Using the Wrong Kitty Litter Caused Nuclear Waste Dump Explosion

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Sunday March 29, 2015 · 11:24 AM PDT

2015/03/29 · 11:24

On Feb 14, 2014, there was an explosion at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) facility near Carlsbad, New Mexico, which handles long-lived nuclear waste, mostly Plutonium, Uranium and Americium from US weapons programs. The vent system did not seal off correctly, and small amounts of Americium and Plutonium escaped the facility.

Various theories were put forth as to the cause. Ceiling collapse. Methane gas explosion. But it turns out to have been ... cat litter.

http://energy.gov/...
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Key Judgment 2

Drum 68660 breached as a result of internal chemical reactions. Experiments showed that various combinations of nitrate salt, Swheat Scoop®, nitric acid, and oxalate self-heat at temperatures below 100°C. Computer modeling of thermal runaway was consistent with the observed 70 day birth to breach of Drum 68660.
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Cat litter is used to soak up radioactive spills. They're supposed to use non-organic clay litter. Somebody at Los Alamos used wheat-based litter instead. When combined with nitric acid and stuff, the mix slowly cooked off. Basically, Los Alamos delivered a time-delayed dirty bomb to the nuke dump.

You can put several types of spin on this, depending on your POV. You could say it proves the WIPP dump is bad. Or you could say, since it wasn't a cave-in or gas explosion, the WIPP dump is solid, provided you don't place prepackaged bombs in it. You can't, however, make Los Alamos look good here.

I use that brand of litter for my cats. Time to clean the litterbox, before that cooks off.

(My first diary. I saw a headline that could grab, so I made the plunge.)

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