Did Kitty Litter Cause Chemical Reaction That Led to Radiation Leak at WIPP in New Mexico?

The story was on May 13, 2014 on Reuters, before the latest update from the US Department of Energy on May 16, 2014.

It fondly reminded me of TEPCO's use of bath salt (as tracer) and shredded newspaper and baby diaper polymer to plug the leak at the water intake for Reactor 2 back in April 2011.

From Reuters (5/13/2014; emphasis is mine):

Kitty litter eyed as possible culprit in New Mexico radiation leak

Kitty litter used to absorb liquid in radioactive debris may have triggered a chemical reaction that caused a radiation leak at a below-ground U.S. nuclear waste storage site in New Mexico, a state environmental official said on Tuesday.

The waste disposal site, where drums of plutonium-tainted refuse from nuclear weapons factories and laboratories are buried in salt caverns 2,100 feet (640 meters) underground, has been shut down since unsafe radiation levels were first detected there on Feb. 14.

The leak of radiation, a small amount of which escaped to the surface and exposed 21 workers at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, ranks as the worst accident at the facility and one of the few blemishes on its safety record since it opened in 1999.

Investigations of the chamber where the leak occurred suggest a chemical reaction may have generated sufficient heat to melt seals on drums and boxes of contaminated sludge from the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory, releasing radioisotopes such as plutonium, Energy Department officials have said.

Jim Blankenhorn, deputy manager with the contractor running WIPP, told a public meeting last week that a change in the materials used at Los Alamos to package waste may have triggered a reaction between nitrate salts and organic matter.

“Kitty litter is in the field of theories,” Jill Turner, spokeswoman for the New Mexico Environment Department, said about a possible cause for the accident.

Kitty litter is used as an absorbent for liquid contained in radiological debris destined for WIPP, which does not accept fluid waste, Turner said.

Los Alamos, a leading U.S. nuclear weapons lab, and the WIPP contractor, Nuclear Waste Partnership, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Dozens of drums of waste from Los Alamos that have been linked to the radiation accident are deposited in two separate waste disposal chambers at WIPP, managers have said.

The plant last week suspended shipments of that waste to a Texas-based commercial storage facility, which had received 25 drums between April 1 and May 1, said WIPP spokesman Brad Bugger.

The plant in the Chihuahuan Desert in southeastern New Mexico provides for permanent disposal of contaminated items like clothing and equipment from U.S. nuclear laboratories and weapons sites.

It is not expected to resume operations for at least 18 months and may take as long as three years to be fully operational, managers have said.

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Wildfire Approaches Thousands of Drums with Plutonium-Contaminated Waste at Los Alamos Lab

At least they are not saying "they are safe".

From AP:

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — A wildfire near the desert birthplace of the atomic bomb advanced on the Los Alamos laboratory and thousands of outdoor drums of plutonium-contaminated waste Tuesday as authorities stepped up efforts to protect the site and monitor the air for radiation.

Officials at the nation's premier nuclear-weapons lab gave assurances that dangerous materials were safely stored and capable of withstanding flames from the 95-square-mile fire, which at one point was as close as 50 feet from the grounds.

A small patch of land at the laboratory caught fire Monday before firefighters quickly put it out. Teams were on alert to pounce on any new blazes and spent the day removing brush and low-hanging tree limbs from the lab's perimeter.

"We are throwing absolutely everything at this that we got," Democratic Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico said in Los Alamos.

The fire has forced the evacuation of the entire city of Los Alamos, population 11,000, cast giant plumes of smoke over the region and raised fears among nuclear watchdogs that it will reach as many as 30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste.

"The concern is that these drums will get so hot that they'll burst. That would put this toxic material into the plume. It's a concern for everybody," said Joni Arends, executive director of the Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, an anti-nuclear group.

Arends' organization also worried that the fire could stir up nuclear-contaminated soil on lab property where experiments were conducted years ago. Burrowing animals have brought that contamination to the surface, she said.

Lab officials said there was very little risk of the fire reaching the drums of low-level nuclear waste, since the flames would have to jump through canyons first. Officials also stood ready to coat the drums with fire-resistant foam if the blaze got too close.

Lab spokeswoman Lisa Rosendorf said the drums contain Cold War-era waste that the lab sends away in weekly shipments for storage. She said the drums were on a paved area with few trees nearby. As of midday Tuesday, the flames were about two miles from the material.

"These drums are designed to a safety standard that would withstand a wildland fire worse than this one," Rosendorf said.

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