Download or read book Hanford written by R. E. Gephart and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Hanford: A Conversation About Nuclear Waste and Cleanup, Roy Gephart takes us on a journey through a world of facts, values, conflicts, and choices facing the most complex environmental cleanup project in the United States: the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site. Starting with the top-secret Manhattan Project, Hanford was used to create tons of plutonium for nuclear weapons. Hundreds of tons of waste and millions of curies remain. In an easy-to-read, illustrated text, Gephart crafts the story of Hanford becoming the world's first nuclear weapons site to release large amounts of contaminants into the environment. This was at a time when radiation biology was in its infancy, industry practiced unbridled waste dumping, and the public trusted what it was told. Hanford history reveals how little we sometimes understand events when caught inside of them. The plutonium market stalled with the end of the Cold War. Public accountability and environmental compliance ushered in a new cleanup mission. Today, Hanford is driven by remediation choices whose outcomes remain uncertain. It's a story whose epilogue will be written by future generations. This book is an information resource, written for the general reader as well as the technically trained person. It provides an overview of Hanford and cleanup issues facing the nuclear weapons complex. Each chapter is a topical mini-series. It's an idea guide that encourages readers to be informed consumers of Hanford news, and to recognize that knowledge, high ethical standards, and social values are at the heart of coping with nuclear waste. Hanford history is a window into many environmental conflicts facing our nation; it's about building uponsuccess and learning from failure. And therein lies a key lesson: when powerful interests are involved, no generation is above pretense.

Download or read book Atomic Geography written by Melvin R. Adams and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps the first environmental engineer at Hanford, Melvin R. Adams spent 24 years on its 586 square miles of desert terrain. His thoughtful vignettes recall challenges and sites he worked on or found personally intriguing--like the 216-U-pond, contaminated with plutonium longer than any place on earth. In what Adams considers his most successful project, he helped determine the initial scope of the soil and solid waste cleanup. His group also designed and tested a marked, maintenance-free disposal barrier, expanded a network of groundwater monitoring wells, and developed a pilot scale pump and treatment plant. Adams shares his perspective on leaking high-level waste storage tanks, dosimeters, and Hanford¿s obsession with safety. He even answers his least favorite question, insisting he does not glow in the dark. He leaves that unique ability to spent fuel rods in water storage basins--a phenomenon known as Cherenkov radiation.

Download or read book Plutopia written by Kathryn L. Brown and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Plutopia, Brown draws on official records and dozens of interviews to tell the stories of Richland, Washington and Ozersk, Russia-the first two cities in the world to produce plutonium. To contain secrets, American and Soviet leaders created plutopias--communities of nuclear families living in highly-subsidized, limited-access atomic cities. Brown shows that the plants' segregation of permanent and temporary workers and of nuclear and non-nuclear zones created a bubble of immunity, where dumps and accidents were glossed over and plant managers freely embezzled and polluted. In four decades, the Hanford plant near Richland and the Maiak plant near Ozersk each issued at least 200 million curies of radioactive isotopes into the surrounding environment--equaling four Chernobyls--laying waste to hundreds of square miles and contaminating rivers, fields, forests, and food supplies. Because of the decades of secrecy, downwind and downriver neighbors of the plutonium plants had difficulty proving what they suspected, that the rash of illnesses, cancers, and birth defects in their communities were caused by the plants' radioactive emissions. Plutopia was successful because in its zoned-off isolation it appeared to deliver the promises of the American dream and Soviet communism; in reality, it concealed disasters that remain highly unstable and threatening today. -- From publisher description.

