Remote Sensing Analysis of the Sierra Blanca (Faskin Ranch) Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Site, Hudspeth County, Texas

Remote sensing images provide useful physical information, revealing such features as geological structure, vegetation, drainage patterns, and variations in consolidated and unconsolidated lithologies. That technology has been applied to the failed Sierra Blanca (Faskin Ranch) shallow burial low-level radioactive waste disposal site selected by the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority. It has been re-examined using data from LANDSAT satellite series. The comparison of the earlier LANDSAT V (5/20/86) (30-m resolution) with the later new, higher resolution ETM imagery (10/23/99) LANDSAT VII data (15-m resolution) clearly shows the superiority of the LANDSAT VII data. The search for surficial indications of evidence of fatal flaws at the Sierra Blanca site utilizing was not successful, as it had been in the case of the earlier remote sensing analysis of the failed Fort Hancock site utilizing LANDSAT V data. The authors conclude that the tectonic activity at the Sierra Blanca site is much less recent and active than in the previously studied Fort Hancock site. The Sierra Blanca site failed primarily on the further needed documentation concerning a subsurface fault underneath the site and environmental justice issues. The presence of this fault was not revealed using the newer LANDSAT VII data. Despite this fact, it must be remembered that remote sensing provides baseline documentation for determining future physical and financial remediation responsibilities. On the basis of the two sites examined by LANDSAT remote sensing imaging, it is concluded that it is an essential, cost-effective tool that should be utilized not only in site examination but also in all nuclear-related facilities

Seminar in Critical Inquiry Twenty-first Century Nuclear Systems

Critical Inquiry, has not only been successful in increasing university student retention rate but also in improving student academic performance beyond the initial year of transition into the University. The seminar course herein reviewed is a balanced combination of student personal and academic skill development combined with a solid background in modern nuclear systems. It is a valid premise to assume that entering students as well as stakeholders of the general public demonstrate equal levels of capability. Nuclear systems is designed to give a broad and basic knowledge of nuclear power, medical, industrial, research, and military systems (nuclear systems) in 20-25 hours

WM-4525 SEALED RADIOACTIVE SOURCES (SRS) AND GREATER THAN CLASS C LOW-LEVEL WASTES (GTCC): POTENTIAL RADIOACTIVE DISPERSAL DEVICES (RDD) RESOURCES

ABSTRACT Since the events of September 11, 2001, there has been a major shift in governmental and public thinking with reference to the security of our national infrastructure. The threats are basically fourfold: cyber-, biochemical, and nuclear terrorism. The government will have to prioritize these to determine where the available resources are to be expended. In the nuclear area, the primary concerns have been with the control/proliferation of nuclear weapons of mass destruction and the security of commercial nuclear power plants. Another aspect of the nuclear problem that needs to be examined is the public's risk from radiation dispersal devices (RDDs). These devices can be constructed with either sealed radioactive sources (SRSs) and/or greater than class C lowlevel (G.T.C.C.) radioactive wastes as source materials. Cradle-to-grave tracking of selected devices and the recovery of lost, disused, spent, and stolen SRSs becomes an immediate high priority. A solution in the form of the long needed and mandated G.T.C.C. repository would be ideal but, based on prior facility siting experience, probably not feasible in a timely manner. Utilization of the facility at WIPP for not only transuranic (TRU) military waste, but also civilian TRU waste and those SRS devices that qualify radiometrically represent another chioce. The formation of a geographically central, secure, interim storage facility is another reasonable solution. Future utilization of the Yucca Mountain facility is technically excellent but politically speculative. All solutions will require legislative action in order to accomplished

Analysis of the interferon system in African patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

Serum interferon and in vitro production of alpha and gamma interferon by peripheral blood leucocytes were examined in 21 African patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and in 15 African patients with AIDS-related complex. Interferon was detected in the serum of 44% of the patients with AIDS-related complex and in 70% of the patients with full-blown AIDS, and was characterized as an acid-labile alpha interferon. When compared to healthy blood donors, the interferon response of peripheral blood leucocytes to Newcastle Disease virus was impaired in 7 of 12 patients with AIDS-related complex and in 16 of 20 AIDS patients (p less than 0.005). Also, production of gamma interferon following stimulation with phytohaemagglutinin was diminished in 5 of 11 patients with AIDS-related complex and in 13 of 17 patients with AIDS (p less than 0.005). A high correlation was observed between the presence of circulating interferon and decreased in vitro production of gamma interferon, but not of alpha interferon. These results suggest that the impairment of in vitro production of gamma interferon can be used as a preclinical marker of AIDS.Journal ArticleSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe