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20 Radioactive Dangers We All Face |
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Mighty Oak was an embarrassment to the nuclear weapons and testing establishment in the United States. The underground nuclear test by that name, conducted on April 10, 1986 at a tunnel 1,300 feet below the surface at the Nevada Test Site, went wrong in all the ways it could have gone wrong.
The blast "blew the doors" off a tunnel and leaked radioactivity through two containment vessels before being contained by the third and last door, which was only 3-feet thick! The tunnel was so contaminated, even after a month after the test, that it prevented test site personnel from accessing the tunnel to inspect the equipment and readings. That equipment was the essential part of Mighty Oak, which was categorically a 'weapons effects test' designed to simulate the effect of a blast in space on an orbiting satellite or other space equipment. (New York Times, 2/17/89) The NY Times described the nature of the Mighty Oak experiment as follows: 'To simulate an attack in space they exploded a device at one end of a long, horizontal pipe [about one-third of a mile] and allowed the radiation to rush along the pipe toward the target equipment. The pipe is equipped with doors to shield the target from the blast's shock wave, since there would be no shock wave at great distances in space.' Weapons effects tests, in general, were conducted both underground in horizontal tunnels and on the surface to study the physical effects of a nuclear blast on components and materials.
There were several reasons to be embarrassed. First, since the Baneberry venting ('containment failure') in 1970 that spewed radiation across the North American continent, the Atomic Energy Commission and its successor - the Department of Energy - had done much to convince the American public that another Baneberry would never happen. They were doing all they could to convince the downwind public that radiation wasn't being released from underground tests and that no harm would result from the underground nuclear testing program.
The Motive
The DOE's motive is clear now (but wasn't then): it was to prevent the American public from knowing that there was a testing malfunction.
But the Department of Energy knew it had a problem. The huge quantities of gases from the Mighty Oak test contained in the underground tunnel ordinarily would have been seeped into the atmosphere slowly, over weeks and months, or, more conveniently sealed underground. But areas of the tunnel not meant to be contaminated, where DOE personnel required access to recover data and equipment, needed venting.
Certainly the EPA and knowing members of the public would know that something went wrong when (or if) they detected higher than normal post-test venting levels of radioactivity off-site. They would be expecting, following Mighty Oak, none or, at most, a steady stream of low-levels of Xenon and Krypton (since nearly all underground tests leak some radioactive noble gases).
Full purging of the areas needing access would take days and days of continuous venting but could only happen when the wind direction was such that the radioactivity will travel over unpopulated or sparsely populated areas 'so that exposures will be as low as reasonably achievable.'
That could take months. And perhaps there was internal pressure to start making sense of the $70 million test and related data. It'd have to happen sooner than later.
The Coverup
A ventilation procedure dubbed 'controlled purging,' also known as 'controlled ventilation,' was followed to release airborne radioactivity from the test shaft into the atmosphere.
But how would they do it expeditiously without the radiation blowing into populated areas or triggering concern over higher-than-anticipated levels?
During the first 17 days after the Mighty Oak test, the DOE proceeded with the venting very timidly. They only purged for a total of about 25 hours, or roughly 1.5 hours per day, during those 17 days. (Purging of the tunnel cavity began about six days after the test for a quarter hour. It resumed for 24 hours straight on April 22 and April 23.)
Then something happened. A nuclear plant violently exploded in the Soviet Union. Two days after the DOE found out about the Chernobyl accident (April 26, 1986), they began venting daily.
On April 28, the DOE purged the tunnel for 14.5 straight hours, 7 hours the next day, 4 hours on the day after that, then 9.5 hours on May 1, and 14.5 hours on May 2. And then on May 3 they initiated 24-hours per day of venting. That continued until a hiatus on May 9.
Critics back then and now have speculated that the DOE purged aggressively just after Chernobyl so the gaseous radiation would be 'buried' or 'concealed' by Chernobyl fallout. Could there be any truth to that theory? Well, Chernobyl fallout didn't start appearing in air samples until May 7 in the U.S. and it was at that time that tunnel purging reached a maximum level. Perhaps DOE officials knew that Chernobyl air masses wouldn't arrive to the Western United States until the first week of May and so they began the quarter- and half-days of purging on April 28 through May 3 and then 'let it all loose' through May 9. (Venting occurred everyday from April 28 to May 9 for varying lengths of time from as low as 4 hours per day to 24 hours each day, from May 3 until May 9).
No one would be able to distinguish
Chernobyl Xenon-133 from Nevada Xenon-133 in the air in the first week of
May.
According to a document by the ORAU Team NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Project [Technical Basis Document for the Nevada Test Site, 2004], purging continued intermittently through May 19 and occurred on days when 'weather conditions were favorable,' meaning when winds would blow north and east into sparsely populated areas.
Chernobyl fallout provided the perfect smokescreen.
Apparently the DOE wasn't the only institution with the grand idea of covering up an accident. Peter Dale Scott wrote in his article 'The Nevada Radiation Cover-up' (The ThreePenny Review) in 1986 that Dr. Rosalie Bertell, a bio-statistician and researcher on cancer, leukemia and mortality among people exposed to nuclear power plants, noted that "West German radiation from a reactor accident on May 4 was initially attributed to Chernobyl and, that according to the French Green Party, there was a similarly disguised venting at this time from a nuclear reactor mishap at Cap de la Hague in France."
Hands in the cookie jar
The DOE hoped the idea would work. They told the Associated Press on April 10 that the test went off 'without incident.'
They didn't admit publicly that there was an accident with Mighty Oak for nearly four weeks, until a press conference on May 6th. Then, an EPA report completed in July 1986 detailed the nature of the purging procedure and data on the dates, wind directions, etc.. of tunnel purging.
The DOE couldn't hide the accident any longer. But that didn't stop confusing statements, such as assertions that radiation released 'was of no danger.' Then, the DOE officials told the New York Times in 1989 that the blast doors (to the two containment vessels) had indeed closed. But that was a half-truth. The doors did close but 50 to 60 seconds later heat and pressure caused the doors to fail. (ORAU Team NIOSH Dose Reconstruction Project Technical Basis Document for the Nevada Test Site, 2004) These doors were supposed to slam shut and stay shut immediately after the explosion but only the third and last one held. Had that last blast door failed, another Baneberry would have occurred.
In reality, people downwind and, according to the DOE, some workers too, were exposed to radioactive gases. Any exposure to radiation increases the likelihood that cancer and genetic problems will develop.
What went wrong
The DOE's primary propounded theory is that the cavern - underground test cavity - collapsed. DOE officials told the New York Times in 1989 that Mighty Oak's shockwave forced surrounding rock to give way. In short, they underestimated the strength of the rock. However, the DOE stopped short of mentioning that the reason the rock wasn't stable was because of the weakening effect of years and years of testing on the geologic structure on the test site.
Another theory put forward in 1992 by a Nevada environmental organization was that counterfeit bolts manufactured in Asia used in the Mighty Oak test may have led to a failure. A DOE spokesman later denied any correlation but did say that the counterfeit bolts had 'reduced strength at temperatures greater than 500 degrees.'
Another theory is that the Mighty Oak test exceeded its expected yield. Since 1986, the DOE has only divulged that Mighty Oak's yield was 'under 20 kilotons' but Greenpeace in 1986 estimated the anticipated yield as 1.3 kilotons. The test very likely was much higher than 1.3 kilotons.
The actual reason lies in the final investigative report, which is still classified. The DOE, however, has admitted that it may never know the real reason.
Radiation
According to the EPA, Mighty Oak released a total of 36,000 Curies to the atmosphere consisting overwhelmingly of the radioactive gas Xenon-133.
Xenon gas detected downwind from the test site was 'several times higher than the highest levels of airborne radioactivity from Chernobyl reported inside the United States' and 100 times higher in the State of Nevada. Levels of Xenon-133 measuring 550 pCi/m3 were recorded at Medlin's Ranch, Nevada, a location 50 miles from the tunnel. At Hiko, Nevada, air samples in late April contained 116 and 270 pCi/m3. 210 pCi/m3 was detected on Penoyer Farm, Nevada. These readings were among the highest recorded levels since the 1970 accident at the test site dubbed 'Baneberry,' which leaked 6.7 million Curies of radioactivity across the states and into Canada.
According to the EPA, levels of Xenon-133 were no longer detectable (in off-site areas) after May 5 and levels of Iodine-131 detected in various Nevada locales on May 8th 'originated from the reactor accident in the USSR.' The EPA also suggested that levels of Krypton-85 gas were at normal 'background levels'.
By May 10th, the EPA discontinued deployment of special noble gas samplers arrayed across Nevada to test for Xenon and other gases.
