Sprinkling Plutonium on Your Banana

July 15, 2005

Background
Back in the ’70s nuclear scientists chowed down on plutonium. The catchphrase of the day was “sprinkle some plutonium on your banana.” Sounds like a chachacha. In the ’40s and ’50s scientists forced plutonium on others. The Manhattan Project and Atomic Energy Commission injected unsuspecting hospital patients and prisoners with plutonium and learned how total body irradiation had radically different effects from individual to individual. (Read “The Plutonium Files” by Eileen Welsome.) Some died—some are alive today. Many of the experiments were conducted by Nazi scientists brought to the U.S. in Project Paperclip. The Nazi legacy of arrogant ruthlessness, deception, and cover-up is perpetuated today by the Department of Energy (DOE), as witnessed in their general philosophy and the management of nuclear proliferation sites across America, including Los Alamos National Lab (LANL).

As you know from the June Horse Fly, the DOE wants to expand the Area G nuclear waste site. Meanwhile, we’ve learned the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) may issue a draft closure for the Area G nuclear waste site in February 2006. This development focuses magnified importance on supporting the nonproliferation resolution in front of the Taos Town Council.

What’s Hidden in Area G?
The Town Council postponed the June 28 vote on the nonproliferation resolution, pending study at a council workshop on July 12. The council is scheduled to vote on July 19. (All of this, as usual, is subject to change.) Town Councilor Gene Sanchez knows where he stands. He will be voting in favor of the resolution and against the expansion of the Area G waste site. DOE Citizen’s Advisory Board member and Town Councilor Erlinda Gonzales is expected to vote against the resolution. What else does one do when working for the DOE and LANL? At some point the council will view a DOE propaganda film on LANL.

What will the LANL film reveal? Will it point out the nuclear reactors buried under the sand at material disposal area TA 21? Nuclear reactors and spent fuel rods emit gamma rays, making it high-level radioactive waste. Will the film show Area C, where the super-hot waste is stored? And what about older sites—such as Areas A, B, T, and V—that date back to the Manhattan Project? No one knows what’s in these sites.

LANL and the DOE say there is no high-level waste at Area G. According to the Los Alamos Study Group (LASG) this isn’t the case. “LANL has routinely produced irradiated reactor fuel in its own reactors, of which there have been several since 1944, and this was buried at Area G and other Material Disposal Areas.” What about the drill-back cores from underground tests containing the same radioactive isotopes in similar concentrations as spent nuclear fuel? Apparently there is high-level waste and every other type of ionizing radiation at LANL.

The DOE told Greg Mello, director of LASG, that Area G cannot close because some of the waste streams are so highly radioactive there is no possible way to ship them off-site. For example, no container will hold super-hot carbon accelerator beam stops. Should we be surprised that DOE continues to claim there’s no high-level waste at LANL? Read about DOE’s philosophy of deception and cover-up in the Caron Balkany and Wes McKinley book “The Ambushed Grand Jury.”

Irresponsible Management
Have you seen the large black plumes blowing into Taos from Los Alamos? Now we know they are beryllium plumes. At a blogspot known as LANL: The Real Story, LANL scientists discuss the April 2005 hydrotest at the Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrotest (DARHT) facility, which evaluates munitions and studies high-velocity impact phenomena. Their comments say Taos Valley is affected: “The prevailing winds take the plumes from DARHT and PHERMEX (not decommissioned) directly over TA-3, the town site, and have been tracked all the way to the Taos Valley. The test Friday had a large black plume that followed the same path. The foam does concentrate more Be at Darht [sic] but a substantial portion is still released to the environment.”

When the plume first became an issue, Senator Pete Domenici was told the foam protection technique in use could only be 20 to 40 percent efficient in controlling the beryllium. “Pete’s response was that it didn’t matter if it worked as long as we were perceived to be doing something about the problem. He had no interest in the hazards as long as he looked good. And so in the end we got a much more hazardous work environment at DARHT and the public got a healthy dose of Be,” according to the Real Story blogspot.

A healthy dose of Be is known to produce Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD). According to a blogspot entry, “There are a number of people that work at or around DARHT that have contacted CBD and they will die from it. The disease has no cure. The symptoms are much like emphysema and it is debilitating before it is fatal. This is the information they don’t want you to know.” The authorities say some people are much more susceptible to CBD than others. Onset of the disease is signaled by shortness of breath, fatigue, night sweats, and coughing.

Other comments on the LANL blogspot go like this: “Why does nobody understand how badly LANL has deteriorated and how terribly irresponsible the management has been?” “Safety, security and environmental problems … all these are solvable if someone cares. It’s obvious that the bloated upper management at LANL doesn’t care.” “There are countless other examples of DOE’s lip-service regarding safety and security.”

What’s Happening?
James Bearzi, Bureau Chief at NMED’s Hazardous Waste Department, says LANL will be compelled to close Area G by February ’06. Bearzi says the issue is not so much what they have in Area G but that LANL continues to use this site as they have in the past. He says the post-closure permit and scheduling of public hearings will be the beginning of an enormous fight whose success depends on citizen response at the public hearings. The DOE does not want Area G closed. According to Bearzi, “This will be the first time the state has played its hand.”

LASG Director Greg Mello says if the state moves to close the waste site it will definitely be the first time the state has played its hand. Mello has heard this promise on multiple occasions before. The waste site permit expired in ’89 but has been administratively continued by NMED. Mello says, “LANL is not now under any threat from NMED to close Area G nor will it be next year due to any RCRA [Resource Conservation & Recovery Act] process.” The last time Mello spoke to Bearzi, he was told that the “cleanup” order would be proposed by NMED and DOE for inclusion en bloc into the permit. So we have two contradictory stories coming out of NMED. Sounds like they’re sprinkling plutonium on our bananas again and again.

We have a unique opportunity in New Mexico to stand strong for peace in a country that is escalating weapons buildup and continuing the militarization of space. We have a unique opportunity because we are at the heart of the beast. If you want to know details of what is planned by the Department of Defense and the DOE for our future, check out a most important document on the Internet: “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century.”

Contact Taos Town Council members and urge them to support the resolution against proliferation. And try to attend Hiroshima Day in Los Alamos on Aug. 6. LASG’s website (www.lasg.org) has all the details.