-Caveat Lector- ----- Original Message ----- > From: OBRL-News > Subject:- 'Blue glow' reported at Paducah plant > > Orgone Biophysical Research Lab > http://www.orgonelab.org > Forwarded News Item > > Please copy and distribute to other interested individuals and groups > > ********** > > The "blue glow" described below was discussed by Wilhelm Reich in "The > Oranur Experiment", as a product of highly overcharged orgone energy in the > environment. It does not require such highly radioactive materials as are > present in the core of a nuclear reactor to generate such atmospheric > glowing, but certainly enough to be concerned about health and safety. > Similar blue glows were observed in the atmosphere around Three Mile Island > during the reactor accident there, as well as around Chernobyl, and more > recently around a nuclear reactor accident in Japan. It would be ironic > indeed if the nuclear engineers were forced to admit to the existence of > some unknown source of the blue glowing, beyond ordinary Cherenkov > radiation effects which require very strong radiation sources, as in the > past, most of the eye-witness reports of blue glows around TMI and > elsewhere have been systematically dismissed as "psychological reactions" > or "hallucinations" by ordinary people. Like a UFO, however, if enough > people see the blue glow, they cannot so easily dismiss it, and so will > fabricate a "reason" -- in this case, "it must have been smoke". JD > > (For citations to the above statements, see "Unusual, Long-Distance > Geophysical, Atmospheric and Biological Reactions to Underground Nuclear > Bomb Tests and Nuclear Power Plant Accidents", $6 from Natural Energy > Works, PO Box 1148, Ashland, Oregon 97520.) > > > ++++++++ > > > > --===Courier-Journal Local News===-- > > > > _Wednesday, October 25, 2000_ > > > > _L O C A L __N E W S_ > > > > > > _'Blue glow' reported at Paducah plant > > > > Memo says nuclear reactions may have occurred in pit_ > > > > *By JAMES MALONE, The Courier-Journal* > > > > _The area in the circle is where workers at the Paducah Gaseous > > Diffusion Plant reported seeing a "blue glow" in the 1980s and '90s, > > according to an internal memo written by Ray Carroll, a health > > physicist for the U.S. Enrichment Corp., and obtained by The > > Courier-Journal. _ > > > > BY MICHAEL CLEVENGER, > > > > THE COURIER-JOURNAL > > > > PADUCAH, Ky. -- A "blue glow" reported by workers at the Paducah > > Gaseous Diffusion Plant could indicate nuclear reactions occurred > > underground in a top-secret burial pit for atomic-weapons parts, > > according to an internal memo obtained by The Courier-Journal. > > The memo, written Thursday by a health physicist employed by the plant > > operator, says "a 'blue glow' that looked like 'blue fire' above the > > ground" was first observed in the early 1980s over the southwest corner > > of the C-746-F classified burial yard and was reportedly seen a number > > of times after that. > > Ray Carroll, a health physicist for the U.S. Enrichment Corp., wrote > > that the "blue glow" could be a type of radiation resulting from > > nuclear fission processes, and added, "If the cause is a fission > > source, personnel entering the area could potentially receive a lethal > > dose of radiation." > > > > _CJ Extra:_ _THE PADUCAH GASEOUS DIFFUSION PLANT > > [http://www.courier-journal.com/cjextra/uranium/index.html] _ > > > > But the > > U.S. Department of Energy's site manager at Paducah, Don Seaborg, said > > yesterday, "We don't have any indication" that a fission reaction > > occurred. He said that after receiving the memo last week, he had not > > been able to find supporting data, such as elevated radiation readings > > on the landfill's surface or worker exposure measurements. > > "That's the concern, if you have a blue glow, then that's indicative of > > a criticality and of course a major safety concern," Seaborg said. "My > > background experience tells me that it was unlikely something was going > > on of a criticality (nuclear reaction) nature. I'm bringing in the > > right people with the right certifications to verify that." > > The plant has been in the news since August 1999 when three employees > > filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that contamination and > > conditions were much worse than had been disclosed by former operators. > > A cleanup effort is underway. > > The Energy Department leases production facilities to the U.S. > > Enrichment Corp., a publicly traded company, but still owns the burial > > pit and other areas where radioactive and hazardous waste was dumped or > > stored during a half-century of enriching uranium for weapons and power > > plants. > > According to the memo, the burial yard was covered with five to nine > > feet of dirt at an undisclosed time after the first observations of a > > "blue glow." But it notes that there was another reported sighting in > > 1996, long after the earthen cover was applied. The glow has only been > > seen immediately