There is something suspicious with the data on radiation detection provided by the EPA: they suggest that only one radioactive byproduct of Mighty Oak leaked. (The DOE admitted in a 1996 report - DOE/NV-317 - that 2.4 curies of Iodine-131 and 4.3 curies of Krypton-85 were released during ventilation.) Yet, nuclear testing produces numerous radioactive gases, and after a few days three of them remain: Krypton-85, Xenon-133 and Iodine-131. (Iodine-131 turns from liquid to gas in open air) So, how is it possible that the DOE ventilated only one of those three gases? According to an EPA document, 'Ventilation or purging of a tunnel involves...filtration of the extracted air through particulate and charcoal filters...As a result of this procedure, most of the radioactive noble gases in the tunnel air and a very small fraction of other radionuclides are discharged into the atmosphere.' So, are we to believe that the only one of a trio of radioactive gases in that tunnel, Xenon-133, successfully escaped? In a typical nuclear explosion, 6 percent of the yield of total fission byproducts created is Xenon-133. The DOE estimated that they released into the atmosphere 36,000 Curies of Xenon-133. Yet, in the same typical nuclear explosion, about 3 percent of the yield is Iodine-131. So, wouldn't we assume that 18,000 Curies of Iodine-131 was also released through the purging process into the filtration system? The question is: did the filters remove all of that Iodine gas?
While activated charcoal is very efficient (over 99.9%) for removal of elemental iodine, the efficiency rate is much lower for organic and inorganic compounds of iodine. The EPA's report on off-site monitoring of Mighty Oak doesn't explain the exact types and efficiencies of filters used by the DOE.
The EPA began detecting anomalous levels of Iodine-131 in Nevada on May 5 and recorded a maximum reading on May 10 of 4.6 pCi/m3 of Iodine-131 at Twin Springs Ranch, Nevada. The EPA was convinced that that and all Iodine-131 readings in Nevada were attributed to Chernobyl fallout, and not from Mighty Oak. So, the EPA pulled out of all 'special noble gas' monitoring of the Mighty Oak test on May 10th, the date of the 4.6 pCi/m3 reading, even though DOE continued purging the Mighty Oak tunnel through May 19th. Could it have been possible that starting around May 5th, areas of the tunnel that hadn't been 'aired out' were starting to come to the surface? Could it have been possible that there was a huge pocket of Iodine-131 gas that began pouring out around May 5?
After all, Iodine-131 is a notoriously heavy gaseous isotope - that's why it fell quicker over the West and Midwest from Nevada nuclear testing than other radionuclides. A sort of 'fractionation' may have occurred during the first few weeks within the tunnel before ventilating began. As Iodine-131 gas settled into alcoves and deeper pockets, Xenon-133 gas floated higher.
Certainly, it would stand to reason that Iodine gas would be the last to exit the tunnel. A similar case may be made for Krypton-85, which the DOE likewise says it emitted only a few Curies.
So when the EPA publicly stated in mid-May 1986 that whenever it would rain in the United States, there would mostly likely be radioactive Iodine-131 in it, should we be 100% convinced it was Chernobyl's fault?
All told, even the most conservative estimate of radioactive emissions for Mighty Oak makes it the greatest unplanned release in 15 years at the test site since 1970.
Mighty Oak destroyed $32 million worth of 'normally recoverable and reusable' monitoring equipment. The cost to taxpayers of Mighty Oak, not including equipment write-offs, was $70 million. It cost an additional $2.5 million for recovery and mining to get into the tunnel (a considerable amount of debris littered the tunnel, where even one 20-foot section was 'missing').
The Mighty Oak Protesters
Mighty Oak was conducted during a very delicate time during the Cold War. On August 6, 1985, the Soviet Union, on the 40th anniversary of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, unilaterally halted all nuclear weapons tests. Gorbachev warned in March that the eight-month moratorium would end on March 31 upon the first U.S. test after that date - the U.S. had conducted 8 nuclear tests during that eight-month time frame. Then, in April, following the U.S.'s Mighty Oak test, the test ban ended.
Had the U.S. 'returned' Gorbachev's promise to discontinue testing, the Mighty Oak radioactive purging (and other test purges) would not have happened.
Gorbachev wasn't the only leader putting pressure against the U.S. plans for Mighty Oak. Leaders at Greenpeace helped organize an effective protest. Over 1,000 people marched on the test-site border prior to the detonation time of Might Oak; the DOE arrested 103 demonstrators, including 14 (including Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg) who penetrated deep into the test site. 3 of those 14 got within three miles of 'Tunnel-T' (location of Mighty Oak). The activists succeeded in delaying Mighty Oak by two days, although the DOE claimed the delay was because of 'weather conditions and technical problems.'
Links:
Nevada Test Site page
North Korea's underground tests
Excerpt from a speech by Dr. Rosalie Bertell in August 1986 to AMARC, an international community radio group, in Vancouver, Canada:" I'd like to say something else about the difficulty that we're in right now in terms of radiation pollution of North America much of which is just not being talked about at all.
