Cat litter may have led to radiation leak at WIPP

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Kitty litter may be to blame for a radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, but workers continue their investigation.

Investigators with the U.S. Department of Energy said the use of a new kind of cat litter may have reacted with the nitrate salts and caused damage to several drums in an underground storage area that led to the Feb. 14 radiological release. The litter is used to absorb moisture and neutralize the environment around the barrels. Pictures taken with a rope camera placed underground showed the damage to the drums. The litter in question may have been used to pack at two other waste sites at Los Alamos National Laboratory and at a commercial site in Texas, according to oilprice.com. Texas-based Waste Constrol Specialists is moving the suspect barrels at LANL into protective canisters and shipping them to an unpopulated area.

The New Mexico Environment Department issued an Administrative Order earlier this month for the DOE and Nuclear Waste Partnership to close the two affected underground storage areas at WIPP, and for increased precautions for the storage of nitrate salt-bearing waste containers at WIPP and LANL.

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http://www.power-eng.com/articles/2014/05/cat-litter-may-have-led-to-radiation-leak-at-wipp.html