WIPP Electrical Design Flaw Lead to Nearly Catastrophic MidWest Airborne Plutonium Release, AND MAY YET STILL!

The Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Dispersal Pilot Plant [WIPP] in Carlsbad, New Mexico has a System of Systems design flaw which virtually guarantees that even a moderate underground fire affecting the nuclear waste will cause the facility to lose power, resulting in a massive uncontrolled release of Plutonium and Americium.

This exact catastrophic situation had started to occur during the Valentine's day nuclear fire at the WIPP facility; when by the GRACE OF GOD, elevated wind speeds spun up and  reduced the airborne Americium cloud's radioactive density. This act of Divine Providence served to lessen the Americium's ionization interaction with WIPP's electrical substation to the point where the electrical arc flashes were noted but power loss reportedly did not occur.

Based on DOE's Accident Investigation Report we have documented in detail the nature of WIPP's initial UNDETECTED Plutonium / Americium release and how it caused the reported "GREEN BURST" at the WIPP's electrical substation. see: "GREEN BURST" At WIPP Electrical Substation Triggered By Deadly Radioactive Americium Cloud

WIPP's  System of System (SOS) design flaw is as follows:

1) WIPP's electrical substation is located directly next to the mine's ventilation exhaust (see map below)

2) In event of nuclear fire, Ionizing Plutonium and Americium are discharged directly into the electrical substation

3) WIPP underground Continuous Air Monitor(s) are not placed to detect radiation in  the 6+ foot cavernous air space floating above the underground worker's heads (more detail in the video)

4) As happened on Valentine's day, Item 3 resulted in at least an hour long period of UNDETECTED Plutonium and Americium being discharged into WIPP's electrical substation, resulting in arc flashing.

5) Americium is known for its ability to ionize air and cause electrical discharges (it is used in smoke detectors for exactly this purpose)

6) Americium and Plutonium discharging into the electrical substation will (and did) cause arc flashing, and the result is likely to cause the substation to lose power

7) Power loss at WIPP equates to uncontrolled ventilation of the mine and an inability to evacuate workers

8) Uncontrolled ventilation during a fire means loss of containment, as demonstrated by the February 5th underground fire at WIPP

Aggravating factors:

1) Difficult salt related environmental conditions at WIPP make it nearly impossible to operate real time underground radioactive air monitoring without a high level of perceived false radioactive alarms. It is exactly this condition which caused site employees to disregard the veracity of the radiation alarm until 11 hours after it sounded (when secondary manual readings confirmed the release).

2) WIPP's plan to further increase underground ventilation rates makes real time underground detection even more difficult, and increases the chances of undetected stagnation pooling of radioactive materials at the electrical substation during no wind conditions.

Conclusion:

The MidWest nearly became uninhabitable on Valentine's Day, had wind speeds not picked up at the plant the facility would have lost power. It is possible the nuclear fire would have become naturally ventilated and uncontrolled, much like what happened on February 5th when an underground vehicle caught fire.

In that same light, had the February 5th underground vehicle fire occurred in a nuclear waste storage area, the resulting burning nuclear materials would have released enough  Americium to cause the electrical substation to shut down. That loss of power would have made it impossible to evacuate and or ventilate the underground. That loss of control would have resulted in the entire Midwest being contaminated in enough Plutonium and Americium that even the DOE would have a hard time covering it up.


As it stands now, the Department of Energy has not publicly recognized any of these deadly design deficiencies; its unclear if they are acting out of incompetence or some twisted greater good concept rationalizing the risk away for National Security reasons. But one thing is for sure, if DOE does not relocate and / or further risk mitigate WIPP's substation the entire Midwest remains at risk. 

UPDATE: 5/1/2014

We've found a Youtube video that shows the Americium electrical discharge effect on a small scale, what you see in the video embedded below is precisely what caused the "GREEN BURST" in WIPP's electrical substation when Americium and Plutonium were exhausted out of the mine into the electrical substation

Sources:

DOE WIPP Accident Investigation Report

"GREEN BURST" At WIPP Electrical Substation Triggered By Deadly Radioactive Americium Cloud

Fire breaks out underground at Carlsbad's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant; 6 treated for smoke inhalation

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