I'd like to reconstruct what happened in late April and early May including both what happened in North America *and* what happened at Chernobyl. On April 10th [1986], the nuclear test called "Mighty Oak" was set off in Nevada. And what they're doing now in Nevada is they're setting the test off in an underground tunnel and they have three sets of doors. These doors are six or seven foot thick. They leave two doors ajar and they close the third one, and at the very first seconds of the blast, they try to let through the radiation and then slam the doors shut so they don't get the blast or the fire. Then they take that radiation that comes off in the beginning of the blast and they're trying to put it into a weapon beam. Anyway whatever happened on April 10th, the two sets of doors that were supposed to close didn't, and they had a raging nuclear fire underground in the tunnel. The last door held. They always lose some of the nuclear material in these blasts. But this time it had filled the whole cavity where it was not supposed to be, so it couldn't just be released as they usually do, slowly. They went out, as usual, after they had this accident, and gave themselves a permit to vent. That makes it legal. So if you ask about it, it's legal venting, it isn't an accident. And they started venting sometime about April 20th. They did a small amount of venting. After that, they must have seen the Chernobyl accident from satellite though they didn't announce it--they waited for Sweden to announce it.
But on the day after, the 27th, they began venting everything, and they continued to vent for five or six days in Nevada from that test. They didn't admit it either until the 6th of May--if you look back on the press conference it was May 6th that they finally admitted that. Before that they said they were being maligned--that they had not had an accident. Meanwhile another agency of the government, the EPA, started telling the radiation levels in North America, and in Canada it was the radiation protection branch of health and welfare in Ottawa. I don't know how many Canadians are here but maybe you remember the very first announcement of radioactive rain was where? Ottawa. Isn't that interesting? It didn't go to the east coast or the west coast but it came from Chernobyl and it landed in Ottawa. It was really incredible. If you look at the EPA measurements for the states, you'll find the highest measurement for the whole United States was in Salt Lake City--directly downwind of the Nevada Test Site. You'll also find it quite high in Spokane and other places. Now all they measured in Canada and the United States was iodine 131, and the reports are really quite carefully worded. It says "Post-Chernobyl Federal Radiation Measurements." It doesn't say it came from Chernobyl. *Legally* you cannot say that the government said it came from Chernobyl--because they didn't--you just imply it because that's the heading.
Meanwhile when they had their press conference, the Department of Energy announced that they really only lost one gas and that gas was xenon 133. And nothing else. Now if you know what a nuclear explosion is like, and you think that they just lost one little gas out of between 300 and 400 radionuclides produced in that nuclear blast, then you deserve to be deceived. But let's suppose that was true--that they could do that--that they could only release that one and that all the rest were kept underground. Then you *still* have the problem that they're claiming Chernobyl radioactive iodine all over the United States at very high levels, and there's been no follow-up. I presume you know that in Europe they're now reporting the cesium 137. After you have an accident the first thing's the radioactive iodine but that's gone in about two months. And the next thing is the cesium. Sweden, for example, has forbidden anybody to fish in their 20,000 lakes because of the high levels of cesium in the fish. They're high levels of cesium in berries all over Europe, the blackberries and the raspberries. There's high levels of cesium in apricots and peaches from Greece. There are high levels of cesium in wild mushrooms and in deer, and people are being warned not to eat these things. So *if* indeed it was Chernobyl radiation in North America, and we had the iodine, then why are we not being warned about the cesium. Alright? They can't have it both ways.
Somehow or other there's something pretty fishy about the radiation reports for North America. But we need some independent reporting, and we need some independent investigative reporters, and we need some people who are willing to interview bureaucrats and ask them why these kinds of anomalies exist. Because we have a right to know what's in our food. But the problem is just quietly going underground and everybody's just quietly eating radioactive food, and they're going to be quietly getting cancer and quietly having deformed babies. We will quietly undermine the rest of the integrity of the gene pool, and the integrity of the earth. So we're in a very bad situation. One of the lifelines is in the alternative media. One of the things that provides us with an international network to be able to help one another is the alternative media. And part of the infrastructure of hopefully a growing global village that will replace this insanity which is destroying us has got to be the alternative media. "
Idealist's public document archives: 1. In 1986, the U.S. Dept. of Energy used the cover of the Chernobyl fallout cloud over the United States to release huge amounts of radiation into the air from a failed underground Nevada nuclear test. It was called
Mighty Oak. learn more on our global fallout
page
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2.
1 A in NM, 10 U
(in NM, CO, AK, MS, central NV),
100+ A,
U
in Pacific, 3 A
in S. Atlantic
(A=aboveground; U=Underground)
'The
greatest irony of our atmospheric nuclear testing program is that
the only
victims of U.S. nuclear arms since World War II have been our own people.'
- Forgotten
Guinea Pigs Report, 1980
