[ RadSafe ] Radioactive contamination unearthed atformerrocket test site near Los Angeles - U.S. News

Sat Dec 29 20:08:14 CST 2012

In the 1950's there was an Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Project.  See A 
Brief History of the Tower Shielding Facility (ORNL) and Programs: 
http://www.ornl.gov/~webworks/cppr/y2001/rpt/61946.pdf

Roy A. Parker, Ph.D.

On 12/29/2012 6:19 PM, Jerry Cohen wrote:
> I believe you are refereing to the "Pluto" program managed by the Los Alamos
> Lab. Pluto was a rocket powered by liquid hydrogen by running it through a
> nuclear reactor expanding its volume to provide the necessary thrust. It worked,
> but I assume because it invoved nuclear energy,  it was politically unacceptable
> to the politicians in Washington. During the same period (the 60's), Livermore
> Lab was working on a nuclear powered ramjet engine. Following its first
> sucessful test, this project was also killed by the federal government.
> Jerry Cohen
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Edmond <edmond0033 at comcast.net>
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
> <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
> Sent: Sat, December 29, 2012 10:20:06 AM
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radioactive contamination unearthed atformerrocket test
> site near Los Angeles - U.S. News
>
> I think (not very sure) at one time the DOE or (AEC) was trying to develop a
> rocket engine that was to be powered by radioactivity.  It was canceled for
> whatever reason.
>
> Ed Baratta
>
> edmond0033 at comcast.net
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Douglas Minnema
> Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 3:44 PM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radioactive contamination unearthed atformerrocket test
> site near Los Angeles - U.S. News
>
> Just curious, what about tritium?
>
> Twelve or so years ago, when I was doing a safety management system review of
> the DOE-funded cleanup operations at that site, there was clear (and
> acknowledged) evidence of a tritium plume moving from the site into off-site
> areas.  I was surprised at the time because there had not been any active
> reactors or other obvious sources for the tritium at the site for many years
> before that time, but it was equally clear that the plume was associated with
> one of the old test reactor locations.
>
> I understand that the intervening half-life of time will have reduced the
> quantities further (please, no lectures on radioactive decay :-) but at that
> time the quantities were easily measurable.  I'm not sure that one half-life
> would have been enough to "make it go away."  Physical dispersal of the plume
> might be enough to reduce it to below detectable, but I don't have a good feel
> for that.
>
> Doug Minnema, PhD, CHP
> US Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Cary Renquist
> Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 1:54 PM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radioactive contamination unearthed at formerrocket
> test site near Los Angeles - U.S. News
>
> Here is the EPA's Fact Sheet on the study results:
> EPA Radiological Characterization Study Results http://j.mp/12dBJrt
>
> It lists some of the specific results in a table.
> e.g.
> Am-241: 3 positive in the 0.05-0.06 pCi/g range
> Cs-137:  291 positive in the 0.2-200 pCi/g range
> Pu239/240:  14 pos in the 0.02-0.19 pCi/g range
> Sr90:  153 pos in the 0.08-21 pCi/g range Etc.
>
> ---
> Cary Renquist
> cary.renquist at ezag.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Cary Renquist
> Sent: Friday, 14 December 2012 10:35 AM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radioactive contamination unearthed at formerrocket
> test site near Los Angeles - U.S. News
>
>
> U.S. EPA's Final Technical Memorandum Look-Up Table Recommendations This is a
> link to a pdf that seems to have the background threshold values for the
> nuclides of interest (Table 2 of attachment 1).
> http://j.mp/QYILg4
>
>
> Pursuant to an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
> and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), the USEPA has conducted a
> Radiological Background Study to determine the background levels for
> radionuclides in surface and subsurface soils associated with Area IV and the
> Northern Buffer Zone (Area IV Study Area1) of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory
> (SSFL), located in Ventura County, California. In addition, the USEPA is
> currently conducting a radiological characterization of the Area IV Study Area
> to identify areas that exhibit radionuclide concentrations in surface and
> subsurface soil and sediment above background levels (herein, "soil" shall mean
> surface and subsurface soil as well as surface and subsurface sediment unless
> otherwise specified).
>
>
> I didn't see a doc that has the presented results of the soil samples, however,
> this article at least has some details:
> Latest soil tests at Santa Susana Field Lab site shows radioactive material
> remains - LA Daily News http://j.mp/TSusGW
>
> The EPA researchers collected 3,735 samples of mostly surface soil and found
> that of those, 500 contained concentrations of radioactive materials that
> exceeded what is known as background standards - or the levels occurring
> naturally in the environment. Almost all were man-made radionuclides. Most of
> those samples contained Cesium-137, and of those one sample reached levels up to
> 1,000 times above background standard. There were 153 samples of Stronium-90 and
> of those some hits reached levels that were 284 times higher than background.
>
> Both radioactive elements are considered dangerous to human health when present
> at high levels.
>
> "There were some hits that were elevated but for the most part, they were in the
> range that we expected," said John Jones, federal project director with the
> Department of Energy.
>
>
> Cary
>
> ---
> Cary Renquist
> cary.renquist at ezag.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Robert J Gunter
> Sent: Friday, 14 December 2012 6:38 AM
> To: 'Robert Atkinson'; 'The International Radiation Protection (Health
> Physics)Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radioactive contamination unearthed atformer rocket
> test site near Los Angeles - U.S. News
>
> Not a very informative statement:  "10 percent contained radioactive
> concentrations exceeding background levels."
>
> This could easily be fill from another location or different aggregate based on
> this statement alone.  Is it NORM or Cs-137?
>
> Robert J. Gunter, MSc, CHP
> CHP Consultants/CHP Dosimetry
> www.chpconsultants.com
> www.chpdosimetry.com
> Toll Free: (888) 766-4833
> Fax:  (866) 491-9913
> Cel:  (865) 387-0028
> rjgunter at chpconsultants.com
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Steven Dapra <sjd at swcp.com>
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
> <radsafe at agni.phys.iit.edu>
> Sent: Friday, 14 December 2012, 2:53
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Radioactive contamination unearthed at former
> rocket test site near Los Angeles - U.S. News
>
> Dec. 13
>
>        From the NBC article:
>
> "Technicians collected 3,735 soil samples from a corner of the 2,850-acre
> hilltop lab where most of the testing was done. Of those, they found about
> 10 percent contained radioactive concentrations exceeding background
> levels."
>
>        Yep.  Time to panic.  No doubt about it.
>
> Steven Dapra
>
>
> At 01:14 PM 12/13/2012, you wrote:
>> http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/13/15878279-radioactive-contamination-unearthed-at-former-rocket-test-site-near-los-angeles
>> s
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