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Santa Susana Rocketdyne is still a mess



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 20th 12, 07:29 AM posted to sci.space.history
David Lesher
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Posts: 198
Default Santa Susana Rocketdyne is still a mess

A federal study shows hundreds of hot spots at the 2,850-acre
facility, overlooking the west San Fernando Valley, half a
century after a partial nuclear meltdown there.

By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times

1:31 AM PST, December 17, 2012

Half a century after America's first partial nuclear meltdown,
hundreds of radioactive hot spots remain at a former research
facility overlooking the west San Fernando Valley, according to
a recently released federal study.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's $41-million survey of
the facility, now owned by Boeing Co. and NASA, is expected to
provide a precise map for state and federal agencies hoping to
clean up the site by 2017.

It also sets the stage for determining a final disposition for
the 2,850-acre site, which is home to rare plants, great horned
owls and four-point bucks.

That won't be easy. Environmentalists and Boeing officials are
already clashing over plans to transform the site near the Santa
Susana Mountains into public open space.

.......

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-meltdown-study-20121218,0,2007532.story

As I recall, this site was featured in an episode of I Spy, all those decades ago....

--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
  #2  
Old December 20th 12, 09:54 AM posted to sci.space.history
Ken S. Tucker[_2_]
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Posts: 55
Default Santa Susana Rocketdyne is still a mess

David Lesher wrote:
A federal study shows hundreds of hot spots at the 2,850-acre
facility, overlooking the west San Fernando Valley, half a
century after a partial nuclear meltdown there.

By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times

1:31 AM PST, December 17, 2012

Half a century after America's first partial nuclear meltdown,
hundreds of radioactive hot spots remain at a former research
facility overlooking the west San Fernando Valley, according to
a recently released federal study.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's $41-million survey of
the facility, now owned by Boeing Co. and NASA, is expected to
provide a precise map for state and federal agencies hoping to
clean up the site by 2017.

It also sets the stage for determining a final disposition for
the 2,850-acre site, which is home to rare plants, great horned
owls and four-point bucks.

That won't be easy. Environmentalists and Boeing officials are
already clashing over plans to transform the site near the Santa
Susana Mountains into public open space.

......

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-meltdown-study-20121218,0,2007532.story

As I recall, this site was featured in an episode of I Spy, all those decades ago....


Stretching neurons to circa 1970, IIRC the SNAP melted down in the 60's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNAP-10A
May have been classified.
Ken


  #3  
Old December 20th 12, 04:20 PM posted to sci.space.history
Bob Haller
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Posts: 3,197
Default Santa Susana Rocketdyne is still a mess

that reactor was small, can you imagine what a current US nuke plant
or even storage pool could do if it melted down in a populated area?
  #4  
Old December 20th 12, 05:52 PM posted to sci.space.history
Ken S. Tucker[_2_]
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Posts: 55
Default Santa Susana Rocketdyne is still a mess

bob haller wrote:
that reactor was small, can you imagine what a current US nuke plant
or even storage pool could do if it melted down in a populated area?


What do you think?
  #6  
Old December 20th 12, 09:25 PM posted to sci.space.history
Dean
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Posts: 323
Default Santa Susana Rocketdyne is still a mess

On Thursday, December 20, 2012 10:20:24 AM UTC-5, bob haller wrote:
that reactor was small, can you imagine what a current US nuke plant

or even storage pool could do if it melted down in a populated area?


LOL, you really are a Chicken Little.
  #7  
Old December 20th 12, 10:03 PM posted to sci.space.history
Bob Haller
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Posts: 3,197
Default Santa Susana Rocketdyne is still a mess


bob haller wrote:
that reactor was small, can you imagine what a current US nuke plant
or even storage pool could do if it melted down in a populated area?


What do you think?


Bob's thoughts are paranoid delusions.

Jeff
--


Risks

If there is a prolonged interruption of cooling due to emergency
situations, the water in the spent fuel pools may boil off, resulting
in large amounts of radioactive elements being released into the
atmosphere.[5]

In the magnitude 9 earthquake which struck the Fukushima nuclear
plants in March 2011, one of the spent fuel pools lost its roof and
was reported to be emitting steam. According to The Nation, "Spent
fuel pools at Fukushima are not equipped with backup water-circulation
systems or backup generators for the water-circulation system they do
have."[6] Later, there was some disagreement among sources as to
whether the pool had boiled dry.[7][8][9]

TEPCO, the plant owner, announced that if the rods were exposed, there
was a small chance they would reach criticality, setting off a nuclear
chain reaction (not an explosion).[10] According to nuclear plant
safety specialists, the chances of criticality in a spent fuel pool
are very small, usually avoided by the dispersal of the fuel
assemblies, inclusion of a neutron absorber in the storage racks and
overall by the fact that the spent fuel has a too low enrichment level
to self-sustain a fission reaction. They also state that if the water
covering the spent fuel evaporates, there is no element to moderate
the chain reaction.[11][12][13] On April 1, 2011, United States Energy
Secretary Steven Chu said that after efforts by workers to pour water
on the Fukushima pools, these were "now under control."[14]

