According to a 1994 Department of Energy report, 10 "packages" of plutonium totaling 1.2 grams of the highly radioactive element are stored at the Kansas City Plant.
The report contradicts longtime assurances from the plant's owner, Honeywell, and government agencies including the National Nuclear Security Administration, the General Services Administration and EPA Region 7 that the Kansas City Plant manufactures only non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons.
The report, Plutonium Working Group Report on Environmental, Safety and Health Vulnerabilities Associated With the Department's Plutonium Storage, Volume 1, was obtained by the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Miller Nichols Library via inter-library loan.
The Bannister Federal Complex is under scrutiny due to reports of workers both in the nuke factory and in the neighboring GSA buildings, past and present, who became sick or died from exposure to beryllium and other toxic chemicals used in the plant's manufacturing.
Maurice Copeland, a retired Kansas City Plant worker who has led whistle-blowing efforts seeking compensation for sick workers, wants answers about the plutonium on-site. "Where was it? How many times did it move? Was it in my department?" Copeland asks. "I want to know that. This has to do with my health and my family's health. I should be able to know that."
The Pitch has directed questions to media spokespeople with the plant, its owners at Honeywell, the NNSA, the DOE and EPA Region 7. The plant's NNSA representatives issued this response this morning:
The Kansas City Plant does not process or store specialDavid Bryan, the public-affairs specialist for EPA Region 7, tells The Pitch: "Unless the plutonium becomes a waste product, there is no reason for it to be reported to EPA."nuclear material. As is common in manufacturing industries, sealed radioactive
sources are utilized in analytical devices for quality control and calibration
of components. At the KCP, a very small amount of sealed plutonium (less than 2
grams) is used in these types of commercially available tools which are
routinely inspected.
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A (NDT) non destructive test is a test that checks for faults in a part without damaging or destroying it. I think of it most often for xray inspection of welds like in aircraft frames or turbine engines. As far as your barb about NON nuclear, there are lots of nuclear things in lots of places in lots of cities. Hospitals have it. MU in Columbia runs a nuclear reactor. Most likely KU and UMKC have some. It gets hidden or no commented because of irrational fear. I can't say I completely understand everything there is to know about it but I've learned enough to not feel threatened by the material being in the community. To be honest, I'm more worried about the proliferation of CFLs and how much mercury that will release into the environment when they are just thrown away than I am from the small, controlled, sealed NDT sources.
Next time I get sick I will head for the nearest Nuclear bomb plant.
Our government would never lie, We got the best government money can buy.
Now they can even make "non-nuclear" plutonium AND depleted uranium.
So a teaspoon of plutonium weighs a quarter pound?
May be you should stop eating your food by the ton also.
Check out how securely they handled the Promethium 147 from 1974-1987 when Los Alamos and Sandia
were called in because it was in UNSEALED containers thought to be sealed.
Please explain what a "non destructive test" is and which kinds of radioactive materials they would need to have and how many places do such tests.
I saw nothing in the article about it.
Also, when did plutonium become NON nuclear.
Any manufacturing facility in any town or city across the globe with a NDT (Non Destructive Test) capability that includes industrial Xray machines is going to have several grams of different radioactive materials. It is so very very common that it boggles my mind that it is even being discussed. Are there only Liberal Arts types reading the Pitch?
Hey Mo
Pay no attention to these hired crap talkers.
They probably work for Skeo Solutions hired by the EPA.
We saw it today, up close
OUTRIGHT LIES, wow my friend, who goes by watcher.
No I am not lying, I put my name on it, I have a good name, how about you.
To say OUTRIGHT LIES, you most think you know a little about Bendix.
Tell me what I said is a lie, Bendix has the best Lawyers your money can buy, I think if anything I said there, they should sue me, take me to court, prove me a lie.
Put your name on it THE WATCHER.
Here is another one: There were numerous evacuations at the Bannister Complex because of possible contamination possibilities. The employees were not told of possible symtoms of exposure.
