SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Federal Investigation Finds Cat Litter Partial Cause of Radiation Leak
The radiation leak exposed at least 22 workers and caused at least $240 million in damages
Mar 27, 2015
The U.S. Department of Energy says it has identified a key culprit behind a radiation leak last year at its underground nuclear dump in southeastern New Mexico: one of the drums contained "chemically incompatible contents," including the wrong kind of cat litter.
The finding is included in a 277-page report, the product of a year-long investigation into an accident at the federally-owned Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) that released radiation into the air, exposing at least 22 workers, alarming residents of nearby Carlsbad, and leading to a suspension of operations at the site.
According to the investigators, Drum 68660 was the source of the "radioactive contamination" released. It had been packaged with incompatible contents at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico and then sent to the WIPP facility for disposal.
These contents included nitrate salt residues, neutralization agent (triethanolamine), and organic sorbent--an organic brand of cat litter known as Swheat Scoop.
"Experiments showed that various combinations of nitrate salt, Swheat Scoop(r), nitric acid, and oxalate self-heat at temperatures below 100degC," states a summary of the report. "Computer modeling of thermal runaway was consistent with the observed 70-day birth-to-breach of Drum 68660."
According to NPR, cat litter is widely used at nuclear laboratories because the "absorbent material is great at soaking up liquid nuclear waste." However, Los Alamos National Laboratory had apparently switched to using the organic brand of litter, which caused the problem.
And it was no small breach.
Last fall, the DOE estimated that the disaster cost at least $240 million dollars and that it could be years before the site is fully functional.
The incident raised concerns about the safety and sustainability of the dump, which forms the bedrock of the U.S. government's current approach to dispose of military-generated plutonium-contaminated transuranic waste from decades of nuclear bomb production and testing.
The facility, which stores nuclear waste deep beneath the earth's surface in salt formations, is the only underground repository for materials above the lowest level of radiation.
The Department of Energy claims on its website that "WIPP has set the standard for safe, permanent disposal of long-lived radioactive defense wastes."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
The U.S. Department of Energy says it has identified a key culprit behind a radiation leak last year at its underground nuclear dump in southeastern New Mexico: one of the drums contained "chemically incompatible contents," including the wrong kind of cat litter.
The finding is included in a 277-page report, the product of a year-long investigation into an accident at the federally-owned Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) that released radiation into the air, exposing at least 22 workers, alarming residents of nearby Carlsbad, and leading to a suspension of operations at the site.
According to the investigators, Drum 68660 was the source of the "radioactive contamination" released. It had been packaged with incompatible contents at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico and then sent to the WIPP facility for disposal.
These contents included nitrate salt residues, neutralization agent (triethanolamine), and organic sorbent--an organic brand of cat litter known as Swheat Scoop.
"Experiments showed that various combinations of nitrate salt, Swheat Scoop(r), nitric acid, and oxalate self-heat at temperatures below 100degC," states a summary of the report. "Computer modeling of thermal runaway was consistent with the observed 70-day birth-to-breach of Drum 68660."
According to NPR, cat litter is widely used at nuclear laboratories because the "absorbent material is great at soaking up liquid nuclear waste." However, Los Alamos National Laboratory had apparently switched to using the organic brand of litter, which caused the problem.
And it was no small breach.
Last fall, the DOE estimated that the disaster cost at least $240 million dollars and that it could be years before the site is fully functional.
The incident raised concerns about the safety and sustainability of the dump, which forms the bedrock of the U.S. government's current approach to dispose of military-generated plutonium-contaminated transuranic waste from decades of nuclear bomb production and testing.
The facility, which stores nuclear waste deep beneath the earth's surface in salt formations, is the only underground repository for materials above the lowest level of radiation.
The Department of Energy claims on its website that "WIPP has set the standard for safe, permanent disposal of long-lived radioactive defense wastes."
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
The U.S. Department of Energy says it has identified a key culprit behind a radiation leak last year at its underground nuclear dump in southeastern New Mexico: one of the drums contained "chemically incompatible contents," including the wrong kind of cat litter.
The finding is included in a 277-page report, the product of a year-long investigation into an accident at the federally-owned Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) that released radiation into the air, exposing at least 22 workers, alarming residents of nearby Carlsbad, and leading to a suspension of operations at the site.
According to the investigators, Drum 68660 was the source of the "radioactive contamination" released. It had been packaged with incompatible contents at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico and then sent to the WIPP facility for disposal.
These contents included nitrate salt residues, neutralization agent (triethanolamine), and organic sorbent--an organic brand of cat litter known as Swheat Scoop.
"Experiments showed that various combinations of nitrate salt, Swheat Scoop(r), nitric acid, and oxalate self-heat at temperatures below 100degC," states a summary of the report. "Computer modeling of thermal runaway was consistent with the observed 70-day birth-to-breach of Drum 68660."
According to NPR, cat litter is widely used at nuclear laboratories because the "absorbent material is great at soaking up liquid nuclear waste." However, Los Alamos National Laboratory had apparently switched to using the organic brand of litter, which caused the problem.
And it was no small breach.
Last fall, the DOE estimated that the disaster cost at least $240 million dollars and that it could be years before the site is fully functional.
The incident raised concerns about the safety and sustainability of the dump, which forms the bedrock of the U.S. government's current approach to dispose of military-generated plutonium-contaminated transuranic waste from decades of nuclear bomb production and testing.
The facility, which stores nuclear waste deep beneath the earth's surface in salt formations, is the only underground repository for materials above the lowest level of radiation.
The Department of Energy claims on its website that "WIPP has set the standard for safe, permanent disposal of long-lived radioactive defense wastes."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy