IMHO, it's only a matter of time before something really bad will come of all of these nuke plants...

R.

Mothballed reactor to chug through Portland on way to grave 2.03 p.m. ET (1804 GMT) August 6, 1999

By Hans Greimel, Associated Press

RAINIER, Ore. (AP)  Entombed in concrete and 6-inch steel, the radioactive reactor of the largest U.S. nuclear power plant ever to be shut down was loaded onto a barge Friday for a 270-mile river journey right through the heart of Portland.

It's the first time a commercial reactor of this size  and level of contamination  will pass through a major American city, according to officials at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the agency overseeing the decommissioning of the Trojan Nuclear Plant.

Even the utility that owns the reactor, which is headed for burial 45 feet deep on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington, considered the river journey risky, and environmentalists were worried.

"I'm not saying if the reactor falls off into the water, everybody would have to be evacuated from Portland, but it would not be good for the Columbia River to have a reactor vessel sitting in it,'' said Lloyd Marbet, who led three unsuccessful ballot initiatives to have the plant shut down. "The fact of the matter is that the interior of the vessel contains a very high level of radioactivity.''

Moving the 1,000-ton reactor is contentious because environmentalists had urged the plant's owner, Portland General Electric, to mothball the entire site for at least 50 years and wait for the radioactive isotopes to cool down before dismantling the facility.

Instead, PGE opted to barge the reactor from its current site, 42 miles northwest of Portland on the banks of the Columbia River, to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Chugging along no faster than 12 mph, a tug was to take the barge past Portland by early Saturday and continue upstream until it reaches Benton, Wash., sometime Sunday. From there, two trucks creeping along at 5 mph will pull the vessel on a 320-wheel, 16-axle trailer to Hanford, 30 miles away.

Utility officials say barging the leakproof reactor is the safest way to decommission the plant, which for 16 years generated enough electricity to power all of Portland. It was closed in 1993, two decades earlier than planned, after a series of problems, including a faulty safety system that drew federal fines, the accidental release of radioactive gases and cracked steam tubes.

"I would characterize it as a risky move, but it's a lot safer than the traditional method of cutting the reactor into pieces and trucking it over the highway,'' PGE spokesman Craig Kreggarntson said.

In 1996, a train hauled away the reactor vessel of the Yankee Rowe nuclear plant in Massachusetts, but unlike Trojan, it weighed only 360 tons and was not transported through heavily populated areas.

Portland General Electric already has shipped off Trojan's contaminated steam generators in five trips to Hanford since 1995, and the Navy has long shipped old reactors from submarines and cruisers up the Columbia for burial at the site  all without any problems.

The only difference is that the Trojan reactor contains 15 times as much radioactivity as those objects, according to state officials.

Kreggarntson said the vessel poses little risk to the workers handling it or residents living along the river, once it is encased in concrete. A person standing within six feet of the reactor for an hour would receive no more radiation than an airplane passenger would get from the sun during two cross-country flights, he said.

A potentially more dangerous problem remains at the Trojan site: hundreds of highly radioactive spent fuel rods. Since the federal government has yet to build a disposal site for such waste, PGE has no option but to encase the rods in canisters and leave them there.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), August 06, 1999

Answers

I guess that if our county's west coast ever does fall off in the ocean, we won't be eating much seafood, will we? At least as far as I know, self-luminous food hasn't become a fad yet! What a potential environmental "Time Bomb" -- and I'm not one you would classify as an environmentalist.

-- Louis (StLouisLouis@Yahoo.com), August 06, 1999.

Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream ...
But folks, they're turning Trojan into a camping public park.
Hhmmm, refugee camp?

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 06, 1999.

Louis,

Well today is the 6th of August. Last week your intuition, which is rarely wrong, suggested that something ominous would start on the 4th or the 5th. Any changes or has your intuition changed!!!???

Just curious. Not trying to be a smart ass!

