Post by Ex_Nuke_Troop on Mar 4, 2014 16:55:18 GMT
Las Cruces Sun-News : Editorial: WIPP workers, neighbors need info on leak
POSTED: 03/03/2014 01:00:00 AM MST
The people living in and around the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant east of Carlsbad deserve honest answers to their legitimate questions about a recent leak there. And we are confident those answers will come in time. But for now, there is still much to be learned.
To that end, we commend U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, who wrote to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy on Thursday requesting mobile environmental monitoring units to conduct independent tests around the WIPP site.
Radiation was first detected underground at WIPP on Feb. 14. The following week, radiation was also found in an air filter above ground, roughly half a mile from the site. On Wednesday it was announced that tests revealed 13 workers at WIPP had been exposed to radiation. Those workers tested positive for americium-241, one of the radiation particles emitted from the transuranic waste stored in the abandoned salt mine that now serves as the nation's only underground waste repository.
More tests will be needed to determine if other workers have been exposed as well. And, we don't know yet what health impacts will result from this exposure.
Regardless, these workers are our neighbors, fellow New Mexicans, and they will likely be dealing with the repercussions of this accident for years to come. It is the obligation of the federal government to ensure these workers get the treatment and support they need, both now and in the future.
Those who don't work at the plant but live in the area have been assured that airborne contaminants are at an acceptable level and the chances of anybody other than a worker being contaminated are remote.
Still, we think the independent monitoring called for by Udall and Heinrich will go a long way toward easing those doubts.
From the very start, the attitude of many in the Carlsbad area toward the underground transuranic waste facility has been to let the science determine what is safe and what is not. With the site slated for closure in 2030, there is certain to be a great deal of debate as to its safety.
This leak will undoubtedly be part of that debate, which is fair. But we continue to believe that science should be our guide. And right now, we just don't know enough about the cause of the leak to ascertain whether it was a freakish, isolated incident or a symptom of a larger, systematic problem.
Those answers will come in time. For now, the best we can do is insist on fair monitoring to provide early indications of trouble, and fair treatment for those workers who were exposed.
www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-opinion/ci_25249902/editorial-wipp-workers-neighbors-need-info-leak
POSTED: 03/03/2014 01:00:00 AM MST
The people living in and around the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant east of Carlsbad deserve honest answers to their legitimate questions about a recent leak there. And we are confident those answers will come in time. But for now, there is still much to be learned.
To that end, we commend U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, who wrote to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy on Thursday requesting mobile environmental monitoring units to conduct independent tests around the WIPP site.
Radiation was first detected underground at WIPP on Feb. 14. The following week, radiation was also found in an air filter above ground, roughly half a mile from the site. On Wednesday it was announced that tests revealed 13 workers at WIPP had been exposed to radiation. Those workers tested positive for americium-241, one of the radiation particles emitted from the transuranic waste stored in the abandoned salt mine that now serves as the nation's only underground waste repository.
More tests will be needed to determine if other workers have been exposed as well. And, we don't know yet what health impacts will result from this exposure.
Regardless, these workers are our neighbors, fellow New Mexicans, and they will likely be dealing with the repercussions of this accident for years to come. It is the obligation of the federal government to ensure these workers get the treatment and support they need, both now and in the future.
Those who don't work at the plant but live in the area have been assured that airborne contaminants are at an acceptable level and the chances of anybody other than a worker being contaminated are remote.
Still, we think the independent monitoring called for by Udall and Heinrich will go a long way toward easing those doubts.
From the very start, the attitude of many in the Carlsbad area toward the underground transuranic waste facility has been to let the science determine what is safe and what is not. With the site slated for closure in 2030, there is certain to be a great deal of debate as to its safety.
This leak will undoubtedly be part of that debate, which is fair. But we continue to believe that science should be our guide. And right now, we just don't know enough about the cause of the leak to ascertain whether it was a freakish, isolated incident or a symptom of a larger, systematic problem.
Those answers will come in time. For now, the best we can do is insist on fair monitoring to provide early indications of trouble, and fair treatment for those workers who were exposed.
www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-opinion/ci_25249902/editorial-wipp-workers-neighbors-need-info-leak
so whats happening in the Solomons, is haarp missing its mark?