ECA Update: August 17, 2012
Published: Fri, 08/17/12
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Commemorating the bomb
The Washington Post Editorial Board
August 12, 2012
The Washington Post Editorial Board
August 12, 2012
Now, some 70 years later, a bipartisan initiative seeks to designate these three sites as a National Park. That's a fine idea. Such a move would expand access to these crucial historical sites as well as provide funding and staffing to preserve them. Given their importance in the histories of the United States, the Cold War and the 20th century, Congress should pass the park designation bill by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and companion legislation by Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.).
Should the bill pass, the National Park Service (NPS) will be charged with interpreting the Manhattan Project and its legacy for visitors. It will be a daunting task. The bill acknowledges that the project's legacy is "significant, far-reaching and complex." The Manhattan Project harnessed American scientific, engineering and industrial prowess in an effort that many saw as essential to the survival of the free world in its fight against fascism. But many of its participants wrestled within themselves then and afterward over their part in creating such a frightful tool of death.
The decision to use the weapon, to destroy the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, remains, and will always remain, a question of keen historical debate. The explosions brought to a swift end a war that might otherwise have dragged on for a long time, at a cost of of hundreds of thousands more lives, both American and Japanese. But they killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians, both in August 1945 and subsequently from radiation poisoning. A successful exhibit will present the choice that President Harry S. Truman faced in all its complexity without seeking to decide the issues for visitors.
The National Park Service, which manages hundreds of locations across the country, has significant experience in dealing with fraught histories at sites such as the Japanese Internment Camps at Manzanar and Little Rock Central High School. The Manhattan Project will be no less of a challenge. But it encompasses a seminal moment in world history, one that surely warrants the wider audience this legislative push would bring.
Bingaman Discusses Manhattan Project National Historical Park at Los Alamos Historical Museum Event
Carol A. Clark, Los Alamos Daily Post
August 14, 2012
U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., was honored Monday afternoon at a gathering at the Los Alamos Historical Museum for his support of Los Alamos during his 30 years of service in the U.S. Senate.
Los Alamos County Council Chair Sharon Stover presented Bingaman with a plaque of appreciation on behalf of the Council, County and community.
Bingaman spoke of a bill pending in Congress to establish a Manhattan Project National Historical Park with sites in Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Tenn. and Hanford, Wash.
"It is difficult to get anything passed through both the House and Senate lately and I don't want to leave you with the impression that it will be passed by the end of this year," Bingaman said of the bipartisan legislation he and U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., introduced in Congress.
Passage of the bill will mean recognition for the scientific project that he called "amazing" and bring people from across the globe to Los Alamos, he said.
Bingaman spoke of a Washington Post editorial that ran Monday, which endorsed passage of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park bill.
"We've got strong bi-partisan support for the bill and that endorsement might help get it passed by the end of this year," he said.
Bandelier Park Superintendent Jason Lott told the crowd gathered on the lawn behind the museum that the Park Service's job is preserving history and telling stories.
"The idea that these scientists came here and developed these devices and bombs and then turned around and asked us not to use them is remarkable," Lott said. "There's a lot that I don't think the public knows and that's the National Park Service's job to tell those stories ... why we did it, what happened, who it saved, who it hurt."
Lott said many people will be drawn to Los Alamos if this bill is passed and that means there must be good hotels and restaurants and shopping.
"They are going to go back and sell Los Alamos ... so let's start talking about how we are going to put a National Park in the middle of Los Alamos," Lott said.
Rep. Jim Hall, R-Los Alamos, Santa Fe and Sandoval counties strongly supports passage of the bill.
"The science of the Manhattan Project not only changed New Mexico but it changed the world," he said.
Hall explained that his uncle served in WW II and was captured in the Philippines. He endured four years of unspeakable horrors before being told that he would be marched to death in the Bataan Death March ... then the bomb was dropped and he came home.
Hall told the crowd, "I hope that story is told as well."
The Manhattan Project
It has been called the most significant scientific undertaking in the history of mankind. In 1943, some of the world's greatest minds gathered on a remote desert mesa to unlock the mystery of the basic building blocks of the universe -- the atom -- and to beat the Nazis in the development of an atomic bomb. It is an undertaking that changed the world forever, impacting scientific, social, military, world, regional, and local history.
Suitcase Outreach Program
In an effort to share this history, the Los Alamos Historical Society has created a "suitcase" outreach program for teachers. The suitcases, with artifacts, photographs, and other information about various eras in Los Alamos history, travel from school to school in Los Alamos and the surrounding area.
The Los Alamos Historical Society preserves, promotes, and communicates the remarkable history and inspiring stories of Los Alamos and its people for our community, for the global audience, and for future generations.
The Los Alamos Historical Museum and Shop are housed in the Guest Cottage of the Los Alamos Ranch School, 1050 Bathtub Row, which was a favorite spot of Gen. Leslie Groves during the Manhattan Project.
The Los Alamos Historical Society is a non-profit, 501(c)-3 organization incorporated under the laws of the state of New Mexico. Membership is open to all persons interested in the purposes of the society. The society is run by a Board of Directors, listed below.
Contributions to the Society are tax-deductible.