Spent fuel pools lack the "4-ft.-thick (1.2 m) concrete cocoons" of
operating reactors but are "housed in more conventional buildings that
are conceivably more susceptible to aircraft strikes or explosives".
[15]

According to Dr. Kevin Crowley of the Nuclear and Radiation Studies
Board, "successful terrorist attacks on spent fuel pools, though
difficult, are possible. If an attack leads to a propagating zirconium
cladding fire, it could result in the release of large amounts of
radioactive material."[16] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission after the
September 11, 2001 attacks required American nuclear plants "to
protect with high assurance" against specific threats involving
certain numbers and capabilities of assailants. Plants were also
required to "enhance the number of security officers" and to improve
"access controls to the facilities".[17]

In 1997, the Brookhaven National Laboratory estimated that a "massive
calamity at one spent-fuel pool could ultimately lead to 138,000
deaths and contaminate 2,000 sq. mi. (5,200 sq km) of land".[18]


  #8  
Old December 21st 12, 03:22 AM posted to sci.space.history
Peter Stickney[_2_]
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Posts: 124
Default Santa Susana Rocketdyne is still a mess

Dean wrote:

On Thursday, December 20, 2012 10:20:24 AM UTC-5, bob haller wrote:
that reactor was small, can you imagine what a current US nuke
plant

or even storage pool could do if it melted down in a populated
area?


LOL, you really are a Chicken Little.


From his previous posting history, this is from someone who
persisted in driving a patently unsafe vehicle,
stands (or stood) on swivel chairs, and had elective surgery
performed that had an associated fatality rate in his area
of 25%.

Mr, Haller's record vis-a-vis risk assesment is as shaky as
Jello on the Humbolt Fault.

--
Pete Stickney
From the foothills of the Florida Alps
  #9  
Old December 21st 12, 03:50 AM posted to sci.space.history
Bob Haller
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,197
Default Santa Susana Rocketdyne is still a mess


From his previous posting history, this is from someone who
persisted in driving a patently unsafe vehicle,
stands (or stood) on swivel chairs, and had elective surgery
performed that had an associated fatality rate in his area
of 25%.

Mr, Haller's record vis-a-vis risk assesment is as shaky as
Jello on the Humbolt Fault.


My dodge caravan had 450,000 miles on when retired to a scrap yard,
it passed PA state inspection yearly and was not unsafeit was well
maintained.

I never stood on swivel chairs you must be confusing me with someone
else.....

I did have gastrc bypass surgery with much success.....

the surgery death rate is 1 to 2 percent.....

the real hazard was remaing way too heavy. being more than 100 pounds
overweight at the time of surgery increases your risk for cancer,
heart disease, diabetes, sleep aones and probably 100 or more serious
health troubles.

Back when I was 40 i was on my way to my step sisters funeral in
arizonia, she was 40 when she died after minor surgery she was
morbidly obese. I fell on snow here in pittsburgh and did serious
damage to my knee. I too was 40 at the time.

months later I had no choice but getting knee surgery, i quit
breathing in recovery and very nearly died. I had sleep apnea a real
hazard if you have surgery...... and docs dont know....

life is full of risks but adding safety stuff like air bags in
vehicles can increase safety a lot.....

as far as people laughing about a waste core nuke plant storage pool
failure, either by accident, or terrorist attack will have no one
laughing. and they arent in containment and because of that a easier
target
  #10  
Old December 21st 12, 06:48 AM posted to sci.space.history
Peter Stickney[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 124
Default Santa Susana Rocketdyne is still a mess

David Lesher wrote:

A federal study shows hundreds of hot spots at the 2,850-acre
facility, overlooking the west San Fernando Valley, half a
century after a partial nuclear meltdown there.

By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times

1:31 AM PST, December 17, 2012

Half a century after America's first partial nuclear meltdown,
hundreds of radioactive hot spots remain at a former research
facility overlooking the west San Fernando Valley, according to
a recently released federal study.


55 years, to be more precise. The meltdown at the SRE (Sodium Reactor
Experiment occurred in July 1959. That reactor was repaired and
continued operation until 1964. Therewas also the nation's largest
Hot Lab and a fuel reprocessing facility there that operated into the
1880s.
The real monster wasn't the reactors, but the Sodium Burn Pit, which
was just what it says on the tin.

As I recall, this site was featured in an episode of I Spy, all
those decades ago....


It was also the test site for the liquid fueled rocket motors
for the Navaho, Atlas, and Saturn V.

--
Pete Stickney
From the foothills of the Florida Alps
 




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