[ RadSafe ] Hanford Contamination Spreads

[Conklin, Al]

The actual report can be found at www.whistleblower.org.
I haven't reviewed the whole report, but what I've looked at is very
entertaining, though disturbing. The science is not there, and it hasn't
been peer reviewed, but some people are taking it seriously. For example,
they sampled one salmon, one sturgeon, and one old attic to get their
results. They report biotransport on the Hanford site like its new news.
Biotransport of radionuclides around Hanford is well documented and in the
public record. I wrote some of it when I worked there 19 years ago. In fact,
one past issue was game birds using the old cooling water ponds and
transporting radioactivity off the site, then shot by hunters. Those ponds
don't exist anymore, but there are other pathways, involving lots of animal
and plant vectors: all in the public record. When they report mouse
radionuclide levels higher in the 100 areas (by waste sites) than way
downstream, my response is "well, duh". Of course there is and it isn't
news.

There was a really good interview on NPR yesterday that involved the authors
of the "study" and Hanford representatives who do the monitoring. I think
the audio can still be downloaded if anyone is interested. The Hanford folks
were very respectful and agreed to look into the GAP issues further.
One of the Hanford folks talked about attic dust, reminding everyone that
most of the dust in the Tri-Cities comes from the southwest (Horse Heaven
Hills), where there's a fair amount of naturally occurring radionuclides.
The GAP report didn't identify the isotopes. They also reported "high"
levels of plutonium in minnows and clams. I haven't looked at the data yet,
but, that's hard to believe. 
I think independent oversight is good, but I wish they followed the same
rules of science that everyone else would follow.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf
Of Norm Cohen
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2005 7:26 PM
To: know_nukes at yahoogroups.com; radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Hanford Contamination Spreads



------- Forwarded message -------
From: "Janette Sherman" <toxdoc.js at verizon.net>
To: "
Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 12:06:44 -0400

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/228573_hanford15.html

Radioactive contamination at Hanford is on the move

It is 'not just staying in place,' warns report by watchdog group

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Radioactive dust in a Tri-Cities attic and plutonium-tainted clams in the
Columbia River are red flags signaling that contamination from the Hanford
Nuclear Reservation is in the environment and moving into the food chain, a
watchdog group says.

After finding radiation in river mud, mulberry bushes and deer and mouse
scat, the Government Accountability Project says better testing is needed to
determine how widespread the potentially dangerous material is and where
it's going.

The Seattle-based non-profit group, which is releasing its findings today,
says it has measured radiation in lichen that is twice as high as previously
believed.

"It's not just staying in place," said Tom Carpenter, director of the
group's nuclear oversight campaign. "It's getting to areas where there are
people."

The U.S. Department of Energy spends $2.8 million a year monitoring
radiation in water, soil, plants and animals on and around the
multibillion-dollar Hanford cleanup project.

DOE officials and their contractors said the watchdog group's results were
not surprising and that they encourage outside scrutiny.

"The levels that they're dealing with really aren't out of line with what
we've been dealing with for years," said Ted Poston, an environmental
manager with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the company tracking
environmental pollution for DOE.

"The Department of Energy encourages environmental groups ... to do
independent sampling and take us to task," said Dana Ward, DOE project
manager for the public safety and resource-protection program.

Ward and Poston said they needed more time to carefully review the report to
determine its validity. Regardless, the government is protecting the public
through its monitoring, Ward said.

Key findings from the GAP report include finding traces of plutonium in pike
minnows and clams pulled from the Columbia near Hanford, in south-central
Washington. Tests are still being performed on a sturgeon recently caught
offshore. Other specimens analyzed in the $50,000 study were collected last
year.

Contamination was also found upstream of Hanford, leading to speculation
that fish could be spreading the radioactivity, though there could also be
non-Hanford sources for the contamination.

Land across the river from the cleanup is part of the Hanford Reach National
Monument and accessible to the public. The segment of river wrapping around
Hanford is renowned as part of the last free-flowing stretch of the
extensively dammed river.

"People are out there fishing and eating the fish," Carpenter said. If the
government is finding plutonium in the pike minnow and clams, "they sure
haven't reported it."

It's well known that radioactive material escaped from Hanford, home of the
world's first full-scale nuclear reactor and source of atomic bomb fuel.
Since its creation during World War II, billions of gallons of waste were
dumped into the soil and radiation released into the air.

Back in the 1960s -- Hanford's heyday -- radiation from the site was
measured as far as the coasts of California and Canada, said Dirk Dunning, a
Hanford nuclear specialist with the Oregon Department of Energy. "Was there
stuff released? Unquestionably," he said.

Government officials know that radioactive groundwater is still flowing to
the river tainted with radiation. It's still in the soil at the
586-square-mile reservation and has been detected in tumbleweeds that roll
across the desert site.

What concerns Carpenter is the presence of the radioactive and other
dangerous chemicals moving from the soil and water and into plants and
animals offsite that can spread the contamination, increasing the risk of
exposure for people.

None of the radiation detected presented an immediate risk to human health,
according to the report.

Even so, the results worry Tim Jarvis, a former toxicologist with Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory. Jarvis, who reviewed the report, said the
detection of radiation in the attic dust of a Richland home was "shocking."

"I'm sitting here in Richland. I've got a 25-year-old home," Jarvis said. "I
don't know how much radiation's in my attic."

The researchers did not determine what type of radiation was in the attic,
but know it's not plutonium and does not pose a risk to people living there.

Dunning said that he had not studied the report. Other researchers with his
department had read an earlier draft and noted in a written response
concerns with its limited scope. The response stated that it "lacks
scientific rigor."

Carpenter and Marco Kaltofen, president of Boston Chemical Data Corp., which
did the sampling for the report, agree that their research is not
definitive.

They want more testing done, preferably by an independent source outside of
DOE or their contractor. Federal officials said they'd be willing to discuss
the research with the watchdog group.

A better assessment of regional contamination is essential, critics said, if
the cleanup -- which could cost $60 billion and continue until
2035 -- is going to be successful.

"This study says, 'We're a third party. We're citizens. And where we look,
we find (radioactivity).' " Jarvis said. "So DOE, where in the hell did it
go? How much, and where is it?

"If DOE knows it has escaped, why isn't it out getting it?" he asked.
"It's their job."

P-I reporter Lisa Stiffler can be reached at 206-448-8042 or
lisastiffler at seattlepi.com

(c) 1998-2005 Seattle Post-Intelligencer



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the task of opposing their government's
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Nor does the human spirit move without
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