New Mexico water pollution (Los Alamos, Alamo: maintenance, dangerous, safety)

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by GregW

Everything is radioactive, everything. It is the level that counts.

Hence, my comment about if the Los Alamos stuff is "hotter."

Particles in the water ( gas, solid ) emit radioactive energy
such as alpha and beta energy. I don't even know if it's
possible for water to carry a gamma emitter.

If the water is really well filtered and treated there would
be almost no trace of radioactivity to the end user.

It used to be considered healthy to drink "radioactive water,"
but when they bottled it, the radon in the water escaped
into the air and from the bottle rendering it "useless."

[jaxart]

For those who can't help worrying about such things, here is a story in today's news to add to the anxiety level:

WIPP ACCEPTS 8,000th SHIPMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE

This waste is generally trucked across New Mexico from different directions. I've seen large semis on IH-25 that have specially built containers labeled with the international symbol for radiation. They are using a network of old potash mines in the Carlsbad/Hobbs area for "eternal" storage of this waste and claiming it is impossible for it to contaminate ground water supplies, now or in the distant future.

[GregW]

We gotta put it somewhere. People want radioactive sourced medical procedures and the waste will be generated and has to be disposed of safely.

[jaxart]

Originally Posted by GregW

We gotta put it somewhere.

Do you think it will ever approach "critical mass?"

[mortimer]

Originally Posted by jaxart

Do you think it will ever approach"critical mass?"[/url]

Yes.

Sometime around 5 billion years from now when the sun expands
to encompass the orbits of both Mercury and Venus and approaches
Earth, the heat and pressure and radiactivity from burning higher
level element past Helium, that stuff will approach critical mass.

My bet is that it won't actually reach critical mass, but what do I know?

[Santa Fe]

I was involved with WIPP for short time quite a few years back. I believe it still handles what is called low-level transuranic waste and it is hard to imagine that it could ever come anywhere near critical mass.

However if it ever did leak into an aquifer that would cause problems.

What is discouraging, moreover, is that we are not anywhere near a solution for what to do with some of the hotter stuff like spend fuel rods.

[jaxart]

Originally Posted by Santa Fe

What is discouraging, moreover, is that we are not anywhere near a solution for what to do with some of the hotter stuff like spend fuel rods.

You may have read recently where Obama has decided to abandon the Yucca Mountain disposal project after YEARS of development and god only knows how many billions of dollars spent.

[rybert]

Originally Posted by jaxart

You may have read recently where Obama has decided to abandon the Yucca Mountain disposal project after YEARS of development and god only knows how many billions of dollars spent.

Yes. Obama walked over to the Yucca Mountain Project Computer (YMPC) and unplugged it. Nobody was in the room to stop him.

[Santa Fe]

Originally Posted by Rossd23

Hello, I may be relocating to the Albuquerque area by the end of the year... and there is something that has been bothering me... an article that I read about toxic waste and radioactive waste getting into the water.

Is this a serious concern?

Returning to the topic of radioactive waste in the water supply, the Santa Fe New Mexico now has an article that is semi-coherent on the subject.

Santa Fe City and County and Las Campanas have become interested in the question of radioactive waste from Los Alamos National Lab (LANL) because they intend to start pumping drinking water from the Rio Grande in what they call the Buckman Direct Diversion (BDD) .

The liberal New Mexican is no friend of LANL, and mostly throws brickbats, but the LANL project director makes several points that no one disputes:
*************************************************

1. Stop migration of LANL contaminants to the Rio Grande: In progress

Grizzly-size steel gauge cages and a pile of football-size white stones in Pueblo Canyon will soon be stacked up to 8 feet high across the canyon's bottom just west of N.M. 502 and the exit to White Rock. The weir will anchor wetlands that Katzman's crew has worked on for a year and a half. Workers planted 10,000 willows farther up the canyon, and wild reed grasses have filled downstream. "The weir will control the grade of the stream channel and the wetlands will control the sediment," Katzman said. "The wetland is the thing doing the work."

* * *

A similar weir will be constructed in DP Canyon, a tributary to Los Alamos Canyon.

3. Monitor the transport of contaminants in surface water and groundwater flows: In progress

LANL undertook voluntary sampling for contaminants at the Otowi Bridge, upstream from the Buckman project. The New Mexico Environment Department sampled Rio Grande water near the canyons during the summer after storms. None of the samples collected had levels of radionuclides that would prompt further testing.

4. Measure radioactive and toxic contamination of buried sediment upstream from the river diversion site: Finished

The Buckman project and the state Environment Department contracted with drillers to take core samples 15 feet into the sediment. The core samples showed contaminant levels were too low to cause concern.

* * * *

6. Provide funding to hire an independent peer review of data regarding LANL-originated contamination of public drinking water resources in Santa Fe County and city: In progress

The Buckman board last week approved a federally funded $200,000 contract with ChemRisk to review existing data and to report to area residents about any potential contaminants in their drinking water. ChemRisk, based in San Francisco, has reviewed Los Alamos data for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 1999. ChemRisk will partner with AMEC Earth and Environmental, which specializes in hydrology and geochemistry of New Mexico.

Officials complain LANL late on Buckman flood gauges - The Santa Fe New Mexican

************************************************** ***

Actually less sediment in the Rio Grande has got to be an improvement. I wish that they were doing point 1 in a lot more places.

My guess is that the BDD is running behind schedule and over budget (This is Santa Fe City and County governments, after all) and is looking to dump the blame on LANL.

[cdaq]

In my former town of Los Lunas, officials recently discovered an alarmingly high level of arsenic in the water.