Category Archives: Low-level radioactive waste

Event Reports: A plethora of low level radioactive waste incidents

Posted on March 13, 2015 by Robert Singleton

  After having spent the better part of the morning tilting with the Texas Low Radioactive Waste Disposal Compact Commission, I thought I’d focus on a month or so of Nuclear Regulatory Commission Event Reports on the kinds of waste that are supposed (in theory) to … Continue reading →

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WCS attempting to bring high-level radioactive waste to its West Texas dump

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Robert Singleton

It’s official now. Waste Control Specialists wants to expand its low-level radioactive waste dump in Andrews County to include the much more dangerous spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants. Spent fuel rods are classified as high-level waste, and are specifically … Continue reading →

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Breaking News: Barge-mounted nuclear power plant to be dismantled in Galveston, shipped to WCS

Posted on September 8, 2014 by Robert Singleton

The Montgomery County Courier reported Saturday: A World War II-era Liberty ship converted to a barge-mounted nuclear reactor will be towed from Virginia to Galveston to be scrapped. The refitted Liberty Ship was used for power generation in the sixties: … Continue reading →

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Event Reports: Sealed sources run over, failed to retract, involved in transportation accident, and some poor fool gets the Barney-Watching Job

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Robert Singleton

It’s not often that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) Event Notification report has a unifying theme, but today’s page has five incidents, all involving sealed-sources containing radioactive material. 1. Terracon Inc. of Colorado Springs reported that a Troxler moisture-density gauge … Continue reading →

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New theory about WIPP barrel leak: Trace metals + acidic waste + organic kitty litter = Exothermic reaction. And what does this bad chemistry mean for the treatment of low-level waste in Texas?

Posted on July 24, 2014 by Robert Singleton

The Santa Fe New Mexican reported yesterday: A glove used to process nuclear waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory and metallic residue from that process have grabbed the attention of investigators probing the cause of a radiation leak at the … Continue reading →

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Dump Watch: A look at what’s upstream….

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Robert Singleton

As part of keeping track of the sorts of low level radioactive waste that might eventually be disposed of at the Waste Control Specialists’ dump in Andrews County, Texas, I’ve decided to post some of the items that show up … Continue reading →

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Dump Watch: Latest news on Waste Control Specialists’ West Texas nuclear waste dump

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Robert Singleton

There’s a lot going on at our least favorite West Texas hole in the ground. The Dallas Morning News ran an editorial last week that raised multiple alarms about the Waste Control Specialists’ low-level radioactive waste facility. The opening paragraph … Continue reading →

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Cajon Pass wildfire could pose threat to radioactive waste shipment

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Robert Singleton

It is very difficult to determine if the Cajon Pass wildfire on I-15 in California poses a threat to the truck hauling a 797,000-pound piece of a radioactive steel from a steam generator from the San Onofre nuclear power plant … Continue reading →

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Radioactive waste moving through Southern California on way to Utah

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Robert Singleton

  One of the selling points when Waste Control Specialists made its case to the Texas Legislature for permission to build a low-level radioactive waste dump in West Texas was that most low-level waste is innocuous, consisting largely of what … Continue reading →

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A stark warning for Andrews County officials: Utah county’s budget cuts may affect oversight of low level radioactive waste dump

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Robert Singleton

Andrews County in west Texas is home to a newly-licensed low level radioactive waste dump. Events taking place in Tooele County, Utah, may be a glimpse at what the future could hold for Texans. As the Salt Lake Tribune reported … Continue reading →

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