-- David Butts (dciinc@aol.com), August 06, 1999.

Louis stated that someithing "ominous" would start on the 4th and 5th and get progressively worse. The above-mentioned reactor was probably being loaded on those days and will begin it's journey down the river this weekend. Let's wait and see :-)

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), August 06, 1999.

Ominous.....WHOAAAAAA Nellie!!!!

It could be the reactor thingy but let's not rule out Forrest's white van just yet folks.......

You know what they say, "It's not over until the fat lady gets hit by a 500,000,000,000 ton asteroid".

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), August 06, 1999.

Hey! guys be quiet out there! It's my birthday today! Born one year and one day after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. So everyone breathe softly and let the day pass without note...ok?

-- Shelia (Shelia@active-stream.com), August 06, 1999.

How 'bout we celebrate, instead, Shelia? August 6 is also the birthday of baseball star Tony Gwynn's Mom, and he very much wants to celebrate it (with her in the stands watching) by getting his 3,000th hit! Only 21 players in the history of baseball have reached this milestone.

TO-NY! TO-NY! TO-NY!

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), August 06, 1999.

And just to spread the joy a bit:

SHE-LIA! SHE-LIA! SHE-LIA!

8-}]

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), August 06, 1999.

TO-NY gets his 3000th hit in Montreal..first at bat!! BTW, Craig, shut your face wimp.

-- For (your@info.com), August 06, 1999.

It's about family. Those whom we love and hold dear:

"...Tony lashed a 1-and-2 pitch from Expos starter Dan Smith over the head of second baseman Mike Mordecai for the single that made history. Upon reaching first base, Tony hugged umpire Kerwin Danley - his teammate at San Diego State - and set off the celebration that included fireworks and hugs - lots of hugs.

In a touching move, Tony's teammates came pouring out of the dugout to congratulate him with hugs and pats on the helmet. One by one, they offered congratulations to their veteran teammate.

Then came his mother, Vendella, who gave her son a big hug - and probably a big thanks for the greatest birthday present she could ever ask for. And then came more Gwynn women - his wife, Alicia, his daughter, Anisha, and his niece. He gave them each a kiss..."

We concern ourselves about Y2K because it may be a threat to all whom we love. If it passes without serious damage, we will celebrate like nobody's business.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), August 06, 1999.

Happy Birthday Sheila (whispered quietly).

By the way, would somebody tell that guy in the clown shoes, Craig, not to quit his day job? Son, amateur night at the Comedy Club will not be kind to you. *Yoink*

-- (MrBaggyPants@dot.com), August 06, 1999.

Something Worse! Sailing the Seas ...

Just up on MSNBC (drum roll)
THE NEW ARMAGEDDON
Mass Destruction In The Information Age

[ Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only ]

New plutonium trade raises alarm

By Kari Huus

MSNBCSEATTLE, Aug. 6  This week, the two most heavily armed merchant ships since World War II, the Pacific Teal and the Pacific Pintail, headed for the Cape of Good Hope. Their cargo: enough plutonium to make 75 nuclear warheads. The ships, en route from France to Japan, are the first of many slated to move large quantities of weapons grade plutonium across the Pacific, part of a trend that some experts will greatly increase the risk of nuclear material falling into the wrong hands.

THE TWO SHIPS are armed with 30-millimeter cannons, seven tons of ammunition and enough fuel to make the 60-day journey without stopping. In Japan, the material, known as mixed oxide fuel or MOX, is to be used to power civilian nuclear plants. Plans call for thousands of tons of the substance to be shipped there in the coming decades. Yet only a small amount is needed to create a weapon more devastating than the one that destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima 54 years ago today.

Despite the armaments and secrecy surrounding this voyage, activists led by Greenpeace, joined by some top scientists, have argued that security measures surrounding the MOX shipments were not stringent enough. The reason lies in the nature of MOX, which by many measures is an attractive target for theft and diversion.

