NEWS: Nuclear Plant is Missing Fuel Rods

Two highly radioactive fuel rods from a Vermont nuclear plant are missing, plant officials said Wednesday. Officials are claiming that there is 'no threat' to the public as of yet. Amidst chatter from Al-Qaeda increasing in the last week, this could become something of intrest.

CNN

""We do not think there is a threat to the public at this point. The great probability is this material is still somewhere in the pool," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan.

One of the missing rods is about the size of a pencil. The other is about the thickness of a pencil and 17 inches long.

Gov. James Douglas, after speaking Wednesday afternoon with the head of the NRC, said he was "very concerned" about the missing fuel at the plant run by Entergy Nuclear."

The recent tape from Osama Bin Laden, claims of the "Summer of Terror", and the U.S. Law Enforcement on a recent hightened alert; How can something like this happen? Since the tragic events of 9-11, there have been several foul ups at Nuclear Plants in the United States.

In August of 2003, the "Slammer Worm" knocked out the Safety Monitoring System for nearly five hours at The Davis-Besse plant in Ohio.

In September of 2002, the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant in Tennessee Locked Down After Security Breach.

In the summer of 2003, 200 keys were reported missing at the Y-12 facility in Tennessee. These keys led to sensitive areas.

Around the same time, Sandia National Labs in New Mexico reported that a set of master keys went missing for more than a week, including keys that could get someone as far as the glass doors leading to the nuclear reactors.

Someone also lost track of master keys at the Lawrence Livermore Lab in California. A dozen keys that enable scientists to enter off-limits buildings at the top-secret US nuclear weapons laboratory presented a potential security breach.

The list as I am sure could go on and on. At this day of age, you would think that the most sensitive areas in the United States would have flawless security. The destruction that these flaws could cause, worry me as a U.S. citizen.











[Edited on 21-4-2004 by TrickmastertricK]

For the life of my, I cant figure out how something like that can come up missing?

[Edited on 21-4-2004 by SpittinCobra]

We should be on national alert by now 2 nuclear rods are missing. I wonder why not many of the public know this yet.

The report does state that these rods could still be at the bottom of the pool, and if taken from the site it would have been detected and set off alarms.

BUT, it does make one wonder and feel some fear, in these times anything seems possible.

scarey... yikes

Gazz

There have been several losses like this from different sources.

Medical radioactive material has been missing from hospitals also.

www.aw-el.com...

dated link but many more examples available in news archives.

[Edited on 21-4-2004 by smirkley]

Not a good couple of days for Vermont Yankee.

"Workers at Vermont Yankee discovered four small cracks in the steam dryer inside the reactor this week, plant officials announced Friday. The dryer has caused serious problems at other reactors that have increased power production, as the Vernon plant is scheduled to do."
Link

this is insane, isnt this nuke mess able to make dirty bombs from?

Get outta town!

Are you serious?

Oh my ever-loving gersh! How the heck do nuclear fuel rods come up missing?

And how the heck do authorities (who are admitting they haven't a clue where these rods are) say with a straight face "there is no danger to the public"?

Good lard!

[Edited on 4-21-2004 by Valhall]

Well, this is really only one rod in two pieces, and it was removed back in 1979.....

Radioactive material is plentiful and try as they might, the feds can't keep check of all of it. Look at the number of nuclear density guages used in highway engineering. I'm certified as a user and to transport but its not my line of work anymore. They are often stolen as evident by this story:

www.rense.com...

The NRC is cracking down on how they are secured from theft and incident during transport and use and when one is trained, the proper securing and NRC Hazmat protocols are the majority of the training.

Guages contain Cesium 137 which is used to test soil density of compaction but some guages also contain Americum used in the application of moisture content. The active particle in the Cesium is the nuetron while the active element in the Americum is the slower but harder hitting proton. Both are very dangerous when exposed.

www.usatoday.com...

Originally posted by astrocreep
Radioactive material is plentiful and try as they might, the feds can't keep check of all of it. Look at the number of nuclear density guages used in highway engineering. I'm certified as a user and to transport but its not my line of work anymore. They are often stolen as evident by this story:

www.rense.com...

The NRC is cracking down on how they are secured from theft and incident during transport and use and when one is trained, the proper securing and NRC Hazmat protocols are the majority of the training.

Guages contain Cesium 137 which is used to test soil density of compaction but some guages also contain Americum used in the application of moisture content. The active particle in the Cesium is the nuetron while the active element in the Americum is the slower but harder hitting proton. Both are very dangerous when exposed.

www.usatoday.com...

