RE: Plutonium byproduct found near Hanford reach spawning beds

["Brennan, Martin Jr" <mbrenn@sandia.gov>]

The vague nature of the original information certainly leaves it open for
interpretation and the general issue of personal agenda and competency begs
skepticism...however, if the instrument actually includes a G-M Pancake
beta-gamma probe (in reality this probe detects alpha at higher efficiency
than many gammas), Sr/Y-90 would be easily detected.  If this is what was
actually meant then the question becomes, particularly with the sand and
silt along the Columbia River derived at least in part from the extensive
Columbia River basalt flow volcanics, is this "chatter" Hanford operations
related or "noise" due to background thorium, uranium, Ra-226 and K-40?

Martin J. Brennan
SNL/NM
(505) 844-1783
mbrenn@sandia.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: Glen.Vickers@ucm.com [mailto:Glen.Vickers@ucm.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 4:07 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: RE: Plutonium byproduct found near Hanford reach spawning beds


Question:  How can he tell it's Sr-90 from a Geiger counter  reading?

Answer:  Alex Baldwin, actor and scientist, told him so. (Tooth Fairy
Project)

glen
glen.vickers@ucm.com

	-----Original Message-----
	From:	Weiner, Ruth [SMTP:rfweine@sandia.gov]
	Sent:	Wednesday, June 30, 1999 2:21 PM
	To:	Multiple recipients of list
	Subject:	RE: Plutonium byproduct found near Hanford reach
spawning beds

	Norm Buske has been wielding "chattering Geiger counters" and crying
wolf
	since at least 1984, and the Spokane Spokesman Review is notorious
for this
	kind of story.  How can he tell it's Sr-90 from a Geiger counter
reading?

	Clearly only my own opinion

	Ruth F. Weiner, Ph. D.
	Sandia National Laboratories 
	MS 0718, POB 5800
	Albuquerque, NM 87185-0718
	505-844-4791; fax 505-844-0244
	rfweine@sandia.gov

	\-----Original Message-----
	From: Michael C. Baker [mailto:mcbaker@lanl.gov]
	Sent: Wednesday, June 30, 1999 7:48 AM
	To: Multiple recipients of list
	Subject: Plutonium byproduct found near Hanford reach spawning beds