Child of the Manhattan Project and Bendix My whole family is sick and my parents are deceased! DOL had the guts that radiation exposure did not hurt us even though my dad received radiation posioning in Los Alamos New Mexico where the first bomb was built! They saw mushrom clouds out windows! Then he came to Bendix in the sixties and was considered a whistle blower because of lax in Security of these dangerous materials! Don't think for a minute the government tells the truth! My dad had lung cancer at78,mother copd at 56, that is how young they died! I have only half thyroid,diabetes,hbp,copd,numerous tumor and I am only53! My medical future looks bleak at times! Will contnue with our children and grandchildren etc.etc....
Maurice, those are not teasers for hard hitting stories. They are outright LIES! Shame on you.
While clearly plutonium is a very dangerous material people like Ralph Nader have greatly exaggerated it's toxic capability. I encourage you to read "The Myth of Plutonium Toxicity" http://russp.org/BLC-3.html
Where did the government lie about this? The whole article is based on a published government report indicating that a very small amount of plutonium is used at the Kansas City Plant. You are far more likely to be exposed to radiation and other toxic materials in a hospital than at the KCP.
It doesn't matter that the government lied about it, does it?
Certainly not for you and others that were not exposed to elements you didn't know about.
Here is another hard hitting story for you:
HONEYWELL DISTRIBUTED POSSIBLE CONTAMINATED PC'S AND OTHER EQUIPMENT TO A LOCAL LEARNING CENTER.
better yet: HONEYWELL SOLD POSSIBLE CONTAMINATED TOOLING AND EQUIPMENT TO THE PUBLIC FROM MANY AREAS IN THE STATE of MISSOURI FOR YEARS.
MANY COLLEGE STUDENTS WORKED INTERNSHIPS AT HONEYWELL, many have had NO NOTIFICATION OF POSSIBLE CONTAMINATION AND AVAILABLE TESTING...
these are just teasers.
Everybody refuting any wrongdoing is just being a politician...and you know what they say about politicians...if they open their mouth they are lieing!
1.2 grams (i.e. 1/100th of a teaspoon) of plutonium is securely kept at a technical facility as a way to calibrate instruments and this is an issue.......how? Carbon-14 is radioactive, too, and there's a ton of it in the food you eat...and there's deuterium in the water...why don't you write another hard hitting story about that shit?
How many lies have they not told about that plant?
Does it matter that the lies could be costing people their lives?
It no DOUBT has cost people their lives in the past, and the GOVERNMENT MISLED INVESTIGATORS, held back REPORTS, HIRED PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRMS...WTF
But thats ok, They say I took the oath when I came there to work: THOSE OF US, THAT ARE ABOUT TO DIE SALUTE YOU, THOSE OF US THAT SURVIVE WILL BE CALLED, HERO...
COLD WAR HERO! hey I'm a hero!
South KC residents were very upset a year or two ago when this site was on the list for consideration for long-term mercury storage. Plutonium is like how many billions of times more toxic than mercury?
I think all the proponents of nuclear energy should send their families to live about 60 miles outside the threatened plant in Japan. Then after living there about 20 years we'll see how wild they are about it.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION RIGHT IN YOUR OWN HOME TOWN!
A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.
Senate Environment Committe Hearing on Disease Clusters and Environmental Health
Tuesday Washington, DC
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held an oversight hearing on disease clusters and environmental health. This hearing assessed the potential environmental health effects related to disease clusters. Erin Brockovich, President of Brockovich Research and Consulting was among the witnesses testifying.
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) chairs the committee.
Bannister Death list & EPA concerns avoided as GSA ...
Jan 24, 2011 ... “The Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City has been and continues to ... McCaskill has launched her own investigation into agency's hiring of the ... in a safe environment and get the answers that they deserve,” Blunt said. ... Congressman Emanuel Cleaver issued a statement supporting the EPA's ...
www.nbcactionnews.com/dpp/news... - Similar
$150000 awards to Bannister workers as rare sarcoido...
Feb 4, 2011 ... KANSAS CITY, Missouri - An NBC Action News investigation ...
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