Radioactive waste buried under Michigan Tech
New MTU Lode website for: "ssue for November 16, 2005
Radioactive waste buried under MTU?
By: Submitted by, Michigan Tech News Bureau
Among the various rumors that have long floated around the MTU campus, perhaps the easiest to dismiss as a myth is that of radioactive waste buried somewhere on campus. In 2001, however, MTU Lode reporter J.M. LeMoine looked into the question in earnest. This year, with various improvements and changes to the campus being discussed by the Committee to Enhance Campus and Community, it has become important to look into the matter again, in even more depth this time, to determine whether these rumors can be disproved conclusively, or otherwise substantiated.
It is known that in the late 1950s and 1960s, Tech offered a radiochemistery class taught by Dr. Royal Makens. In the lab for this class students performed experiments to learn about the properties of radioactive elements, producing a score of radioactive wastes in the process.
At that time, off-site disposal of radioactive waste was difficult because it was illegal to transport nuclear waste across state lines and disposal facilities were few and far between. The proposed solution to the disposal problem, then, was to bury it in the parking lot behind the building. And that is just what the University did.
This is confirmed by a university memo from 1972, which states that ?from May 1958 through May 1962 burials of radioactive waste were made six feet deep.? At least six other burials are believed to have occurred in the same location, although no records of these burials exist.
So where is that radioactive waste today? Makens taught his class in the chemical engineering annex of Koenig Hall. The building has since been demolished, but apparently the parking lot behind it was next to Engineer?s Field, where the Husky football team practiced. According to the above cited memo, the burials took place at the easternmost end of the parking lot next to the field.
Since the burials, Engineer?s Field has itself been made into a parking lot, which has been expanded over the years. The buried radioactive waste, then, is now in the center of that parking lot, Lot 10.
However, today the waste is somewhat deeper than six feet deep because this area has been filled with soil and gravel many times in the past.
Memos by University Radiation Safety Officer Donald Daavettila indicate that the buried radioactive wastes consist of carbon-14, cobalt-60, iron-55, radium-226 and tritium, which is hydrogen-3. A mixture of these elements was buried in various size glass containers, with stoppers, ranging up to one gallon. Some of these containers were encased in concrete to prevent breakage.
Daavettila calculated that by natural decay, the iron and cobalt are now essentially non-radioactive and the tritium has decayed by 80 percent. The carbon and radium, with very long half-lives, are virtually unchanged.
Radium, a product of the radioactive decay of uranium, has been the source of some alarm in past decades, as it is known to produce Radon gas. However, the state determined in 1980 that the amount buried beneath Lot 10 was too small to pose any health threat.
While much of the waste was disposed of in glass containers, the soil alone serves to block almost all of the radiation coming from these materials, making it impossible to even distinguish from normal background radiation levels.
In fact, removing the waste would be much more dangerous than leaving it there according to Michigan Tech Occupational Health and Safety Director Al Niemi. In addition to being very dangerous it would most likely be very expensive, costing the university tens of thousands of dollars.
Although locating the buried waste today would likely be very difficult, since all available memos record its location in relation to landmarks that have since been removed, the state determined in 1980 that it was not necessary to mark the waste?s location. Thankfully this waste will not have to be removed when Lot 10 is paved. According to Director of Facilities Management Bill Blumhardt, there is no current plan of action for paving Lot 10 because several issues must be resolved first. One issue is the fill used to level the lot, which should be allowed to settle longer before being paved over. Also the University sustainability committee feels that the paving of Lot 10 would divert a significant amount of rainwater into the Portage instead of permitting it to soak into the ground and be filtered of toxins and chemicals before reaching the aquifer beneath. Director Nlumhardt assured me, however, that in time Lot 10 will be paved.
"
Radioactive waste buried under MTU?
By: Submitted by, Michigan Tech News Bureau
Among the various rumors that have long floated around the MTU campus, perhaps the easiest to dismiss as a myth is that of radioactive waste buried somewhere on campus. In 2001, however, MTU Lode reporter J.M. LeMoine looked into the question in earnest. This year, with various improvements and changes to the campus being discussed by the Committee to Enhance Campus and Community, it has become important to look into the matter again, in even more depth this time, to determine whether these rumors can be disproved conclusively, or otherwise substantiated.
It is known that in the late 1950s and 1960s, Tech offered a radiochemistery class taught by Dr. Royal Makens. In the lab for this class students performed experiments to learn about the properties of radioactive elements, producing a score of radioactive wastes in the process.
At that time, off-site disposal of radioactive waste was difficult because it was illegal to transport nuclear waste across state lines and disposal facilities were few and far between. The proposed solution to the disposal problem, then, was to bury it in the parking lot behind the building. And that is just what the University did.
This is confirmed by a university memo from 1972, which states that ?from May 1958 through May 1962 burials of radioactive waste were made six feet deep.? At least six other burials are believed to have occurred in the same location, although no records of these burials exist.
So where is that radioactive waste today? Makens taught his class in the chemical engineering annex of Koenig Hall. The building has since been demolished, but apparently the parking lot behind it was next to Engineer?s Field, where the Husky football team practiced. According to the above cited memo, the burials took place at the easternmost end of the parking lot next to the field.
Since the burials, Engineer?s Field has itself been made into a parking lot, which has been expanded over the years. The buried radioactive waste, then, is now in the center of that parking lot, Lot 10.
However, today the waste is somewhat deeper than six feet deep because this area has been filled with soil and gravel many times in the past.
Memos by University Radiation Safety Officer Donald Daavettila indicate that the buried radioactive wastes consist of carbon-14, cobalt-60, iron-55, radium-226 and tritium, which is hydrogen-3. A mixture of these elements was buried in various size glass containers, with stoppers, ranging up to one gallon. Some of these containers were encased in concrete to prevent breakage.
Daavettila calculated that by natural decay, the iron and cobalt are now essentially non-radioactive and the tritium has decayed by 80 percent. The carbon and radium, with very long half-lives, are virtually unchanged.
Radium, a product of the radioactive decay of uranium, has been the source of some alarm in past decades, as it is known to produce Radon gas. However, the state determined in 1980 that the amount buried beneath Lot 10 was too small to pose any health threat.
While much of the waste was disposed of in glass containers, the soil alone serves to block almost all of the radiation coming from these materials, making it impossible to even distinguish from normal background radiation levels.
In fact, removing the waste would be much more dangerous than leaving it there according to Michigan Tech Occupational Health and Safety Director Al Niemi. In addition to being very dangerous it would most likely be very expensive, costing the university tens of thousands of dollars.
Although locating the buried waste today would likely be very difficult, since all available memos record its location in relation to landmarks that have since been removed, the state determined in 1980 that it was not necessary to mark the waste?s location. Thankfully this waste will not have to be removed when Lot 10 is paved. According to Director of Facilities Management Bill Blumhardt, there is no current plan of action for paving Lot 10 because several issues must be resolved first. One issue is the fill used to level the lot, which should be allowed to settle longer before being paved over. Also the University sustainability committee feels that the paving of Lot 10 would divert a significant amount of rainwater into the Portage instead of permitting it to soak into the ground and be filtered of toxins and chemicals before reaching the aquifer beneath. Director Nlumhardt assured me, however, that in time Lot 10 will be paved.
"
posted by Greta Jane at Wednesday, November 16, 2005
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