Download or read book The Apocalypse Factory Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age written by Steve Olson and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2020-07-28 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling narrative of scientific triumph, decades of secrecy, and the unimaginable destruction wrought by the creation of the atomic bomb. It began with plutonium, the first element ever manufactured in quantity by humans. Fearing that the Germans would be the first to weaponize the atom, the United States marshaled brilliant minds and seemingly inexhaustible bodies to find a way to create a nuclear chain reaction of inconceivable explosive power. In a matter of months, the Hanford nuclear facility was built to produce and weaponize the enigmatic and deadly new material that would fuel atomic bombs. In the desert of eastern Washington State, far from prying eyes, scientists Glenn Seaborg, Enrico Fermi, and many thousands of others—the physicists, engineers, laborers, and support staff at the facility—manufactured plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, and for the bombs in the current American nuclear arsenal, enabling the construction of weapons with the potential to end human civilization. With his characteristic blend of scientific clarity and storytelling, Steve Olson asks why Hanford has been largely overlooked in histories of the Manhattan Project and the Cold War. Olson, who grew up just twenty miles from Hanford’s B Reactor, recounts how a small Washington town played host to some of the most influential scientists and engineers in American history as they sought to create the substance at the core of the most destructive weapons ever created. The Apocalypse Factory offers a new generation this dramatic story of human achievement and, ultimately, of lethal hubris.

Download or read book Science and Technology for Environmental Cleanup at Hanford written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2001-11-23 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Hanford Site was established by the federal government in 1943 as part of the secret wartime effort to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. The site operated for about four decades and produced roughly two thirds of the 100 metric tons of plutonium in the U.S. inventory. Millions of cubic meters of radioactive and chemically hazardous wastes, the by-product of plutonium production, were stored in tanks and ancillary facilities at the site or disposed or discharged to the subsurface, the atmosphere, or the Columbia River. In the late 1980s, the primary mission of the Hanford Site changed from plutonium production to environmental restoration. The federal government, through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), began to invest human and financial resources to stabilize and, where possible, remediate the legacy of environmental contamination created by the defense mission. During the past few years, this financial investment has exceeded $1 billion annually. DOE, which is responsible for cleanup of the entire weapons complex, estimates that the cleanup program at Hanford will last until at least 2046 and will cost U.S. taxpayers on the order of $85 billion. Science and Technology for Environmental Cleanup at Hanford provides background information on the Hanford Site and its Integration Project,discusses the System Assessment Capability, an Integration Project-developed risk assessment tool to estimate quantitative effects of contaminant releases, and reviews the technical elements of the scierovides programmatic-level recommendations.

Download or read book Hanford s Battle with Nuclear Waste Tank SY 101 written by Chuck Stewart and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The nuclear reactors and separation plants at the Hanford Site in Washington State made the plutonium for the bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. Plutonium production expanded during the Cold War and continued into the late 1980s leaving Hanford with a majority of the national inventory of high-level radioactive waste stored in its underground tanks. This book tells the story of one specific tank, the million-gallon double-shell tank 241-SY-101 in Hanford's 200-West Area. SY-101 was a dominating element in DOE waste management for the last decade of the 20th century. The possibility of a flammable gas burn in SY-101 was acknowledged as the safety issue of highest priority in the entire DOE complex during the early 1990s. Uncontrolled crust growth demanded another large-scale emergency effort in the late 1990s that finally allowed the tank to return to service in September 2001. It received its first waste as an "active" tank in November 2002. The experience spawned a legacy of inspired engineering, tight project discipline, and supportive teamwork that still affects the Hanford culture today. This narrative presents the whole SY-101 story from the viewpoint of those who lived through it. If it makes people who work in nuclear waste management pause and worry a little when funding, scheduling, or political pressures curtail creativity and prudence, the book will have served its purpose.

Download or read book Complex Cleanup written by and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Characterization of Remote Handled Transuranic Waste for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2002-09-28 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) disposes of plutonium-contaminated debris from its 27 nuclear weapons facilities at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), an underground repository in Carlsbad, New Mexico. After four years of operational experience, DOE has opportunities to make changes to the costly and time-consuming process of "characterizing" the waste to confirm that it is appropriate for shipment to and disposal at WIPP.  The report says that in order to make such changes, DOE should conduct and publish a systematic and quantitative assessment to show that the proposed changes would not affect the protection of workers, the public, or the environment.

