HazMat Thread - A Remarkable Confluence
Libby Montana: Submitted by gjohnsit on Thu, 05/25/2017 is a good example of one of my major (professional as well as personal) concerns. Herbicides, Pesticides, Radioactivity, et cetera in Soil, Water, and Air are HazMat and of major concern with respect to environmental policy discussions.
I would like to easily find other articles of this sort. Like for the Open Threads, it would be very helpful (to me) if members (and future members) of caucus99percent would consider tagging articles of this ilk with "HazMat Thread" in the Title and in the Tags.
I would appreciate any feedback with regard to this proposal.
A Remarkable Confluence
While I was completing my PhD at Arizona State University, Dr. Joe Springer was completing his PhD at Washington State University. He taught at the University of Nebraska 1979-2015 while I taught at the University of Nebraska 1979-2014.
Joe's wildlife research in the Horse Heaven Hills a very few miles north of the my hometown lead him to obtain knowledge of radioactive materials in the environment. My specific area of expertise is tracking radioactive materials in the environment.
I learned of our "cosmic connection" when I met Joe, for the first time, during our time at UNK.
See the label "Hermiston" on the right edge of the salmon colored area? I grew up downwind of a chemical storage and disposal site. It was a superfund site occupying about 20,000 acres almost literally "in my backyard".
And to complete the "cosmic joke" Hanford Atomic Works is located on the West side of the Columbia River north of my hometown. Wow, jackpot, downwind of chemical weapons AND downstream of radioactive sludge stored in the river's floodplain, what could possibly go wrong ‽
Comments
I live in a radon house over Marcellus shale
Track etch monitors test a little too high, my air source is close to ground. My water is off-chart, outgassing no doubt. I guess even below-basement ventilation ($$$$) would not help. That worry went into the house design: no floor drain in the basement.
And here I be.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Venting will help, actually.
Don't do the exhaust fan venting as that generates a negative pressure differential. That negative will enhance flow from ground into basement and subsequently the rest of the house.
Producing a positive pressure in living areas would be the best. The details of your floor plan would determine the best location for the air pump.
Properly sealed windows and doors will cause the air to flow down into the basement. When the weather is cooperating I just let the natural air flow do the job. The door and window locations make this a viable option for this house (not so much for my home in Medford).
A regulated outflow from the basement would drive radon and its progeny out. The regulation doesn't need to be very much, Think large dryer vent with weighted damper well screened to keep critters at bay.
Sizing can be adjusted "on the fly" to balance energy concerns against lowering the testing numbers. Any competent heating and air conditioning outfit should be able to do this at a reasonable cost.
The water situation is a bit gnarly.
I am assuming you are pumping your own water. If this is true your water pump sends water through a pipe into a tank that contains a compressible bladder. This system maintains proper pressure for the hydrological system that is your plumbing. This (positive pressure) system also forces entrained air (including radon) into the water.
If the above is true here is a trick you might consider. It involves having your own "water tower".
If your water pump pushed water through a sprayer inside an above ground water tank constructed like municipal tanks, the water would outgas "explosively". The pump would fill that tank as determined by a float. An outflow pressure pump would then feed the pressure tank.
I would design the "water tower" to maximize the water/air surface to water volume ratio to enhance outgassing. A relatively simple forced air evacuation would create a negative pressure gradient that would also enhance outgassing and by the way increase the integrity of your water supply.
All this is just off the top of my head, so the actual construction might vary from the pictures in my mind at this moment.
An interesting concept.
I could fit a water tower between the pump and the house. I already do a/a heat exchange, 20 min per hour. Let me ponder further. It might be a nice architectural feature.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
I worked for a company back in the 90s
that did environmental clean up. ( that was back when we actually tried to do something the environment). The company handled mostly remediation from petroleum contamination, but also did other types of contamination clean-up as well. It was a huge nationwide project and the work was done through state environmental regulators. Here in Nebraska it was under the NDEQ.
For a couple hundred years we just dumped (or let leak) every damn chemical or liquid we had no more use for on the ground without one bit of thought to what might happen. We knew these things were poison, we knew they were dangerous. But apparently no one 'knew' what the cumulative effects of a couple hundred years of poisoning the ground and our water supply would do.
I typed reports for biologists, geologists, and hydro- geologists that were submitted to the government and the clients. That freaking job scared the hell out of me. I know what's out there in the water and in the dirt. And all that crap eventually ends up in each and every one of us. And you can't run and hide from something that is everywhere.
That job and my very first job (at an old folks 'home' where people were shuttled off and forgotten) were both traumatic experiences. The environmental company went out of business. The state ran out of money for these projects because the Feds called it off. Unfortunately the state didn't tell any iof the companies that were doing all this work to stop ✋ for about six months after the money ran out so it was bye bye NESCO.
That project ended way too soon. Trust me on that one. But then again, there just might not be enough money in the world to clean up the mess we've made of this planet.
P.S. typing those reports was a bitch.
I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa
Eaton Corporation in Kearney
has, over the years, dumped a lot of Trichloroethylene into the ground water and into the air.
For a time there were a few employees that pressured the local managers to "clean up their act" but given the nature of business and the usual attrition process I no longer have any inside contacts. I have no idea of what is happening at the plant.
The Environmental Protection Agency was never properly funded for any of its monitoring programs. I suspect all such projects have suffered just like the sixty year old RadNet monitoring project. The data is sketchy at best, the professional staff is stretched too thin, the science is not quite up-to-date, et cetera. A generalized malaise suffused with angst accentuates their inability to avert the inevitable demise of the Protection mission.