Venture Surplus ad

Battleship Texas is still fighting

The #1 community for Gun Owners in Texas

Member Benefits:

  • Fewer Ads!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • Sasquatch

    TGT Addict
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Apr 20, 2020
    6,590
    96
    Magnolia
    It's not like they just dumped nuclear waste into a hole in the ground. Those reactors are incased in some pretty thick steel, and you can drive into that hole in the ground. It takes all day to move the reactor containments from a barge. There's probably over hundred reactors (fuel removed) from Cruisers and Subs in that hole.

    Unfortunately the older containment vessels have cracked and have been leaking radioactive material into the ground and into the river for decades. The problem is going to get worse as those containment vessels age.

    It was interesting times in the 1990's and early 2000's when I got old enough to start paying attention to such things and realizing the issues Hanford posed, along with the Umatilla Army Chemical Weapons Depot - the old dirt covered concrete igloos are still there - but in the 1990's they built a facility on-site to incinerate the chemical weapons (mustard gas, mostly as I recall) stored there. Being down stream and down-wind of both there was always that little thought in the back of your head about what would happen if there was an accident. They claimed a poison gas cloud would take 3 or 4 hours to reach the Portland metro most days IF there was a major leak. Thankfully they only had a minor incident during the operation of the incinerator and there was never a gas release, and none of those ancient munitions (dating back to WW2 and older) never let go.

    It was mildly disconcerting and amusing when I later learned that across the highway from the depot was the USAF Boardman Bombing Range. I'm sure they always came in on a north-to-south flight path, with the actual targets miles away from the depot and the chances of an oopsie by a pilot dropping a hot load was next to zero.
    Texas SOT
     

    easy rider

    Summer Slacker
    Lifetime Member
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Jun 10, 2015
    31,493
    96
    Odessa, Tx
    Unfortunately the older containment vessels have cracked and have been leaking radioactive material into the ground and into the river for decades. The problem is going to get worse as those containment vessels age.

    It was interesting times in the 1990's and early 2000's when I got old enough to start paying attention to such things and realizing the issues Hanford posed, along with the Umatilla Army Chemical Weapons Depot - the old dirt covered concrete igloos are still there - but in the 1990's they built a facility on-site to incinerate the chemical weapons (mustard gas, mostly as I recall) stored there. Being down stream and down-wind of both there was always that little thought in the back of your head about what would happen if there was an accident. They claimed a poison gas cloud would take 3 or 4 hours to reach the Portland metro most days IF there was a major leak. Thankfully they only had a minor incident during the operation of the incinerator and there was never a gas release, and none of those ancient munitions (dating back to WW2 and older) never let go.

    It was mildly disconcerting and amusing when I later learned that across the highway from the depot was the USAF Boardman Bombing Range. I'm sure they always came in on a north-to-south flight path, with the actual targets miles away from the depot and the chances of an oopsie by a pilot dropping a hot load was next to zero.
    I only know about the naval reactors. They only started burying them in the 90's after I started working for the Navy. In fact I welded on many of those containments. The steel on these are not liable to crack(2" or thicker ballistic steel), and the hole itself is a containment. It's not like they dig a hole and throw dirt on top.
     

    Sasquatch

    TGT Addict
    Rating - 100%
    3   0   0
    Apr 20, 2020
    6,590
    96
    Magnolia
    I only know about the naval reactors. They only started burying them in the 90's after I started working for the Navy. In fact I welded on many of those containments. The steel on these are not liable to crack(2" or thicker ballistic steel), and the hole itself is a containment. It's not like they dig a hole and throw dirt on top.

    Those probably aren't what's been leaking - they've been burying nuclear waste at Hanford going back to the 40's IIRC. Hanford is where the nuclear material for those first bombs came from. Would not at all be surprised if the early disposal sites were literally just "dig a hole" or maybe "dig a hole, spread some concrete, put the shit in, and then fill it in"
     

    easy rider

    Summer Slacker
    Lifetime Member
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Jun 10, 2015
    31,493
    96
    Odessa, Tx
    Those probably aren't what's been leaking - they've been burying nuclear waste at Hanford going back to the 40's IIRC. Hanford is where the nuclear material for those first bombs came from. Would not at all be surprised if the early disposal sites were literally just "dig a hole" or maybe "dig a hole, spread some concrete, put the shit in, and then fill it in"
    Well, put it this way, The 'N' reactor at Hanford is one of the reactors that makes plutonium for nuclear bombs. The 'A' reactor was the first. They didn't just pick those buildings housing those reactors up and move them somewhere else. They're all out there.
     
    Top Bottom