Download or read book Nuclear Wastelands written by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 700 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A handbook for scholars, students, policy makers, journalists, and peace and environmental activists.A handbook for scholars, students, policy makers, journalists, and peace and environmental activists, Nuclear Wastelands provides concise histories of the development of nuclear weapons programs of every declared and de facto nuclear weapons power, as well as detailed surveys of the health and environmental effects of this development both in these countries and in non-nuclear nations involved in nuclear weapons testing and uranium mining. Among the more obvious but largely deferred costs of the Cold War are those related to the management of radioactive waste. The world is burdened with thousands of unwanted nuclear devices and mounting surpluses of weapons-grade plutonium and enriched uranium. In addition, the process of weapons production and testing has left many lands, aquifers, rivers, lakes, and seas contaminated by a multitude of weapons-related poisons. This book follows the production process step by step and country by country from uranium mining to the final assembly and storage of weapons, analyzing the potential hazards of each step and compiling the most complete information available on the actual health and environmental effects, in each country involved. Nuclear Wastelands includes a wealth of information that has only recently come to light, particularly on the nuclear weapons program of the former Soviet Union. It also features critical analyses of official public communications concerning the health and environmental consequences of nuclear weapons production, bringing to light governmental secrecy and outright deception that have led to the subversion of democratic principles, and have camouflaged the damage done to the very people and lands the weapons were meant to safeguard.

Download or read book America s Nuclear Wastelands written by Max Singleton Power and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the end of the Cold War, 45 years of weapons production and nuclear research had generated a sobering legacy: an astounding 1.7 trillion gallons of contaminated groundwater; 40 million cubic meters of tainted soil and debris; over 2,000 tons of intensely radioactive spent nuclear fuel; more than 160,000 cubic meters of radioactive and hazardous waste; and over 100 million gallons of liquid, high-level radioactive waste. After more than a decade of assessment, the Environmental Management Program estimated that it would need as much as $212 billion and 70 years to clean up the nuclear waste and contamination at 113 sites across the United States. By 2006, the Department of Energy had expended about $90 billion and greatly reduced risks from catastrophic accidents to both the public and its workers. Management of critical nuclear materials had become more efficient, secure, and accountable. Cleanup was complete at three relatively large and complex weapons productions sites, as well as many smaller ones. Yet many problems remain. Long-lived radioactive isotopes discharged into the soil will persist in slow migration, contaminating nearby groundwater. And while their potential for disastrous explosions has been virtually eliminated, storage tanks containing high-level waste will continue to deteriorate, posing further environmental risks. Long-term nuclear repositories will require unremitting management to protect future generations, and additional facilities still need to be developed. As in the past, public participation will be crucial. Lisa Crawford thought she lived across the road from an agricultural feed company--until one day in 1984, the Feed Materials Production Center inFernald, Ohio, released a toxic dust cloud. A year later, Lisa's well tested positive for excess uranium. She and several neighbors formed Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health, or FRESH. We worked with people in the community and with our elected officials. When the government was ready to make legally binding cleanup decisions, FRESH members were involved. It took 22 years, but the work at Fernald was completed in the fall of 2006. In America's Nuclear Wastelands, Max S. Power uses non-technical language to present a brief overview of nuclear weapons history and contamination issues, as well as a description of the institutional and political environment. He provides a background for understanding the major value conflicts and associated political dynamics, and makes recommendations for navigating long-term stewardship, but his key purpose is to demonstrate the critical role of public participation, and in so doing, encourage citizens to take action regarding local and national policies related to nuclear production and waste disposal.

Download or read book Crisis of Conscience written by Tom Mueller and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 610 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are living in a time of mind-boggling corruption, but we are also living in a golden age of whistleblowing. Over the past two decades, whistleblowers have emerged as both the government's best weapon against corporate misconduct and the citizenry's best defence against government. Drawing on relentless original research, including in-depth interviews with more than 200 whistleblowers, Crisis of Conscience is a modern-day David-and-Goliath saga, told through a series of riveting cases drawn from Big Pharma, the military, and beyond.