Los Alamos Historical Society Board of Directors
President Ron Wilkins
Vice President John Ruminer
Secretary Dennis Erickson
Treasurer Carole Steward
Members-at-Large include J. Arthur Freed, Wendy Hoffman, Shay Burns Kendricks, Art Montoya, Kate O'Donnell, Sharon Snyder, Michael Wheeler and Todd Urbatsch.
WIPP Receives Green Zia Award for Environmental Excellence
DOE-Carlsbad Field Office
August 16, 2012
CARLSBAD, N.M., August 16, 2012- The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility known as the nation's only deep geologic repository for the permanent disposal of radioactive waste, was recently honored for its pollution prevention efforts for the second year in a row.
The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) recognized the DOE Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO), which provides oversight for WIPP and the National Transuranic (TRU) Program, as a Silver Level Leader in its Green Zia Environmental Leadership Program. CBFO was selected for the Bronze Level award in 2011.
In place since 1996, the Green Zia program is a part of the NMED Pollution Prevention Program. In 2012, WIPP was one of the few other-than-commercial business organizations to be singled out and one of only seven total award recipients in New Mexico to be honored by NMED.
Recognition was for continual improvements to environmental stewardship and sustainability in the areas of energy use, hazardous waste reduction, recycling, and water use reduction. Some of the facility's specific achievements that were cited included a 13 percent reduction in energy use over eight years, a 19 percent reduction in petroleum use over six years, and a 15 percent reduction in site water use in 2011.
As a Silver Level Leader recipient, WIPP commits to partnering with NMED for a three-year period, during which annual progress reports to NMED will demonstrate continued improvement.
"CBFO is honored by NMED's recognition," said CBFO Manager Joe Franco. "The award demonstrates the Department of Energy's and WIPP's commitment to environmental stewardship in our surrounding communities, the State of New Mexico and the nation."
CBFO Environmental Protection Specialist Susan McCauslin is program lead for the team of employees of Washington TRU Solutions (WTS) LLC, the WIPP management and operating contractor, and URS Regulatory Environmental Services (RES), subcontractor to WTS, recognized for the initiatives resulting in the award. "Specifically, we look for opportunities to conserve energy, recycle and minimize waste products in our project planning activities," she said. "Sustainability practices are tied to daily operations at WIPP."
In addition to McCauslin, those honored included: Lynn Johnson, Joe Vasquez, Colleen Navarrette, Bruce Jeffress, Shari Cullum, Marty Gonzales, Judy McLemore, Stewart Jones, Robbin Spoon, Ritchie Jimenez, Gene Valette, Roy Byrd, Ellen Harkness, James Hedin, Jennifer Hendrickson, Bob Kirby, Rick Salness and John Vandekraats.
The Green Zia Environmental Leadership Program is modeled after the Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence Program with emphasis on integrating environmental improvements into core business practices. According to NMED, more than 130 organizations and businesses have participated with over $45 million in cost savings reported since the program's inception.
WIPP is a DOE facility designed to safely isolate defense-related transuranic waste from people and the environment. Waste temporarily stored at sites around the country is shipped to WIPP and permanently disposed in rooms mined out of an ancient salt formation 2,150 feet below the surface. WIPP, which began waste disposal operations in 1999, is located 26 miles outside of Carlsbad, N.M.
New Oak Ridge Facility Saves $20 Million, Accelerates Waste Processing
EM News Flash
August 15, 2012
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - Oak Ridge's EM program recently began operations at a newly constructed facility that will accelerate the completion of remote-handled transuranic (TRU) waste processing at the site by two years and save taxpayers more than $20 million.
The new Cask Processing Enclosure (CPE) facility is located at the Transuranic Waste Processing Center (TWPC). TWPC processes, repackages, and ships the site's legacy TRU waste offsite. The TRU waste at TWPC has two designations: contact handled (CH), which has lower radioactivity and can be manually sorted and repackaged by workers, and remote handled (RH), which has higher radioactivity and is processed in hot cells by employee-controlled manipulators. About 1,500 cubic meters of CH waste and 560 cubic meters of RH waste remain at Oak Ridge.
RH waste processing has been ongoing in TWPC's hot cells since 2008, but workers found that much of the processed debris labeled RH waste met the criteria for CH waste, which can be processed more quickly than RH waste. Employees determined that 200 of the 360 casks contain CH waste and can be managed in the CPE instead of the hot cells in TWPC.
"The CPE facility is a tremendous advantage for our TWPC mission," said DOE's TRU Waste Program Manager Bill McMillan. "We can divert a large portion of the RH inventory to a faster, less expensive processing method."
The addition of CPE will allow Oak Ridge to remove its RH waste inventory from the site by 2016, instead of 2018.
With a substantial portion of the inventory containing lower levels of radioactivity, the EM program chose to construct the CPE, which provides multiple benefits. The new facility can process the lower-level waste quickly at a low cost. And while that waste is processed at CPE, workers will be able to clean and refurbish TWPC's hot cells in preparation for processing the highly radioactive portions of the inventory in 2014.
