What's up, Doc? Radioactive rabbit poop discovered by helicopter!

barnstorm2

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What's up, Doc? Radioactive rabbit poop

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/410808_radioactivepoop5.html

It was a low-flying poop detector.

That is if the poop was radioactive.

In late September, a helicopter hovered 50 feet above the Hanford nuclear reservation, methodically hunting almost 16 square miles for radioactive poop that critters with a taste for salt spread.

Going about 80 mph, the helicopter used detection equipment attached to its sides to map out each piece with GPS coordinates.

Between the helicopter survey and the GPS coordinates, the radioactive scat can be found and removed in days rather than the months that would have been needed for people search for the poop on the ground, said Dee Millikin, spokeswoman for CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co. That company is responsible for much of the environmental cleanup of central Hanford.

Information on the amount of discovered radioactive scat was not available, Millikin said.

The actual cleanup began this week.

An estimated 50 million gallons of liquid wastes from Cold War plutonium-production processes -- laced with radioactive cesium and strontium salts -- were dumped in a 13.7-square-mile area south of central Hanford's 177 underground radioactive waste tanks. That dumping ended more than 40 years ago.

Similar dumping happened at a two-square-mile site in north-central Hanford.

Jackrabbits routinely burrowed into those sites.

They found the salt, liked it, and licked it.

Later, they pooped it, leaving slightly radioactive scat all over the ground.

Since the radioactive scat has been pinpointed, cleanup crews won't have to dig up as much soil to transfer to a huge Hanford landfill where mildly radioactive debris is dumped, covered and protected, Millikin said.

Nevada-based National Security Technologies did the helicopter survey for $300,000 in federal stimulus money sent to Hanford.

Before the helicopter flights, CH2M Hill did tests to ensure the chopper would not stir up and spread contaminated dirt.

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Curious.... A 586 square mile nuclear reserve with millions of gallons of contanimants stored there and they are spending funds to clean up rabbit poop on 16 square miles of it.
It sounds like no population lives close by but I may be missing the importance of the radioactive pellets?
Can terroist creep in and use this for nuclear weapons? Not really.
Does anyone use pellets for a food source? Any farms there? doubtful.
So we have a nuclear dump site with rabbit pellets in less then 3% of the area probably covering less then 1/10000th of the ground in that area.
I hope they don't hear about solar radiation any time soon. :)
 
It sounds like no population lives close by but I may be missing the importance of the radioactive pellets?

Strontium salts are taken up by the body as if it was calcium. Even small amounts can cause bone cancer.

Perhaps no one lives there today but as this story shows contamination has a way of unexpectedly getting around.

Pellets turn into plants, get eaten again.

Everyone is down stream from all rivers in a sense.

Hasenpfeffer anyone?? ;)

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little critter

little critter

Hi,
Found this one under the shed!













G.
LAA.PRA.BRA............:plane:
 

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poop

poop

Hi Tim,

They recon you can get the poop from this one above on a GPS.
what about one of the feet for a keyring!;)



G.
LAA.BRA.PRA............:plane:
 
Big Rabbits

Big Rabbits

Sorry Lads,


This is what the outcome of the scotish malt does to you!





:focus:

G.
LAA.PRA.BRA.
 
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