I didn't see this posted on the forum tonight. Mat Drudge just headlinered with a link to www.vny.com.News, with an article on an explosion at a Tennesse Nuke weapons plant injuring 10 workers.

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-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), December 09, 1999

Answers

Nikita beat me by mere seconds!

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-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), December 09, 1999.

LOL SH, This is the fastest news service in town!! I'm gonna ask the stupid question here. Why are these guys casting new nuclear weapons? We don't have any new missiles being deployed and we got thousands of waheads in storage.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 09, 1999.

I haven't seen the official reports, but is there any chance this could have been sabotage???

-- Nabi (nabi7@yahoo.com), December 09, 1999.

What strikes me is that the nature of the accident -- human error in the "spillage" of a potassium-sodium cooling agent into the furnace, seems like a total FUBAR and is reminiscent of the ... Japanese? ... Korean? ... gee there's been so many I'm losing track of whuch were whorch ... the Korean one in whorch the worker's were (it was told) mixing the nuclear slurry in plastic buckets ..... How is it that the cooling agent "spills" into the furnace? A vavlve failes to close? A valve opens without warning? What??

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-- SH (squirrel@huntr.com), December 09, 1999.

that was my first thought too Nabi

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), December 09, 1999.

Which way is the wind blowing?

-- mmmm (mmmm@mmmm.com), December 09, 1999.

Well, you see, there's this senator and elder reresentative from that part of Tennessee and......

-- Lobo (atthelair@yahoo.com), December 09, 1999.

Nik,

If (and I know it's a big IF at this stage) it was sabotage, then things might speed up considerably here in a short amount time. As always, this is the best place to pick up relevant breaking news. Looks like I won't get much sleep tonight...

-- Nabi (nabi7@yahoo.com), December 09, 1999.

Got KI?

-- ~~~~~~~ (karlacalif@aol.com), December 09, 1999.

Got Potassium Iodate or Potassium Iodide and a Scintillator (wristwatch radiation detector used by Nato Forces)?

Bull Electrical Current Issue NATO Wrist Mount Scintillation Radiation Detectors $19.44 plus S&H at www.bullnet.co.uk/shops/test/geigers.htm

Potassium Iodate tablets: http://www.gotplenty.com/KI

Potassium Iodide www.beprepared.com or 1-800-999-1863

-- Queen of Hearts (alice@wonder.land), December 09, 1999.

"Why are these guys casting new nuclear weapons? We don't have any new missiles being deployed and we got thousands of waheads in storage."

Like I been tellin ya Nik, the ol' U.S. of A. is a little more prepared than we'd like the rest of the world to think. Do you have some inside government connection that leads you to believe you know EVERYTHING they are up to? You've got Clinton figured all wrong.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), December 09, 1999.

FOR EDUCATIONAL / RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=34386

Explosion at Tenn. nuclear weapons plant

Thursday, 9 December 1999 2:55 (GMT)

(UPI Focus)
Explosion at Tenn. nuclear weapons plant

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Dec. 8 (UPI) - Ten workers were injured on Wednesday in a chemical explosion at a Department of Energy nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee.

Officials said seven workers were treated at the Oak Ridge Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and three workers were hospitalized.

Authorities believe the explosion occurred after a volatile sodium- potassium mixture used as a cooling agent in the casting of nuclear warheads spilled into the bottom of a furnace.

Plant officials said the workers were exposed to limited amounts of radioactive contamination because of depleted uranium in the crucible.

Bob Van Hook, president of Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, which operates the facility for the Department of Energy, said nothing was released from the site that would have affected the public or employees.

Van Hook said about 50 people were evacuated from the million-square-foot building where the explosion took place. The building has been sealed off for investigators.

The Energy Department's assistant secretary for safety, David Michaels, said a "type A" investigation of the incident would be headed by David Stadler, the DOE's acting deputy assistant secretary for oversight.

-- flb (fben4077@yahoo.com), December 09, 1999.

Don't know the details, I assume that "spilled" meant either drained to the floor/catch basin (from piping through a valve that was incorrectly opened) or from a relief valve.

The mixture of these metals is nasty stuff - glad it was chemical in nature and not inherently radioactive itself.

They screwed up big time, hope the workers recover.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 09, 1999.

"Coolant spilled into the bottom of the furnace" or ruptured heat exchanger?

When I bought my first Dodge minivan I began to notice brown Dodge minivans everywhere. The explanation in part is because there are a lot of them, I had just never noticed.

I pass a LMT building on my way to work, now I keep seeing that name in the news. Part of the reason is they are a wide ranging enterprise woking in many fields.

I look forward to their summary of the cause of this failure.

"Spilled" coolant? Nonsense.

-- Tom Beckner (tbeckner@xout.erols.com), December 09, 1999.

Here is a link to the story from Infobeat-

http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2562499844-f37

I don't if this will show as a link. If not, could someone tell me how to do it? I used copy and paste so, other than that, I don't know.

-- Darla (dnice@hgo.net), December 09, 1999.

Interesting wording:

Plant officials said the workers were exposed to limited amounts of radioactive contamination because of depleted uranium in the crucible.

... as opposed to unlimited??

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), December 09, 1999.

If I worked at a Nuke plant, I would BE VERY CAREFUL. It is hard to beleive this might be human error unless the workers don't fear radiation.

-- Linda A (adahi@muhlon.com), December 09, 1999.

Here's what it sounds like to me: This nuclear weapons plant is making anti-tank weapons. They are not nuclear devices (a-bombs). They are projectiles (used in Iraq and Kosovo) made from *depleted uranium* a substance so hard it will penetrate steel armor. This was done on a R&D basis at a plant not far from where I live which is now shut down. If not for this I would have no knowledge of it.

-- wondering (wondering@nottoo.far), December 09, 1999.