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Where Does Cesium-137 Come From? <br /> The cesium-137 planned for commercial use comes from two of the major military <br /> nucleaz reservations in the US. These aze Hanford WA. and Savannah River SC. There <br /> is not the slightest reason to exaggerate the horrific extent of the contamination at these <br /> two sites. Here is a very brief sampling of some of the problems - a tip of the iceberg to <br /> say the least. In addition to extensive contamination of soil and water the following <br /> potential disasters compete for limited funds: <br /> -177 huge underground tanks of high-level nuclear waste, some of which have leaked and <br /> are building up heat and flammable gases. One contractor estimated that the job of <br /> dealing with these tanks could alone cost S50 billion. <br /> -At least a dozen tons of dangerous plutonium, some of it in the soil or otherwise <br /> unsecured; <br /> -Five gigantic and profoundly contaminated buildings where plutonium was extracted <br /> from irradiated fuel; <br /> -2,100 tons of irradiated fuel, in basins that in an earthquake could become radioactive <br /> dustbins; <br /> -The Dept. of Energy (DOE) estimates that throughout the 1,450 squaze-kilometer site, <br /> <br /> billions of cubic meters of soil, groundwater, and surface water aze contaminated. <br /> -The DOE has been storing 2,100 tons of spent nucleaz fuel in water-filled basins neaz <br /> <br /> the Columbia River. A strong earthquake could release up to 9,000 cubic meters of <br /> contaminated water into the river allowing radiation levels in the area to soar to lethal <br /> levels and dispersing fine radioactive particles into the air. $700 million has been <br /> appropriated to deal with this disaster-in-waiting. <br /> -There aze 9 reactor blocks at Hanford. Each reactor block is an enormous, highly <br /> radioactive pair of slabs weighing 15,000 tons. Just to transport them requires the use of <br /> a $40 million "crawling transporter." The cost of moving them as currently mandated by <br /> law, will be another $500 million. <br /> -Hanford and other sites in the US have already been designated as "National Sacrifice <br /> Areas" by the DOE. <br /> -Multiply the above by two to include the radioactive contamination problems at <br /> Savannah River SC. The story only gets worse. <br /> Glenn Zorpette, "Hanford's Nuclear Wasteland," Scientific American, May 1996. <br /> Robett Alvarez and Arjun Makhijani, "E~idden Legacy of the Arms Race -Radioactive Waste," Technology <br /> Review, Aug./Sept. 1988 <br /> <br />