Matt RubinDec 5, 2022
ProPublica

In America’s rush to build the #nuclear arsenal that won the Cold War, safety was sacrificed for speed.

#Uranium mills that helped fuel the weapons also dumped #radioactive and toxic waste into rivers. Thousands of sheep turned blue & died after foraging on tainted land. #Cancer wards across the West swelled with sick uranium workers.

The government bankrolled the industry but didn’t have a plan for the toxic byproducts of this nuclear assembly line.

https://www.propublica.org/article/uranium-mills-pollution-cleanup-us?utm_medium=social&utm_source=mastodon&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

The Cold War Legacy Lurking in U.S. Groundwater

For the first time, ProPublica has cataloged cleanup efforts at the 50-plus sites where uranium was processed to fuel the nation’s nuclear arsenal. Even after regulators say cleanup is complete, polluted water and sickness are often left behind.

ProPublica
Dec 3, 2022 at 3:59pmWeb
Show threadMizmarDec 3, 2022

@ProPublica

Yeah. Nuclear waste. When the duration of the problem is longer then your tenure in office; the problem should be swept under the carpet.

Show threadLE MurphyDec 5, 2022

@Mizmar @ProPublica

Now do coal. Coal burning actually produces more radioactive waste than nuclear power for the same amount of energy. Plus coal has all the rest of the pollution commonly associated with it.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste/

Coal Ash Is More Radioactive Than Nuclear Waste

By burning away all the pesky carbon and other impurities, coal power plants produce heaps of radiation

Scientific American
Show threadMizmarDec 5, 2022

@VividConfusion
I'm prepared to slag off coal. But I don't like whataboutery as it risks one distorting facts and talking nonsense.

@ProPublica

Show threadLE MurphyDec 5, 2022

@Mizmar @ProPublica

Fair enough.

Show threadMizmarDec 5, 2022

@VividConfusion

The article says: "As a general clarification, ounce for ounce, coal ash released from a power plant delivers more radiation than nuclear waste -->shielded via water or dry cask storage<--."
Indeed, if coal produced just as much radiation as nuclear, the flesh of millions of miners would be rotting on theirs bones.

You could more correctly, say "nuclear power produces no more radioactive pollution than coal, if maintained correctly for 1000s of years".

@ProPublica

Show threadLE MurphyDec 5, 2022

@Mizmar @ProPublica

Nawh. Your conclusion is incorrect for numerous reasons, not the least of which is the source of radiation from burning coal.

But it's late here and I'm sick, so I'm not going to get into nuclear health physics .

Enjoy.

Show threadMizmarDec 5, 2022

@VividConfusion

Fair enough 🙂

@ProPublica

Show threadMizmarDec 5, 2022

@VividConfusion

Feeling better?

@ProPublica

Show threadLE MurphyDec 5, 2022

@Mizmar @ProPublica

Meh. Mostly sleeping, trying to get liquids in, and distracting myself from how icky I feel in-between. Thanks for asking, though.

Show threadVayl Larkin (they/them)Dec 3, 2022
@ProPublica Especially tragic given the direction of modern nuclear tech toward a more waste-neutral system. Patience, shared information, money into research instead of substandard contemporary infrastructure - all these could have resulted in a legacy of energy independence, instead of one of fear and anxiety about anything with the word "atom" in it.
Show threadJ. D. HamblinDec 3, 2022
@ProPublica thank you for your work on this important subject. Looking forward to digesting this piece more fully
Show threadBarbara MonacoDec 3, 2022
@ProPublica My Dad helped build a uranium enrichment plant in southern Ohio in the early 1950s. It shut down in 2001 after poisoning water, land, and generations of people. Today the cost is $11 billion to clean the site, and it will take 20 years to complete the process.
Show threadMarkDec 3, 2022
@ProPublica good reporting on legacy environmental problems of uranium (U) mining. What about current nukes? The U.S. mined only 5% of its total U purchases in 2021. The rest? Kazakhstan 35%, Canada 15%, Australia 14%, Russia 14%, Namibia 7%, & 5 other countries 10%. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/nuclear/where-our-uranium-comes-from.php
So we’ve outsourced environmental hazards & rely on former Soviet nations for half our U. #nuclear #energy #EnergySecurity #NationalSecurity
Where our uranium comes from - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government

