it's like gold to states with icy roads in the winter...
Posted on 12/26/2009 2:12:47 PM PST by Orange1998
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Hundreds of tons of salt excavated from the Department of Energy's underground nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico are destined for cattle feed in Texas.
The DOE's Carlsbad field office has reached an agreement with Magnum Minerals LLC of Hereford, Texas, which will buy up to 300,000 tons of salt from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, known as WIPP. Magnum Minerals has contracted for $600,000 worth of salt, most of which will go into cattle feed, company president Tim Gearn said. Cattle feed is required to have certain minerals, including salt. It's the first such sale from WIPP, which eventually will have to get rid of the salt that's excavated for waste disposal rooms, said Vernon Daub, deputy manager of the field office. WIPP, which opened in March 1999, has an expected 35-year lifespan. Rooms to store waste will continue to be excavated as needed in the ancient salt beds 2,150 feet below the New Mexico desert.
WIPP eventually is expected to receive about 38,000 shipments from DOE sites around the country. The DOE has estimated it would cost $15 per ton to haul the salt to a municipal landfill, Daub said. Daub could not say how much salt already has been excavated, but said there will be plenty to fulfill the contract. "For us, the advantage is not having to dispose of the salt and put in a landfill," he said. "We have to pay someone to dispose of it at the end of the project sometime in future.
It's a cost savings or cost avoidance for us." WIPP buries defense-related waste such as protective clothing and tools, largely contaminated with plutonium, which remains radioactive for tens of thousands of years.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
Currently, excavated salt from the storage rooms is stored at the WIPP site east of Carlsbad. Once a salt pile reaches a certain level, the DOE covers it to protect it from the weather. "From the public standpoint, you wouldn't want to put a lot of this in the landfill," Daub said.
Do the cattle glow in the dark?
Thats $2 a ton.
quite a deal.
The risk of nuclear contamination getting into the food supply from salt in cattle feed is really quite low. But why chance it? Uncompromised salt is cheap and readily available.
It would make more sense to send it to Yucca Mountain but why would they not sell it for a lot less than the cost to ship it? Isn’t that the kind of thing government does?
Cheap Dog food was a bargain until my dog died of kidney failure.
Imagine that! Now your steaks can be cooked before the cows even reach the slaughterhouse!
This story would only be appropriate if it were being used to bash a Republican. The only way this is even remotely newsworthy is if we can find out which politician is pocketing the money from the sale.
A poorly written article? The salt is being removed BEFORE the nuclear waste is shipped there. The salt is being excavated to make room for the incoming waste. It’s not a nuclear waste dump until nuclear waste is dumped there and the salt comes out prior to its arrival.
At least that’s what I think is happening.
true
No, it is the salt excavated from the salt beds BEFORE they put the low level nuclear waste in it.
China is polluted beyond imagination. If the salt is left uncovered, it will leach into the ground and poison it for plant life for miles.
...just one of those long-standing, classic inefficiencies of capitalism that make its overall efficiency and efficacy all the more wonderful.
re: It takes a lot of skill and craftsmanship to tell a lie while being factually accurate, as this writer does
Point well taken!
Why not dump it in the ocean, it’s already a bit salty, y’know
The salt isn’t radioactive (well, other than naturally radioactive).
The liberal State of Maine puts tons of salt and other melting solutions on the roads to melt the ice and snow.
The nasty brew runs into the ditches and ruins people's wells.
The town's snow removal crews are forbidden from dumping the salted snow in the river, which here is about 5 miles from the ocean.
Idiots!
It could upset the delicate balance, the oceans are already dying from global warming, dontca know.
it's like gold to states with icy roads in the winter...
Dear Mr S. Texas:
It is with much soul searching I have come to the conclusion that I will not be able to attend your Mesquite Beef Barbecue next July 4th due to the attention my 152 year old mother will require in the years ahead.
Please accept my sincere Thank You for considering me in your distinguished invitation list for for this Premier Event
I remain forever,
Mr T. Bender
Isn’t this just salt from the excavation? It should not have ever come in contact with radiation.
I am not sure I see a problem.
Is reading comprehension THAT poor even here on FR?
This salt is CLEAN! It is NOT radioactive, it has been mined out of the repository in order for radioactive waste to be BROUGHT IN!!
“Is reading comprehension THAT poor even here on FR?
This salt is CLEAN! It is NOT radioactive, it has been mined out of the repository in order for radioactive waste to be BROUGHT IN!!”
Does that mean my steaks won’t be pre-cooked? Darn!
Well I guess they’ll at least be seasoned a bit.
This salt is CLEAN!...
You're fighting many years of knee-jerk animal rights advertising.
Yes, that’s what I said and someone agreed.
Why not. Dig a big hole in the ground to put other stuff into. The material taken out needs to go someplace.
Mr. Bender,
Now that’s just not being very neighborly to decline an invitation on such short notice, so we’ll see you here the first of July?
ST
I had this inspiration while awaiting your reasoned reply. I’m looking for a partner to manufacture salt licks from this stuff for deer and elk and eliminate the spotlight now need for poaching over on Billy-Bobs spread.
I can see it now... “SO NUTRITIOUS YOUR DEER WILL GLOW IN THE DARK FOR HEALTHIER GAME MANAGEMENT”
Merry Christmas, Toobie!
While most of us down here still use headlights, there is serious merit in your suggestion. We should meet and discuss this further. Care to join me for breakfast?
Yup, they been accepting waste material for 10 years. We should trust everything told to us.
You beat me to it?
I now see how things are:
I’m the idiot because I actually read and understand things, and show a modicum of concern that many people don’t show even a seventh grade level of comprehension.
You are the arbiter of how things should be perceived, and consider people like me talking mules for daring to point out shortcomings in basic literacy skills.
Thanks for the lesson in mediocrity. Do you teach in public schools?
The cattle glowing in the dark comment was an attempt at humor, clearly it fell short of your grasp... have a nice holiday.
Mind if I bring my lawyer?
Oh! I get it now! The beef won’t be cooked because the salt comes out before the waste goes in. Thanks for s’plain’n the article to us.
But I still have a question, won’t the beef be saltier?
The excavated salt was removed to make room for future low-level waste.
They’re not mixing it together.
Not a problem as long as you follow posted instructions.
All guns, dogs, and lawyers must be checked at the door.
Speaking of reading comprehension...my post in #2 was sarcastic, and in humor. Something that most people at FR these days miss. This explains why many of us just don’t bother any longer to post.
As for how I really feel, I posted that later in #25 where I stated that I fail to see any problem.
Now I know why my folks fled Texas in 21...
***Hundreds of tons of salt excavated from the Department of Energy’s underground nuclear waste dump in southeastern New Mexico are destined for cattle feed in Texas.***
This makes it sound like they are selling radioactive salt. The area of SE New Mexico is an old underground lake bed of thick salt. Potash mines were there for years. You must excavate the salt to make a cave to put the radioactive waste in!
Just don’t dig where the Project Gnome set off an underground nuke back about 1961. Ater that blast they published a photo of the underground hole. I always wondered why they never used it for radioactive waste storage.
***If the salt is left uncovered, it will leach into the ground and poison it for plant life for miles.***
What plant life! It is Chihuahuan desert! The only green is along the Pecos river!
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