Nuclear Info Kept From Congress and the Public 309
Thermite writes "On March 6, 2006 an accident occurred at Nuclear Fuel Services in Erwin, Tennessee. According to reports, almost 9 gallons of highly enriched uranium in solution spilled and nearly went into a chain reaction. Before the accident in 2004, the NRC and The Office of Naval Reactors had changed the terms of the company's license so that any correspondence with Nuclear Fuel Services would be marked 'official use only.' From the article: 'While reviewing the commission's public Web page in 2004, the Department of Energy's Office of Naval Reactors found what it considered protected information about Nuclear Fuel Service's work for the Navy. The commission responded by sealing every document related to Nuclear Fuel Services and BWX Technologies in Lynchburg, Va., the only two companies licensed by the agency to manufacture, possess and store highly enriched uranium.' The result was that the public and Congress were both left in the dark for 13 months regarding this accident and other issues at the facility."
Misleading title (Score:1, Informative)
All members of Congress have at least the right to view FOUO information. Some politicians disagree with marking this material as such, and they are quoted in the article. But at NO TIME were they banned from the information.
The title written as it is lends itself to a much more insidious plot, and that is far from what occurred.
Re:"Almost" a chain reaction ? (Score:5, Informative)
Any container designed to hold enriched uranium would be carefully shaped so as to avoid coming anywhere near to creating a critical mass. In this incident, the risk was that the liquid would flow into the elevator shaft, where it would pool into a compact shape that could create a critical mass.
Re:Chain reaction? I'm skeptical (Score:3, Informative)
Standard reporting cycle (Score:4, Informative)
"If a criticality accident had occurred in the filter glovebox or the elevator pit, it is
likely that at least one worker would have received an exposure high enough to cause acute
health effects or death." Keep in mind that the result of the second worst event for nuclear facilities for the year. Compare that with the coal industry or oil industry where there are multiple deaths annually.
Also this is fairly old news since it was in the NRC's "Report to Congress on Abnormal Occurrences - Fiscal Year 2006 (NUREG-0090, Vol. 29)". Which has a release date of April 2007. Take a look for yourself its on page 14
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nur
The information is available to congress is not notified everytime an incident occurs. Unless the accident could cause things to happen off site the public isn't notified until the annual list of inccidents, primarily because it would just create unneeded hystaria as seen by this FUD while the engineers review the facts and figure out REALLY happened. As far as the company trying to hide it. If it is not reported to the NRC within 24 hours of the event they would likely lose their license.
Re:One thing is different in Britain (Score:4, Informative)
(It is also worth noting that the Lib Dems control a very large number of local authorities. Pissing them off can therefore have interesting consequences. It would be most unfortunate if a new sewer had to be installed in the road... right outside an MP's house... Terrible... Don't know how that could have happened...)
Both the opposition and the third party have other weapons that do not exist in America. Either can call for a motion of no confidence, in which the Prime Minister MUST appear to answer questions. As indeed they must for Parliamentary Question Time. Although it has not been used this way for years, it used to be standard practice to use no confidence motions to force the other party to turn up for important debates, as the Prime Minister must resign if the motion passes. It is vital to that party that it can guarantee as large a majority as possible. Question Time is also important, as it creates a much greater sense of accountability. It's not perfect, but it gets better answers than subpoenas seem to be in America.
Re:Oh Please (Score:3, Informative)
We are supposed to believe that 9 gallons of enriched Uranium won't go into chain reaction but if you spill it onto a floor where it spreads out the chances of a chain reaction increases?
when Pigs fly.
Check out the Barns radius.
Dead wrong (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Oh Please (Score:5, Informative)
No, we're supposed to believe that an improperly sealed transfer line could allow sufficent uranium to accumulate in two possible places over the course of multiple transfer operations.
Report PDF [nrc.gov]
Re:How do they keep a straight face (Score:5, Informative)
Chernobyl had a lot more mass of fuel, already hot, contained in a pressurized vessel. When the reaction got out of hand, it superheated the water causing a steam explosion that blew the top off the vessel, spewing part of the reactor contents into the air and also causing a graphite fire that released even more radioactive material. Since the fuel was in solid form, the bulk of it was not easily mobile, allowing it to stay at a critical mass and density while it heated to a lava-like state and melted it's way downward into the ground while keeping the graphite fire burning.
This incident involved 9 gallons uranium and an unspecified solvent at an unspecified concentration and occurred at a processing plant, not a reactor. Had a critical mass pooled, it would have started heating up as the reaction rate increased. This would have caused the solvent to boil, mobilizing some of the radioactive particles but keeping the pool somewhat dispersed, in turn reducing the reaction rate...a sort of natural moderation effect. Actually, this is pretty much the main challenge to overcome in detonating a fission bomb. They like to sputter themselves apart before you get an effective yield.
Because of the self-moderating effect and the lack of any way to build up pressure, there could be no explosion from this spill. It might start a fire, however, which could be expected to increase the amount that becomes airborne, and of course cause additional hazards if the fire spread. A fire can be fought, by the way, although you want to take extra care not to spread the uranium to places where it's harder to clean up.
The increased radiation and perhaps irradiation from the reaction would be a hazard to anyone working in the immediate area. The NRC said there was a possibility of one worker receiving a fatal dose of radiation had it gone critical. The actual uranium that might become airborne is a surprisingly minor hazard. In fact, the wikipedia article [wikipedia.org] has a picture of someone holding U-235 pellets in their hand. It is highly toxic and this is the main threat, but you still need to get a sufficient dose to cause problems. Its radioactivity is actually very low when not in a chain reaction, with a half life of 700 million years. The bigger concern is the daughter isotopes created by its decay with shorter half lives, like radon, but these of course only form at the rate the uranium decays, so it's typically only a problem with very large deposits.
Also, if you read the article in full, you will see that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission already did an investigation (part of what was classified) and gave the company a list of required operational changes to help prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future and mitigate damage if it does.