And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998 23:53:09 EST >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-Mailer: AOL 4.0 for Windows 95 sub 226 >Mailing-List: list [EMAIL PROTECTED]; contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Delivered-To: mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [DOEWatch] Sr-90--------Tainted tumbleweeds concern Hanford > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Source: ><A HREF="http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/1227.html#anchor596187"> >http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/1227.html#anchor596187 >========================================================== >Tainted tumbleweeds concern Hanford > >By John Stang >Herald staff writer > >Think of them as a sour note from Hanford for the late singing cowboy Roy >Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers. > >I'll keep rollin' along. > >Deep in my heart is a song. > >Here on the range I belong. > >Driftin' along with the tumblin' tumbleweeds. > >Twwaaaannng! Klunk! > >They are tumbleweeds in central Hanford, out there sucking up contaminated >ground water before tumbling about in the wind and scattering radioactivity >here and there. > >And a November Department of Energy report notes that more radioactive >tumbleweeds have been showing up. > >The numbers tell part of the tale: Eleven contaminated tumbleweeds were found >in 1995, 19 in 1996, 39 in 1997, and 20 in the first six months of 1998. > >Hanford officials say the increase is mostly linked to increased efforts to >find radioactive tumbleweeds and expanding the monitored areas from 8,786 >acres in 1995 to 11,376 acres in 1998. > >Of Hanford's roughly 1,100 documented findings of contaminated vegetation in >the past 50 years, more than 80 percent were tumbleweeds. > >Almost all the contaminated tumbleweeds bounce around central Hanford's 200 >Area, where the ground underneath is crisscrossed by numerous plumes of >radioactive contaminants. > >The weeds - more formally known as Russian thistle - have roots that can >stretch 15 feet deep in search of water, which at Hanford is likely to be >contaminated. > >Radioactive strontium 90 is common in tumbleweeds, which absorb the >radionuclides into their tissue. > >The plants usually grow to 3 or 4 feet tall before they break off to scatter >seeds as the wind blows them around. > >At Hanford, they also scatter bits and pieces of radioactive material. > >The radioactivity in each piece is slight, but the pieces are a symptom of an >ongoing Hanford problem: controlling myriad ways that nature conspires to >spread radioactivity. > >Add mice and various bugs to the list. > >They track through Hanford's contaminated nooks and crannies, then walk or fly >off, spreading radioactivity. > >Those specks can be picked up on workers' shoes and tracked off-site. In >September, that led to contaminated socks showing up in a worker's laundry >hamper at home. > >In 1996, a contaminated mouse made it to the Tri-Cities Food Bank in north >Richland. > >And this past fall, a couple dozen contaminated fruit flies scattered >radioactive specks around the 200 Area. > >Then contaminated trash showed up in the Richland landfill, and the city >temporarily closed the landfill to Hanford. Trash was hauled back to Hanford, >while new procedures were hammered out between Hanford and the city. > >So Atomic Age tumbleweeds are taken seriously at Hanford. > >In fact, the November DOE report calculated Fluor's seven-company team spent >$1.68 million in fiscal 1998 to control vegetation like tumbleweeds and >various critters ranging from mice to bugs. > >The report said that figure includes some unnecessarily high overhead costs >that could be reduced if the program was better coordinated within Fluor's >team and with another prime contractor, Bechtel Hanford Inc. > >Bechtel spent another $451,000 on herbicide spraying in 1998, the report said. > >Efforts to improve planning and coordination are under way, said Fluor and >DynCorp Tri-Cities Services officials. > >The November report was prompted by a pair of employee complaints that the >tumbleweeds were not being tackled in a timely manner. > >So Hanford workers are now systematically surveying Hanford, including >checking tumbleweeds. > >"There might be 50 tumbleweeds, and we'll find one with some radioactivity," >said Greg Perkins, Fluor Daniel Hanford's director of radiation protection. > >Contaminated tumbleweeds are stuffed into bags, then crushed and buried in >central Hanford's low-level waste trenches. > >But such cleanup is expensive. Strict radioactivity handling requirements bump >up the costs of gathering and burying contaminated tumbleweeds - which can run >$27,000 to $160,000 per acre, depending on the degree of infestation. > >The November report also stressed preventing the tumbleweeds from sucking up >contaminants in the first place. > >That means spraying herbicides to stop the growth of tumbleweeds - for about >$343 per acre. > >Perkins explained the work isn't as simple as it sounds. "You can't go out and >blanket an area with spray. Certain (rare and sensitive) plants have to be >protected, and you can't arbitrarily kill those off," he said. > >Contaminated areas also have to be checked and sprayed repeatedly because >roaming tumbleweeds - each capable of spreading 200,000 seeds - repopulate >themselves very fast, said Tom Harper, Fluor Daniel Hanford's director of >infrastructure. >========================================================== > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription >to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and >select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left. > <<<<=-=-=FREE LEONARD PELTIER=-=-=>>>> If you think you are too small to make a difference; try sleeping in a closed room with a mosquito.... African Proverb <<<<=-=http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ =-=>>>> IF it says: "PASS THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW...." 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