Incident dans un centre de stockage de déchets nucléaires à Hanford (USA)

[FabriceM]

 

Edit : Officiellement, pas de fuites de particules radioactives pour le moment

http://www.hanford.gov/c.cfm/eoc/?page=290

 

 

[FabriceM]

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26658719

(Pour un peu de contexte )

 

et une source un peu plus sure que twitter :

https://www.apnews.com/1468f115b78f48a78446e951a1c8f33a/Portion-of-tunnel-containing-nuke-waste-collapses-at-Hanford

  Citation

 

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A portion of a storage tunnel that contains rail cars full of radioactive waste collapsed Tuesday morning, forcing an emergency declaration at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeastern Washington state.

Officials detected no release of radiation and no workers were injured, said Randy Bradbury, a spokesman for the Washington state Department of Ecology.

There were no workers inside the tunnel when it collapsed. But nearby Hanford workers were evacuated and others who were farther away were told to remain indoors, the U.S. Department of Energy said.

The accident occurred at a facility known as PUREX, located in the middle of the sprawling Hanford site, which is half the size of Rhode Island, Bradbury said.

Hanford is located near Richland, about 200 miles southeast of Seattle.

The closed PUREX plant was part of the nation’s nuclear weapons production complex.

 

Hanford for decades made plutonium for nuclear weapons and is now the largest depository of radioactive defense waste that must be cleaned.

It contains about 56 million gallons of radioactive waste, most of it in 177 underground tanks.

Bradbury said the collapse occurred at one of two rail tunnels under the PUREX site.

In the past, rail cars full of radioactive waste were driven into the tunnels and then buried there, he said.

Hanford has more than 9,000 employees.

The site was built during World War II and made the plutonium for most of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, including the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, at the end of the war.

 

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[Rincevent]

"Radioactive waste", ça peut vouloir tout dire. Ça peut être aussi bien du quasi-combustible prêt à être livré à l'armée, que des vêtements portés à un endroit où l'on manipule du radium qui s'est déposé dessus et qui deviendront inertes en quelques décennies, ou que des déchets vitrifiés dont l'activité massique est inférieure à la roche qui entoure le centre de stockage.

 

Bref, ne commettons pas de journalimse primaire et attendons d'avoir davantage d'informations pertinentes.

[FabriceM]

Le site est quand même connu pour réunir un belle quantité de merdes en tous genres, y compris des déchets à la fois chimiquement toxiques et radioactifs et le tunnel est  proche d'un bâtiment qui a traité du plutonium.

On m'a transmis ce document.

 

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Radioactive-Tunnel-Collapse-at-Hanford---As-we-explicitly-warned-for-years.html?soid=1102643130307&aid=lbIIdZH5DQM

  Révéler le contenu masqué

BREAKING NEWS: An extremely radioactive tunnel at Hanford partially collapsed this morning. I'm taking a break from nonstop briefings to major news outlets and other state officials to let you know what happened and why (I'll be on NBC national news this evening, and have been interviewed today by KING TV, the Washington Post, AP... - read our full news release and detailed background for media here)

Over Heart of America Northwest's and literally hundreds of your - our members - objections, exactly one year ago the US Energy Department (USDOE) was given permission by Washington and USEPA to delay removal of the extremely radioactive wastes from the " PUREX Tunnels" until the year 2042.

The wastes in the tunnels are so radioactive that a person entering the tunnel could receive a lethal dose in well under an hour. The legal deadline for removing the wastes under the Hanford Cleanup Agreement had been 2024. USDOE should have begun asking Congress for funding to plan how to remove the wastes several years ago to meet that deadline.

Instead, USDOE asked WA Ecology and USEPA to eliminate the entire legal deadline to cleanup all waste sites in the ground on Hanford's Central Plateau, including the over 100 yard long PUREX Tunnels, other than the leaking High-Level Waste Tanks, by 2024.