Show threadMarkDec 3, 2022
@ProPublica good to bookmark this article for next time someone tells you the *only* way to avert climate catastrophe is 100% nuclear, cuz it’s clean, safe, and always on. #energy #EnergyTransition #nuclear #nuclearEnergy
Show threadRadicalWoman111Dec 3, 2022

@ProPublica
The House needs to pass the Superfund Reinvestment Act before the end of the year; so companies, not taxpayers, can pay for the environmental disasters they create.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/2674/titles?r=87&s=1

Show threadFor_the_Joy_of_ItDec 3, 2022
@ProPublica Guess what—they still lack a pla for storage.
Show threadMx. Dudula the DudDec 3, 2022
@ProPublica And showing they've learned nothing they're pushing electric cars with no ideas how to deal with the waste batteries after they've ended their useful lifespan..
Show threadtoxtethogradyDec 4, 2022
@BackFromTheDud @ProPublica I am willing to bet that materials can be harvested from those batteries for reuse by someone clever. If I were a chemical engineer, maybe I could figure it out...
Show threadMx. Dudula the DudDec 4, 2022
@toxtethogrady I'm guessing the tech to do so already exists, but "Profitability" makes it "Financially Unviable". @ProPublica
Show threadtoxtethogradyDec 4, 2022
@BackFromTheDud @ProPublica For now. I had heard desalinization was expensive to do at scale, but the Egyptians claim to have built 82 desalinization plants so they can expand metro Cairo. That would be news to me if true....
Show threadMx. Dudula the DudDec 4, 2022
@toxtethogrady @ProPublica People have been using distillation to make safe water for centuries, surely? After all, Humans have been distilling alcohol and acids since medieval times, so getting fresh water from seawater should be a doddle! Also, the byproduct is something that goes well with chips.
Show threadtoxtethogradyDec 4, 2022
@BackFromTheDud @ProPublica It should have been, but scientists were always amazed at how efficient the seagull was at removing salt from seawater. For whatever reason, desalinization at scale is still not as common as it could be...
Show thread@Lee_in_IowaDec 4, 2022
@ProPublica Only after a TIME magazine cover on the mid-1980s about children with cancer from the Fernald plant on Ohio (“They Lied to Us”)—and Senator John Glenn’s furious demands for investigation—did the US DOE agree that the US EPA had any right of oversight of their facilities—which gave us the Superfund Sites like Hanford and Savannah River.
I edited the EPA “Sampling and Analysis Plan” for Savannah River in my previous life as a science editor.
Show threadRachel MartinDec 4, 2022

@ProPublica

I recently learned that the dinnerware made by a particular company (with only that one manufacturing site) is a bit radioactive. The site had previously been used for uranium processing – and some of that uranium was used in the Manhattan Project!

And, double-checking that just now, I'm reminded that old Fiestaware is radioactive because the vivid glaze they used – especially for the red – was made with uranium oxide. 😱

https://pittsburghquarterly.com/articles/song-of-canonsburg/

Show threadJonDec 4, 2022
@ProPublica I know this article focuses on uranium mills, but don't miss out on the processing plants, too. Mallinckrodt in St. Louis ended up just trucking waste in uncovered dump trucks through neighborhoods and putting it into a landfill...that's now on fire.
Show threadJackieDec 4, 2022
@ProPublica Yes, but an even bigger nuclear threat looms as extreme weather and geophysical events exceed the design capacity at nuclear plants. If the Beaver NPP just down from PGH on the Ohio is hit by a wall of water from the failure of the locks and dams on the Allegheny (now ranked deficient including the Kinzua) after a microburst or small quake (now more probableO, all the water intake plants on the Ohio and Mississippi will cease forever.
Show threadBryceDec 5, 2022
@ProPublica Cold War was wild… any actions without regard to safety or downstream effects are short sighted. Hope to never see this mentality again. Similar mentality from that era for chemical wastes released in rivers.