed the opening indefinitely.
October 6, 2015 at 11:34 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...
No nuclear storage? Guess all nuclear related work will need to be immediately halted at LANL. Mission Accomplished. Work Free Safety Zones achieved. Executive bonuses for all LANS managers. Winning !!!

- Charlie "Awesome" McMillan
October 6, 2015 at 3:02 PM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...
Think about it. Charlie inherited much of this mess from his predecessor, the Ewok, who bailed with a golden parachute before his inattention caused damage.
October 6, 2015 at 5:50 PM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...
Think about it, Charlie hasn't done squat. 
October 6, 2015 at 6:54 PM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...
At the last UC Regents meeting, Norm Pattiz stated that the nuclear waste program at LANL was not needed; that he was tired of getting "punched" over the WIPP drum incident. Norm doesn't have a clue.
October 7, 2015 at 5:08 AM
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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

WIPP could have been reopened by now if Wallace hadn't blown up the drum "experiments" and left a mess for the future.

Anonymous said...

Bloated, inefficient management is what LANS does best.

Face it, all the other stuff like environmental cleanup and waste disposal, weapons research, etc. are all distractions that can be shoved overboard. Just let LANS do what it does best: bloated management. Everything else can go.

Anonymous said...

Bloated, inefficient management is what LANS does best.

Face it, all the other stuff like environmental cleanup and waste disposal, weapons research, etc. are all distractions that can be shoved overboard. Just let LANS do what it does best: bloated management. Everything else can go.

October 8, 2015 at 7:11 PM

Recent example. The TA-55 Chief Engineer (Kerley) quits due to job stress; the ES-Division Leader (Goen) solves the problem by replacing him with two Managers, a Chief Engineer and an Engineering Manager. Yeah, that's the solution, more management.

Anonymous said...

You have the whole friggin desert. Dig a hole.

Anonymous said...

No problem on the nuclear waste, just send it to Japan. They have found a new technological way to dispose of the waste, supported by the government. They turn the pumps on for a while, and it just floats away...

Anonymous said...

You have the whole friggin desert. Dig a hole.

October 9, 2015 at 7:54 AM

Apparently you don't realize that LANL is not "in the desert" but on a plateau about 7500 feet above sea level, with a juniper/ponderosa habitat and plenty of grasses and other native plants. Just above, the alpine aspen occur. There is no "friggin desert" here, and below in the valley, most of the open land is Native American pueblo land, with no "digging" or other disturbance to do anything, let alone bury nuclear waste, allowed under Federal law. Hey, you have a whole "friggin ocean" - send it out to sea. Japan is apparently perfectly happy with that result.

Anonymous said...


Los Alamos is in a desert, cactus, sand dunes, road runners, and whatnot, everyone knows this and it is just common sense...duh!, dig a hole no one cares, it is a desert and wtf are deserts for if not getting rid of bodies, toxic waste, and anything else. LANS is doing the very best in a a very difficult situation so have some goddamn sympathy for gods sake. Without LANS what kind of jobs would all of you have?

Anonymous said...

Honest ones.

Anonymous said...

NATANZ has offered to pick it up. Makes a good complement to the newIRBM that Obama says is not part of their nuclear programme. What a dunderbutt.

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