The CPE has the capability to manage the significant quantity of groundwater in casks that originated from below-grade trenches. It is estimated that more than 100 waste casks contain groundwater, which is not allowed in waste disposed at DOE's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., the destination for much of the processed waste.
For New Nuclear Chief, Concerns Over Plant Safety
Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times
August 13, 2012
ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The new chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has good news and bad news for the nuclear power industry.
The good news is that although an impasse over the storage of nuclear waste now threatens some of the industry's routine activities, the chairwoman says she believes that a permanent repository can be set up eventually.
The bad news is that she considers the industry's evaluation of earthquake vulnerability -- an issue that was once believed to be settled when a nuclear power plant was licensed -- to be inadequate.
Allison M. Macfarlane, the first geologist to serve on the commission, which regulates power plants and the civilian use of radioactive materials, arrives at a time when geology has moved to the center of the industry's concerns. Since the triple meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant last year, which was caused by an earthquake that the Japanese industry had not believed was possible, a question has reverberated: Are the 104 reactors in the United States prepared for the worst challenge they could face?
Nuclear waste is also a crucial issue for the commission these days. In June, a federal appeals court ruled that the agency has acted too hastily in issuing licenses to power plants on the theory that waste could be safely stored at the plants until a final resting place is established.
The Obama administration canceled plans to store the waste at Yucca Mountain, a site in the Nevada desert, in 2010. With no repository now in sight, the commission has not shown that the reactors were prepared for this "interim" period, the court said.
So last week, the commission voted 5 to 0 to suspend licensing for plants until it can prove that the lack of a storage plan does not threaten public health and safety.
In what will probably be a setback to the industry, Dr. Macfarlane says the commission has no deadline in mind for drafting a policy that will satisfy the court and allow it to resume licensing activity.
"This is a really fresh issue," Dr. Macfarlane said in an interview. "We will evaluate what the court sent to us."
She was far more optimistic, however, about the country's ability to reach a consensus on a site for burying nuclear waste.
"It's worth remembering that the United States is the only country in the world with an operating deep geologic repository for nuclear waste," she said, referring to a site near Carlsbad, N.M., that began receiving plutonium-laced waste from the nation's nuclear weapons program in 1999. The waste is buried 2,150 feet under the desert floor in the middle of a thick layer of salt.
"We should keep that in mind when thinking about whether the U.S. can accomplish that," she said.
Dr. Macfarlane, who was sworn in last month, declined to comment on several safety questions before her agency, including how it would rule on handling nuclear waste until a repository is found.
But as a member of a blue-ribbon commission appointed to explore alternatives to Yucca Mountain, she argued for changes in the process used to choose a site. (Congress chose Yucca Mountain over the objections of Nevada, which later gained enough political and legal muscle to fight it off.)
While Dr. Macfarlane was upbeat about the long-term prospects for nuclear waste, she took a somewhat harsher tone on the industry's evaluation of earthquake risk. The old approach, which involved building a plan to withstand the strongest earthquake a site has ever had, will not do, she said.
Sometimes engineers do not understand geology and approach it as a static body of knowledge, she said.
"As a geologist, I also know that geological knowledge is constantly changing," she said. For example, she said, geologists did not think there could be a mega-earthquake off the east coast of Japan until the Indian Ocean earthquake off Indonesia in December 2004, which also produced a devastating tsunami.
That earthquake happened at a "subduction zone," a spot where one tectonic plate slides under another. After that quake, she said, geologists realized that any such zone that was long enough could create a major earthquake.
"This is a dynamic set of knowledge, which requires regular feedback and interaction," Dr. Macfarlane said.
The American industry recently began a re-evaluation of its earthquake vulnerability after the United States Geological Survey released a new estimate of the prospects for earthquakes in the eastern United States. And there may be more revisions in the future, she said.
Dr. Macfarlane succeeded Gregory B. Jaczko, a physicist who was deeply unpopular with the other commissioners and much of the staff.
Joining a commission long dominated by engineers, academics, lawyers and the occasional admiral, Dr. Macfarlane acknowledged that she was "from the outside." But she said the staff and the other commissioners had been welcoming.
On another front, Dr. Macfarlane said she had instructed her staff to "use more transparent language."
"People who live near a nuclear facility should be able to read the documents that the N.R.C. produces," she said. "That will certainly give them more confidence of our ability to regulate safety."
Nuclear Regulator Ticks Off Her Wish List
Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times Green Blog
August 14, 2012
The new chairwoman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday that she had asked the agency's staff to look into the likely effects of climate change on nuclear power reactors.
As I write elsewhere in The Times, the chairwoman, Allison M. Macfarlane, is a geologist who focuses on nuclear waste and earthquake safety, among other topics. She was answering a question about the shutdown of the Millstone 2 reactor in Waterford, Conn., on Sunday. The water pulled in from Long Island Sound had become so warm that it exceeded the temperature limit specified in the plant's operating license, 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Speaking at a reporters' roundtable organized by the trade publication IHS The Energy Daily, Dr. Macfarlane said the study would cover areas like how plants would fare if storms grew more severe and flooding increased, and how they might compete for water if rainfall patterns shifted.
Making her first appearance before reporters, Dr. Macfarlane also made these points:
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