Its a wrong turn in the road of securing plutonium from those who might misuse it, said Jim Riccio, staff attorney with Public Citizen Critical Mass Energy Project. This is the coming trend, said Riccio.

MAKING MOX

MOX is made up of uranium and plutonium, which generally comes from reprocessing the spent fuel of nuclear reactors. In terms of proliferation, MOX shipments present a greater risk than shipments of spent fuel, which is so radioactive it is classified as self-protecting. Such waste is difficult or deadly to handle, whereas

MOX can be handled with no special equipment, and minimal immediate danger. The plutonium in MOX can be separated by a simple and widely known chemical process.

Separating and processing the plutonium for use in weapons presents, fewer financial and technical challenges than the attack on two separate U.S. embassies in two separate countries, says Mathew Bunn, a nuclear expert at Harvard University, referring to the twin blasts at U.S. embassies in East Africa a year ago Saturday. It is not at all beyond the capability of a well-funded and well-organized terrorist group.

Turning the reactor-grade plutonium into bombs was proven possible at Los Alamos in the 1940s, contrary to what advocates for the nuclear industry say. Its a little known, but unclassified fact, said Bunn, who was science and technology advisor to the Clinton administration in its first term.

There are immediate and long range problems, says Hisham Zerriffi, project scientist for the Institute of Energy and Environment in Washington, DC. The shipments contain plutonium for one, an environmental risk. Not only that but its plutonium in a form much easier to turn into weapons than the plutonium in spent fuels.

PLUTONIUM ECONOMY

Up to now, the movement of MOX has been largely within Europe, and mainly within France, which has the worlds largest reprocessing program outside of Russia. But that is about to change. Japan has contracts to receive an estimated 80 shipments of MOX from reprocessing plants in France and Britain. In total, Japan is contracted to receive about 30,000 kilograms from Europe by 2010.

The U.S. has a policy dating to the 1970s that bans use of plutonium in commercial power plantsprecisely because of concerns about proliferation. But Washington is doing an about face.

Now that the Cold War is over, nuclear weapons programs in the U.S. and Russian military operations are bursting with excess plutonium. Together, the two former rivals have declared themselves 100 tons in excess of what is needed to maintain shrinking nuclear weapons arsenals.

Pantex workers count stored barrels of plutonium and other radioactive material. In 1994, there were 600 stored, but another 14,000 will be stored by century's end. The danger is if the material catches on fire, it could create a radioactive cloud threatening nearby Amarillo, Texas.

But Moscow and Washington have struggled to find common ground on the disposal of weapons-ready plutonium, which remains in large storage facilities such as the Pentax site in Amarillo, Texas. One solution that many scientists consider more permanent, and involves fewer transport risks involves turning the plutonium into a glass or ceramic rod, and then submerging the rods in fluid that is itself radioactive, as a deterrent to theft.

But Moscow sees these more final solutions as squandering a resource that could, one day, be useful. Though most Americans regard plutonium as a liability, Russians see it as a precious commodity and are very suspicious of plans to dispose of it, said Bill Potter, at the Monterey Institute.

One reason is that Russia, and a number of other nations that might help Russia pay for its plutonium problem, are developing breeder reactor programs. These programs use a type of power plant that uses some plutonium, but produces more plutonium as a waste. No nation has perfected the system, environmental security or finances of a breeder reactor programand the U.S. dropped its efforts amid protest by environmentalists. The programs allure remains: if perfected, it may allow energy self-sufficiency. This is especially appealing to countries like Japan, which currently rely heavily on imported oil from volatile regions.

LESSER OF THE EVILS

Turning weapons-grade plutonium into MOX for commercial plants is one of the solutions Russia, the U.S. and other major powers have agreed on. It is safer than allowing separated weapons-ready plutonium sit around in storage.

The MOX being burned in the U.S. will move to a handful of plants run by Duke Energy in the southeastern U.S. Security regulations mandate that it be handled with the same degree of sensitivity as nuclear weapons themselves.