We objected, warning that the PUREX Tunnels in which High Level Radioactive Waste fuel and other extremely radioactive wastes were put on rail cars, could collapse either due to age or a mild earthquake - sending massive doses of radiation into the air (PUREX is the Plutonium Uranium Extraction Plant).

In responding to your and our objections, USDOE issued a report that acknowledged the tunnels could collapse with lethal doses of radiation escaping in a mild earthquake, but which claimed the tunnels could not collapse for thirty years due to age and effects of radiation on the concrete and wood supports.

What USDOE claimed couldn't happen for 30 years happened today!

We are just incredibly lucky that it appears no radiation has been released with the subsidence and collapse found today. But, entering the tunnels to assess their integrity is not going to happen anytime soon: radiation doses are intense and now the tunnel is likely partially blocked. Nor can we know that the damage done will not cause structural damage leading to further collapse and a large radiation release.

Read our full news release here with detailed factual background, including the history of USDOE refusing to listen to warnings. As you will see, we have years of research and advocacy to get the PUREX Tunnels emptied before they collapse.

As a State Representative, I can tell you that I am upset that Washington State and EPA went along with USDOE's delay and ignored the warnings that the PUREX Tunnels, along with other very dangerous nearby facilities, are a ticking time bomb. Urge Governor Inslee to take action here, and please email your US Senators and US Rep.

Ironically, in response to our comments, instead of taking action, the agencies agreed to do a structural integrity report later this year on the now collapsing PUREX Tunnel.

 

Même si les conséquences humaines à court terme semblent minimes ou nulles, ça pose un énorme problème technologique, étant donné qu'un système déjà bien chiant a encore grimpé dans l'échelle du merdier intouchable, inaccessible.

[Cugieran]

Comme pour le barrage il y a quelques temps, on saluera la grande qualité du génie civil américain.

Un barrage saturé, un tunnel qui s'effondre... Si c'était pas un site de stockage, ce serait déjà la honte. Un tunnel ne s'effondre pas.

[FabriceM]

J'en veux moins aux gens qui ont construit le tunnel, éventuellement à la va vite en contexte de guerre, qu'à ceux qui ont décidé de continuer à l'utiliser des décennies après, en dépit de ses faiblesses, alors même que le site devrait déjà avoir été nettoyé ...

[Cugieran]

  Le 10/05/2017 à 11:55, FabriceM a dit :

J'en veux moins aux gens qui ont construit le tunnel, éventuellement à la va vite en contexte de guerre, qu'à ceux qui ont décidé de continuer à l'utiliser des décennies après, en dépit de ses faiblesses, alors même que le site devrait déjà avoir été nettoyé ...

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Ben c'est un peu pareil : ceux qui ont décidé de continuer à l'utiliser sont des grosses merdes en structures.

[Jean_Karim]

 

Y'a pas que les barrages et les tunnels qui ne vont pas

 

 

[FabriceM]

http://keprtv.com/news/local/cantwell-hanford-officials-explain-steps-theyre-taking-to-avoid-another-tunnel-collapse

 

  Citation

Nuclear Waste Program Manager Alex Smith said the Department of Ecology issued an order on the tunnel collapse, requiring the DOE to take certain steps to ensure its short-term and long-term stability.

Ecology's Nuclear Waste Program focuses on keeping people and the environment safe from the dangers of mixed radioactive and chemically hazardous waste by enforcing regulatory compliance and cleanup at the Hanford Site.

Smith said Ecology has multiple concerns at the Hanford Site. The most immediate concern, of course, is the potential the wooden tunnel could collapse again.

Smith said the biggest frustration is that there isn’t enough funding from Congress to finish the cleanup.

“I’m astonished that they don’t fund everything to do the cleanup because by not doing the cleanup, it only degrades further,” she said.

She said concerns were brought up with the tunnels back in the 80's and 90's, but the DOE never received the funding to address it.

“The integrity of the structure is compromised,” Smith said. “I hope it’s a wake-up call for Congress that they can’t let the site's infrastructure deteriorate any longer.”

