🚀 go-pugleaf

The Las Vegas Sun, is not a scientific reference.  The article
contains no verifiable information, it is nonsense.

On Sun, 04 Jun 2000 19:10:59 GMT, none (Quarks like a duck) wrote:

>greige@bigpond.com (Greig Ebeling) wrote:
>Radioactive water alarms Nye officials
>
>Today: March 02, 2000 at 11:15:52 PST
>
>BY MARY MANNING
>LAS VEGAS SUN
>>
>Nye County officials are taking a serious look at the
>radioactive>contamination discovered in a ground-water sample off the
>Nevada
>Test Site and expect to have more results in a week, County
>Manager Jerry McKnight said Wednesday.
>
>"Good science dictates that we verify these initial results,"
>said Les Bradshaw, manager of the Nye County Department of Natural
>Resources and Federal Facilities.
>>
>Nye officials revealed Wednesday that radiation in ground water
>has been found outside the Nevada Test Site in amounts 25 times
>higher than the federal drinking water standards.
>
>Increasing their concern is the type of radiation found. Two
>types of radioactive particles--alpha, which is found in several
>sources including plutonium, and beta, which causes skin>burns--make
>it harder to pinpoint the source of the nuclear>contamination.>
>
>If the radioactive source came from one of the 928 nuclear
>weapons experiments from Cold War activities there, it would be>the
>first time radiation has been found outside of the Test Site, which is
>located 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
>>
>The Department of Energy's monitoring program has never found
>radiation outside of the Rhode Island-sized nuclear proving
>grounds. In 1998 DOE scientists discovered plutonium that
>traveled on microscopic particles about a mile away from an
>underground nuclear bomb crater on the site.
>>
>Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, both D-Nev., called
>Wednesday's announcement another surprise. Reid said he would
>discuss the issue with Energy Secretary Bill Richardson today.
>
>Reid had planned to meet with Richardson about including Test
>Site workers in legislation that would compensate those harmed by
>exposure to radiation and toxic chemicals.
>>
>The senator said the radiation found in the ground water
>indicates why most Nevadans oppose a high-level nuclear
>repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
>>Yucca is the only site under consideration as a national dumping
>>ground for 77,000 tons of highly radioactive wastes from
>>commercial reactors and defense activities.
>>
>>"It's really important we accelerate the surveillance and
>>monitoring at the Test Site," Reid told the Sun. "And it shows
>>why we're opposed to Yucca Mountain. We need to know more."
>>
>>Bryan agreed with Reid.
>>
>>"This appears to be part of a growing pattern of radioactive
>>migration from the Test Site," Bryan said. "More importantly,
>>this discovery once again raises the credibility question for the
>>Department of Energy."
>
>