Re: [Phys-L] Nuclear Waste Incident New Mexico.

[brian whatcott <betwys1@sbcglobal.net>]

The US WIPP has been in operation since 1998. This incident has provoked 
a three week shutdown  before probable cause can be determined.  Where 
some waste needs a one hundred fifty year holding time before final 
disposition, this accident rate is not particularly encouraging in my 
view.    As to alarming people with a spot count of 15cpm, I seem to 
recall that fifteen years ago, when a list member mentioned his record 
high count from a filter aspirator of several thousand cpm above 
background, nobody seemed particularly disturbed.

Brian Whatcott   Altus OK

On 2/24/2014 9:11 AM, Paul Nord wrote:
> The official news stories suggest that any “release” was very limited.
> http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-radiation-leak-20140218,0,2098213.story#axzz2uFYZ73KO
> http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/n-m-nuclear-waste-site-stays-closed-after-radiation-leak-n35246
>
> The blog you found indicates that someone knows how to run Hysplit and create alarming maps.  None of the maps have calculated an exposure.  They’re just showing wind patterns.  In fact, the first plot suggests that the ground-level air over NM on the 15th will pass over Oklahoma at 500 meters altitude.
>
> Some people might be alarmed when you report 15 counts/min. This sounds like normal background radiation.  This level is probably typical of what you would read from this same detector in your lab at any other time.  More importantly, we don’t know anything about the size or calibration of your counter.  A larger detector would read more counts per minute.  A detector with a thin window would detect more of the low-energy photons from uranium.  Converting 15 counts/minute to a radiation dose is pretty tricky.  Cosmic radiation will also vary with time of day (depending, for the most part, on whether the Milky Way is directly overhead).  Simply reporting a number without any standard units could create panic.
>
> Your test is great.  But it’s more likely to be an exercise in statistical fluctuations of the normal background radiation and/or the stability of your detector over long periods of time.  I don’t think that you will see a plume of radiation pass overhead.
>
> Paul
>
>
>
> On Feb 23, 2014, at 9:59 PM, brian whatcott <betwys1@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> > More than 2 weeks ago there was apparently  a nuclear incident near Carlsbad NM  - I read on a Facebook share (!!)
> > According to a low level wind forecast, there may have been an impact on SW Oklahoma.
> > I am reading 15 counts/minute, currently. Here is the story alluded to.
> >
> > http://optimalprediction.com/wp/plutonium-release-from-the-wipp-radioactive-waste-facility/
> >
> > Brian Whatcott    Altus OK