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C'est possible, ou même vrai, tout ça ?

 

Le département de l'écologie n'est pas libre d'arbitrer et de consacrer plus de fonds à cette mission sans une décision du congrès ?

[FabriceM]

"Everybody's Freaked" - Washington Nuclear Facility Admits Second Radiation Leak, Workers Contaminated

 

Cet endroit est quand même un vrai nid à merdes et ça devient urgent que le gvt US prenne ses responsabilités.

[Cugieran]

Comme souvent dans le nucléaire, les process sont connus, validés, efficaces. Mais il faut les appliquer.

Ca vaut pour Fukushima comme pour ça.

[FabriceM]

Le DoE va remplir le tunnel partiellement effondré avec du mortier. Ça sent le plan foireux à des kilomètres. Corrigez moi si je me trompe mais une fois tout pris dans du béton, ça devient juste impossible de traiter ces déchets. Alors même que le béton ne permettra pas d'assurer le confinement de très long terme nécessaire pour un stockage "ultime".
 

  Citation

" “At some point in the future decisions will have to be made on how that material will be removed. But we just don’t have that right now,” U.S. Department of Energy spokesman Mark Heeter said. “Our immediate concern is getting that tunnel filled back up.” 



 

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http://kuow.org/post/grout-it-hanford-leaders-have-plan-collapsed-tunnel

 

Si les déchets du nucléaire civil étaient traités comme ça, je deviendrais un anti nuc direct ...

 

[FabriceM]

http://nwpr.org/post/hanford-managers-unveil-new-plan-unstable-tunnels-nuclear-site

  Citation

There are two tunnels at Hanford. Tunnel 1 was built in 1956 and Tunnel 2, in 1964. They were both used to store large pieces of highly-radioactive equipment from the PUREX plant, a large plutonium processing factory. That equipment is still very hazardous to humans, and no one has entered either tunnel in decades.

Tunnel 1 was found partially collapsed this spring. Hanford officials plan to fill that one with grout by the end of the year.

Tunnel 2, the tunnel in question, is a much larger tunnel right next door that’s also in danger of caving in. It contains 28 railcars full of large, old equipment that’s highly radioactive.

Federal managers are exploring all sorts of options to stabilize Tunnel 2. And they're now saying they want experts to help them figure out. DOE said it plans to hold a public meeting in the future and gather public input on the new plan for Tunnel 2.

Some of the final options DOE is considering for Tunnel 2:

• Filling it with grout like Tunnel 1
• Filling it with expanding foam

• Putting a roof or structure over it
• Making a controlled collapse

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Le meilleur plan pour gérer à court terme le merdier  (enfin, un parmi d'autres sur le site, entre deux cuves percées) de Hanford : remplir le deuxième tunnel de mousse expansive. Toujours aucun plan pour un stockage en sécurité à long terme ... si c'était du privé, des mecs seraient déjà en taule.

[FabriceM]

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/hanford/article199668254.html

 

  Citation

Trump administration proposes smaller Hanford budget

 

Updated February 12, 2018 06:25 PM

 

The White House is proposing spending more money in the next fiscal year on cleaning up the nation’s nuclear weapons production sites

Just not at Hanford.

The administration released its request to Congress for fiscal 2019 on Monday, calling for a $230 million cut to Hanford nuclear reservation spending.

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Ce sujet ne passionne pas grand monde. Pourtant, à mon sens, c'est un sujet d'étude qui s'impose à nous. Que faire et qui doit payer pour gérer les poubelles du programme de développement du nucléaire initié par l'Etat US ? 

[frigo]

Les industriels  de l'armement ?

[FabriceM]

  Le 18/02/2018 à 17:22, frigo a dit :

Les industriels  de l'armement ?

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Pourquoi seraient-ils tenus responsable de ce que l'Etat a fait ? 

[Adrian]

 

Contenu un peu faible dommage