Hey, you must be in the same line of work as I am. I am also certified to use these instruments. I used to be a geotechnical engineer but moved on to structural. We still use nuclear gauges for roof moisture though.

Back to the thread. When i was working near Dulles airport, one of the technicians had his nuclear gauge stolen. This is around the DC area, by the way. This was right after 9/11. Well, the NRC wasn't very happy about this. But, on a better note, the cesium and americium contained in these gauges is extremely hard to expose (it is housed in a lead tube). It's so hard to get out that you would have to use a method that would actually dispurse the stuff onto yourself instead of being able to collect it for a dirty bomb.

P.S. I wonder how many government lists I am on now for saying "dirty bomb, americium, cesium, nuclear" all in one post? Makes you wonder.

im pretty sure i heard that they have been found, if they havent cnn is making stuff up again.

From an AP story posted on SFGate.com:
(www.sfgate.com... icle.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/04/21/national1844EDT0802.DTL&type=printable)

"In 2002 a Connecticut nuclear plant was fined $288,000 after a similar loss. That fuel was never accounted for."

How is the lead market these days?

Originally posted by MacMerdin

But, on a better note, the cesium and americium contained in these gauges is extremely hard to expose (it is housed in a lead tube). It's so hard to get out that you would have to use a method that would actually dispurse the stuff onto yourself instead of being able to collect it for a dirty bomb.

That, I'm not too sure about. Along with the lead encasement, the guages shield the operator from the element with tungsten steel but its still relatively easy to remove the elements from the guage and to spread them one would only need some form of conventional explosion...ie..dirty bomb. These guages are a threat and the NRC is chaising their tails right regular trying to get companies to follow procedures and keep them under surveilance and locked down. Like I said, you have two different radioactive sources in one convenient package there so its tempting to say the least. Besides, terror is meant to instill fear more than anything. These might not bring about the level of contamination that a military garde nuke would but I'll be damned if I want exposed to it. Direct exposure for a prolonged (hour or more) period from these elements is lethal. Thats from the dude who trained us via Troxler Guages. This is enough to scare people which is the intent of these goons to begin with.

On the personal note, I was in geotech too. Used them for embankment and subgrade compactions.

Now, how many list am I on?

Not just radioactive...highly radioactive. Gotta love that!

But seriously folks. Just watch the opening credits, and you'll see that the missing fuel rod was carried out by none other than Homer J. Simpson himself, and thrown carelessly out the car window on his way home. If it's that big a concern, just watch the show and find what street he was on.

Hmmm...maybe this explains why no character on the Simpsons has a chin?

Originally posted by Q
Hmmm...maybe this explains why no character on the Simpsons has a chin?

..And only three fingers plus a thumb.

Seriously, on the "lead" issue I mentioned... If someone was gathering these materials for use in a dirty bomb, then someone might have swiped or purchased lead for use as shielding for handling & processing the device. Unfortunately, I doubt if anyone reports missing lead. Then again, one could probably get enough scrap lead from various items such as car batteries.

Hmmm....

[Edited on 23-4-2004 by Outland]

Originally posted by SpittinCobra
For the life of my, I cant figure out how something like that can come up missing?

[Edited on 21-4-2004 by SpittinCobra]

Couldn't have said it better myself! The reason I quoted it is because it's exactly what came to mind when I read the story.

With all the emphasis on national security it is absolutley inconceivable that the morons running that facility could be so incompetent. Too bad were so short on generation capacity in the US. The Feds should pull their operating authority. Ooooops, the problem would then have to be handled directly by the government. I think I'll stick with the private sector rocket scientists.

nah man, the government is to busy making shure no person says any of the "naughty Words" to be bothered with something as trivial as nuclear feul rods missing.

It's amazing how these strories flareup and then quickly die. Has anyone heard whether they've found the rods yet?

[Edited on 2-5-2004 by CommonSense]

The posters bringing up the subject of medical and other equipment having radioactive elements have a very valid point, I seem to remmember a case back in the late eighties where medical equipment from the U.S. ended up in a mexican dump and someone opened up this device getting at the Cesium. They thought it was pretty and started giving it away to others causing one of the worst contamination incidents apart from Cheyrnobl, I recollect it was a big story at the time. Wonder how much more improperly disposed of equipment is out there - I seriously doubt the government knows.