	FYI ... Mike ... mcbaker@lanl.gov

	>Salmon close to radiation Plutonium byproduct found near Hanford
Reach
	>spawning beds
	>
	>Karen Dorn Steele - The Spokane Spokesman-Review, June 27, 1999
	>
	>In the shadow of Hanford's old H Reactor, salmon jump as scientist
Norm
	>Buske's Geiger counter chatters.
	>
	>This swirling stretch of the Columbia River -- near the White
Bluffs that
	>overlook Hanford Reach -- is home to the spawning beds of fall
chinook
	>salmon, who return here from the ocean.
	>
	>At the edge of this productive fishery, Buske has made a
potentially
	>ominous discovery: radioactive Strontium 90 at 25 times safe levels
in
	>mulberry bushes whose roots reach into the river.
	>
	>The radiation was found only 100 feet from some of the salmon beds.
	>
	>Strontium 90, a byproduct of plutonium production, is a highly
toxic
	>element that attacks bone marrow and takes 38 years to decay to
half its
	>original strength.
	>
	>Hanford contractors have already detected a spike of hexavalent
chromium, a
	>powerful chemical and carcinogen, in the river at this very spot.
It's
	>below H Reactor's old retention basins, where radioactive cooling
water and
	>damaged fuel rods were dumped during the Cold War.
	>
	>The chromium is coming from a plume under Hanford in concentrations
25
	>times higher than what is known to harm juvenile salmon, according
to a
	>1996 study for the U.S. Department of Energy.
	>
	>Buske's discovery this spring raises the stakes: Has Strontium 90
followed
	>the same gravelly channel into the river as the chromium?
	>
	>Hanford officials say there's probably no problem. Others aren't so
sure.
	>
	>known to harm juvenile salmon, according to a 1996 study for the
U.S.
	>Department of Energy.
	>
	>Buske's discovery this spring raises the stakes: Has Strontium 90
followed
	>the same gravelly channel into the river as the chromium?
	>
	>Hanford officials say there's probably no problem. Others aren't so
sure.
	>
	>"This is a big deal," said John Erickson, director of radiation
protection
	>for the Washington Department of Health. "It's a hot issue whenever
salmon
	>are involved."
	>
	>Buske's discovery is "extremely unsettling and of serious concern,"
said
	>Glen Spain, Northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast
Federation of
	>Fishermen's Associations, the largest organization of commercial
fishermen
	>on the West Coast.
	>
	>Eighty percent of fall chinook in the Columbia River come from the
Hanford
	>Reach, as do 25-30 percent of all the salmon caught in Alaska,
Spain said.
	>
	>There's no evidence that Hanford radiation is reaching salmon or
their
	>spawning beds, but Buske's findings warrant a thorough government
	>investigation, Spain said.
	>
	>"People don't need to worry that fish in the Hanford Reach are
radioactive,
	>but this cannot be ignored," Spain said. "We owe it to our industry
and to
	>consumers to seriously address this."
	>
	>Buske reported his data in a June 23 draft report for the
Government
	>Accountability Project, a nonprofit group with offices in
Washington, D.C.,
	>and Seattle that monitors Hanford cleanup efforts.
	>
	>Buske is being paid $30,000 for his nuclear sleuthing for a year,
said Tom
	>Carpenter of GAP's Seattle office.
	>
	>Although the Strontium 90 measurements are preliminary, the
discovery
	>"raises public concerns for the health of an important salmon
stock," the
	>GAP report says.
	>
	>Washington state officials are working with Buske and DOE to decide
what to
	>do next, Erickson said.
	>
	>"It may include verification of (Buske's) results and a state
sampling
	>plan," Erickson said.
	>
	>Buske alerted Hanford and state officials to his recent findings.
On Monday
	>scientists from Hanford contractor Battelle Pacific Northwest
National
	>Laboratory and DOH accompanied Buske to the shorelines of the H
Reactor.
	>
	>Buske used his Geiger counter to point out the most radioactive
bushes.
	>Then the scientists gathered samples of mulberries and leaves for
further
	>radiation analysis back in their labs.
	>
	>Battelle conducts environmental monitoring programs at Hanford for
DOE.
	>
	>Battelle's samples won't be available for 30 days, said Ted Poston,
manager
	>of the laboratory's surface environmental surveillance program.
	>
	>"In my opinion, I think the risk (to salmon) is very low," Poston
said.
	>Strontium 90 in Hanford ground water doesn't reach dangerous
levels, Poston
	>said.
	>
	>DOE officials also think the salmon are safe. They've traced a
plume of
	>Strontium 90 under H Reactor to the river's edge, but no farther.
	>
	>Ground water samples from near the H Reactor in 1997 showed only
two
	>radiation hits over the 8-picocurie per liter drinking water limit,
said
	>Arlene Tortoso, DOE's ground-water project manager in Richland.
	>
	>"I don't see any danger to the salmon at this point," Tortoso said.
	>
	>DOE is containing the chromium plume with a pump-and-treat system.
It has
	>removed 61 kilograms of chromium from ground water near H Reactor
since
	>1997, Tortoso said.
	>
	>"We are now preventing most of it from reaching the river," she
said.
	>
	>But DOE hasn't sampled the mulberry bushes below H Reactor where
Buske
	>found the Strontium 90, she said.
	>
	>Hanford's officials are ignoring radiation that trickles through
the porous
	>soils below the reactors, concentrates in the mulberry bushes, and
	>reappears in river springs, Buske said.
	>
	>When he discovered "hot" mulberry bushes near another reactor (N
Reactor)
	>last year, DOE's response was to chop down the bushes, Buske said.
He calls
	>that reaction "killing the messenger."
	>
	>Buske, who holds master's degrees in physics and oceanography and
once
	>worked for Greenpeace, has been returning to Hanford's springs
since 1983.
	>
	>He and his former spouse, mathematician Linda Josephson, discovered
	>hundreds of additional submerged springs leaking Hanford pollutants
beneath
	>the river -- springs that Hanford contractors hadn't detected.
	>
	>Hanford sits atop two massive bars of gravel, a legacy of the last
Ice Age
	>when gigantic floods from ancient Lake Missoula repeatedly surged
through
	>Eastern Washington.
	>
	>Engineers from the Manhattan Project, the top-secret mission to
build an
	>atomic bomb during World War II, ignored Hanford's geology.
	>
	>They chose the site because it was far from enemy airplanes and
provided
	>abundant river water to cool the world's first plutonium production
	reactors.
	>
	>H Reactor was one of eight original Hanford reactors built from
1948 to
	>1955 to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons.
	>
	>Contaminated cooling water from the reactors was held in large
ponds to
	>allow some of the radiation to decay to safer levels and then was
dumped
	>back into the river -- a practice that would be illegal today.
	>
	>Hanford's water table is 300 feet below the Pasco gravels in a
layer of
	>basalt called the Ringold Formation. Channels scoured in the
Ringold basalt
	>flow east toward the river -- and are the source of Hanford's
current river
	>contamination problems.
	>
	>Early Hanford officials were highly optimistic about how long it
would take
	>for the radioactive and chemical pollutants to reach the river. In
the
	>early 1950s, they estimated "travel times" of 50-180 years.
	>
	>They were wrong.
	>
	>The first contaminated ground water from Hanford that went beyond
the
	>boundaries of the nuclear reservation was detected in January 1956.
It had
	>only taken seven years for radiation in the ground water to reach
the
	>river, according to a 1963 Hanford report.
	>
	>Last week, the nation's leading scientific oversight board said
more
	>attention should be paid to Hanford's impact on the Columbia.
	>
	>In a June 24 report, the National Academy of Sciences faulted DOE
for not
	>moving quickly enough to clean up contamination along the Hanford
Reach.
	>
	>---
	>
	
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