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Nuclear Questions
On our Navy exercises show last Friday we got a call from a man who noted that, in his days as a submariner from 1979 to 1983, it was routine to dump radioactive waste from the submarine. He said:
The navy dumps the radioactive waste from its reactor, and the secondary loop, into the ocean.... The nuclear reactor has to be evacuated or it will contaminate the ship.
This was surprising to us, so we noted on the show that we'd check into the claims and provide more information on our website.
I've since heard a very different take on the US Navy's protocol for the disposal of radioactive waste aboard nuclear submarines from someone who operated the nuclear systems aboard such a submarine in the 1990s. In particular:
- Steam/water in the secondary loop is normally not radioactive. Steam/water in the secondary loop would only become radioactive if there was a primary coolant leak from the primary to the secondary loop.
- Chemists periodically sample both primary and secondary loops
- Once sampling is completed, primary coolant sample waste is stored in a retention tank
- Periodically and only under certain conditions, the contents of this tank can be emptied into the ocean
So I called the Navy last Friday to ask about all of this. They said they'd try to get me an answer on their nuclear waste protocol by the beginning of this week. But there's still no word.
We'll keep you posted.
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I would be curious if the money spent on uranium used in the military, to power ships, is making its back to the rightful owners of the land where it is mined from and if they are getting fair market value, and if those mines are having any negative impact on the area or the health of the miners.
There is something to be said for taking responsibility for one's actions and not passing the buck
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/17/MNV61272P5.DTL
http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/sdancy.html
http://www.wise-uranium.org/uip.html
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Comments are now closed.
It has been a while since the mainstream news reported on such matters, but when they did, as I recall, they noted the release of radio active steam from nuclear power plants often. Is it possible that you are asking close to the relevent question and the Navy doesn't want to appear misleading by ommission, yet doesn't want to admit to anything they are not accused of either?
The Navy claims to be a large biological research organization, how about asking these basic questions, what industries pollute the ocean the most, what are those polutants, what are the most abundant pollutants and what are the most toxic polutants?
Aren't these some of the most basic questions that a large biological research organization would have the answers to?
If not, would it raise questions as to the effectiveness and direction of research that our tax dollars have been going to?