after a heavy rain, when there was a mist or moisture > > in the air, the memo said. Carroll wrote that the glow could be > > Cerenkov radiation, a phenomenon in which charged radioactive particles > > from a fission reaction give off a blue glow in water. > > On the chance that a fission reaction is occurring, Carroll recommended > > barring employees from within 1,000 feet of the site and installing a > > continuous radiation monitor with an audible alarm and "a red warning > > light that can easily be read from a distance." > > Carroll also recommended taking core samples in the burial yard to > > determine if radioactive products of fission are present. "If these > > radio-isotopes are present, a much more extensive environmental > > remediation of the whole area will be required," he wrote. > > But GeorgAnn Lookofsky, a USEC spokeswoman, said yesterday that > > Carroll's safety recommendations had not been put into effect, because > > in radiation surveys of the area, "we haven't found anything to raise > > our concerns." > > She said Carroll wrote the memo after a plant employee raised concerns > > about the glow. > > There could be other explanations for the glow, according to Kimberlee > > J. Kearfott, a professor of nuclear engineering at the University of > > Michigan. > > For the glow to be from a fission reaction, there would have to be > > "extremely large sources" and a vast amount of energy being expended to > > cause the Cerenkov effect, she said yesterday. She said the only places > > she has seen the blue glow are in a university research reactor under > > water or in spent fuel rods immersed in water. > > She said a more likely scenario is either a chemical fluorescence or > > phosphorescence or a glow from tritium -- a radioactive material that > > reports say was buried in unknown quantities in the plant's landfills. > > Seaborg, the Energy Department site manager, raised the possibility > > that the glow was the result of something going on underground, > > possibly from spontaneously burning metals, such as uranium or > > aluminum. The reports of a glow, however, do not mention any smoke > > accompanying the blue effervescence. > > A metals fire also could release radioactivity, but on a much smaller > > scale than from a fission reaction, Seaborg said. > > John Volpe, manager of the Radiation Control and Toxic Agents Branch of > > the Kentucky Cabinet for Health Services, said he does not have enough > > information about the incidents to even speculate as to what may have > > happened. But Volpe said this is an example of why the Energy > > Department should make available information about the landfill's > > contents. > > "We have asked them to take samples and basically they said they would > > not," Volpe said. > > Robert Daniel, director of the Kentucky Division of Waste Management, > > the state regulatory agency overseeing the Paducah cleanup, said the > > report of a blue glow "is news to me." Daniel said he will ask his > > staff to review the matter but added that the Energy Department in the > > past has gone to court to successfully prohibit the state from > > regulating disposal of nuclear material inside the plant's fence. > > According to Bechtel Jacobs, the Energy Department's environmental > > cleanup contractor at the Paducah plant, the landfill was used from > > 1965 to '87 for burial of classified weapons components contaminated > > with radioactive isotopes. Many of the weapons were sent from the > > Pantex atomic bomb plant in Texas. > > Energy Department records show that the Paducah plant received several > > hundred tons of weapons parts to be dismantled so that precious metals > > could be recovered. > > Apparently by mistake, 20 radioactive atomic bomb neutron generators > > containing tritium also were shipped to the plant in the 1960s. Very > > likely other unrecognized shipments of radioactive materials were in > > the weaponry the Paducah plant was asked to dismantle, because the > > shipments were not scanned, Energy Department records show. > > Tom Clements, executive director of the Nuclear Control Institute, a > > Washington, D.C., nuclear non-proliferation group, said if a fission > > reaction is confirmed, "it is most troubling." Clements said if such a > > reaction had occurred, "a remediation plan needs to be developed > > immediately." > > Earlier this month, the Energy Department released a series of maps it > > had prepared a year ago but never made public that showed that > > radioactive contamination had leaked into the environment around the > > plant at distances greater than a mile. > > > > 1998-99 The Courier-Journal > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ********** > > OBRL News is a product of the non-profit > Orgone Biophysical Research Lab > Greensprings Research and Educational Center > PO Box 1148, Ashland, Oregon 97520 USA > http://www.orgonelab.org <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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