What would happen to MOX of Russian origin is less clear. For one thing, there arent enough Russian power plants capable of burning MOX, raising possibility that the fuel will be shipped to places as far afield as Canada. Another issue: security around Russias nuclear facilities has badly deteriorated, a problem that has only grown worse during the current economic crisis.

In 1992, a worker at a fuel fabrication plant near Moscow stole small amounts of uranium day after day, and got away with it because he knew the precisely how much would raise alarms. By the time he was caught he had 1.5 kilograms, not quite enough for a bomb, but the incident raised international alarms. In August, 1994, at the Munich airport in Germany, authorities seized 560 grams of MOX powder. Analysis showed that 350 grams (or 62 percent) of it was plutonium and 87 percent of this was Pu-239-a key ingredient in nuclear weapons.

The fundamental problem is that the amounts you need for producing power are in the tons, and for making a bomb just a few kilograms, said Bunn. The precautions required for ensuring that you dont lose a few kilograms are very difficult.

WHO WILL MONITOR MOX TRAFFIC?

As the volumes of plutonium for commercial purposes soar-there amount of plutonium in civil arena is about 180 tons and it creates another 20 tons every year-and it is unclear that any international agency is prepared to police it.

Critics of the nuclear industry have said the U.S. weakened its hand in efforts to discourage the use of plutonium by allies such as Japan and France by agreeing to burn MOX. And some suggest that Washingtons actions set a poor precedent in the case of the Pacific Teal and Pintail. Because the plutonium being shipped on the two ships was ultimately of U.S. origin, Washington had consent rights on the vessels; in effect, the U.S. could have prevented them from sailing or insisted on an armed naval escort. Instead, it approved the vessels to escort each other and so they were armed.

The levels of security were plainly less on this shipment, than is normally demanded, says Bunn.

MOX RACE

Even as Washington and Moscow puzzle over solutions to diminish their plutonium stocks, Tokyo is trying to build plants that run on MOX fuel and its stockpiles of plutonium and MOX are building. For its neighbors, this raises painful memories of Japans brutal World War II aggression in the region. Fear of Japan has helped motivate the two Koreas, Taiwan and China to beef up their plutonium reprocessing programs.

By allowing the use of MOX in commercial reactors, the White House may find it is impossible to convince other countries not to use plutonium in their reactors, warns a report by the activist group WISE. The real plutonium society has arrived.

MARKETPLACE MAY RULE

If there is one serious deterrent to the commercial use of plutonium in commercial plants, so far it is economics.

Japan is in committed to accept the reprocessed MOX, which is derived from shipments of waste from its own nuclear plants, which was sent to Europe in the late 1970s. Japans own reprocessing plants have suffered setbacks, and its breeder reactor program has met with fierce resistance from environmentalists in Japan. And the price of oil, which was sky-high when the breeder program kicked off, has fallen dramatically, decreasing Tokyos incentives. It is faced with a dilemma: It has a shortage of reprocessing. On the other, the country has a growing plutonium surplus, raising accusations of stockpiling.

Resistance even for this single shipment has been significant, and at least three governments  South Africa, New Zealand and Spain  have insisted that the two ships not enter their territorial waters. As the Pacific Teal and the Pacific Pintail head for their destination, the cost of transporting and secure the MOX fuel is rising.

The ships were delayed by protests in Europe, and will meet more in South Korea. This is one of the early shipments of MOX fuel to take place between Europe and Japan and offers an early opportunity for protest groups to highlight this type of transport, says Jack Edlow, president of Edlow International Co. in Washington, D.C., a company that ships radioactive materials. But he plays down the proliferation risk of MOX. The material itself is not necessarily riskier than material than that being transported in other trade routes or other materials being shipped in same trade route.

MSNBC international correspondent Kari Huus is based in Seattle.
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-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 07, 1999.