Download or read book Strategy and Methodology for Radioactive Waste Characterization written by International Atomic Energy Agency and published by IAEA. This book was released on 2007 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past decade significant progress has been achieved in the development of waste characterization and control procedures and equipment as a direct response to ever-increasing requirements for quality and reliability of information on waste characteristics. Failure in control procedures at any step can have important, adverse consequences and may result in producing waste packages which are not compliant with the waste acceptance criteria for disposal, thereby adversely impacting the repository. The information and guidance included in this publication corresponds to recent achievements and reflects the optimum approaches, thereby reducing the potential for error and enhancing the quality of the end product. -- Publisher's description.

Download or read book Hanford Tank Cleanup written by R. E. Gephart and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hanford Tank Cleanup is a first-of-its-kind report written about the most unique industrial waste ever created by modern industrial society. This waste, some 54 million gallons of radioactive and chemical residue now resting inside 177 underground storage tanks at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford Site in Washington State, is part of the nation's 90 million gallon inventory of highly radioactive waste.

Download or read book Atomic Harvest written by Michael D'Antonio and published by Crown. This book was released on 1993 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspector Casey Ruud raised questions about the concerns of people like nearby farmer Tom Bailie, and eventually went public with facts and figures on faulty plant designs, poor maintenance, sloppy engineering practices, and mismanagement.

Download or read book Nuclear Waste Cleanup Technologies and Opportunities written by Robert Noyes and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-01-15 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the largest, most complicated and expensive environmental problems in the United States is the cleanup of nuclear wastes. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has approximately 4,000 contaminated sites covering tens of thousands of acres and replete with contaminated hazardous or radioactive waste, soil, or structures. In addition to high-level waste, it has more than 250,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste and millions of cubic meters of low-level radio-active waste. In addition, DOE is responsible for thousands of facilities awaiting decontamination, decommissioning, and dismantling. DOE and its predecessors have been involved in the management of radioactive wastes since 1943, when such wastes were first generated in significant quantities as by-products of nuclear weapons production. Waste connected with DOE's nuclear weapons complex has been accumulating as a result of various operations spanning over five decades. The cost estimates for nuclear waste cleanup in the United States have been rapidly rising. It has recently been estimated to be in a range from $200 to $350 billion. Costs could vary considerably based on future philosophies as to whether to isolate certain sites (the ""iron fence"" philosophy), or clean them up to a pristine condition (the ""greenfields"" philosophy). Funding will also be based on Congressional action that may reduce environmental cleanup, based on budget considerations.

Download or read book Cleaning Up the Nation s Waste Sites written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Best Practices for Risk Informed Decision Making Regarding Contaminated Sites written by Committee on Best Practices for Risk-Informed Remedy Selection Closure and Post-Closure of Contaminated Sites and published by . This book was released on 2014-07-21 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management's (EM) mission is the safe cleanup of sites associated with the government-led development of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. While many of these legacy sites have completed cleanup, the largest and most complex sites have not been fully remediated. The cleanup of these sites is proceeding under legally enforceable agreements with timelines for hundreds of milestones. EM is reviewing alternative approaches to increase effectiveness and improve cost efficiencies of its cleanup activities, especially for sites that will have residual contamination when active cleanup is complete. This report is the summary of two workshops convened in October 2013 and January 2014 on best practices for risk-informed remedy selection, closure, and post-closure control of radioactive and chemically contaminated sites that present significant difficulty for remediation to unrestricted release. The workshop series aimed to explore best practices that promote effective, risk-informed decision making and future opportunities to improve remediation approaches and practices.In the Workshop #1 section of "Best Practices for Risk-Informed Decision Making Regarding Contaminated Sites," the report examines holistic approaches for remediating sites with multiple contaminant sources and post-closure uses, and approaches for incorporating a sustainability framework into decision making regarding site remediation, closure, and post-closure control. In Workshop #2, the report focuses on post-closure controls, assessment of long-term performance of site remedies, and best practices for risk-based remediation decisions.