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Submission + - Researchers Race to Recover Radioactive Rabbits

Submitted by
Ponca City
Ponca City writes: "The Tri-City Herald reports that radioactive rabbit droppings were recently found near the old Hanford Nuclear Site in southeast Washington that produced nuclear materials for 40 years and is now being decontaminated. The Department of Health looks for contamination off-site to make sure there is no public hazard and a rabbit trapped at the 300 Area caught the their attention because it was close enough to the site's boundaries to potentially come in contact with the public — such as if it had been caught by a dog or if its droppings were deposited in an area open to the public. Joe Franco, an assistant manager for the Department of Energy, said workers erected fences, removed potential food sources and even sprayed the scent of a predator around the perimeter to prevent any other rabbit contamination and the Department of Energy said only one of 18 rabbits surveyed were deemed contaminated. Researchers narrowed the area of possible contamination to the 327 Building used during the Cold War for testing highly radioactive materials, particularly fuel elements and cladding that were irradiated at Hanford reactors as part of plutonium production for the nation's nuclear weapons program. Because the number of contaminated droppings being discovered on-site has decreased, officials now believe it's possible that just one rabbit might have been contaminated and they now are finding old droppings from it. One theory is that the rabbit might have been sipping water that collected in the building's basement after water was sprayed during demolition to suppress dust. "While this does not pose a worker safety or public health issue, we take our responsibility to prevent the spread of contamination seriously," said Franco. In 2009, personnel at the Hanford site handled 26,000 animal control requests. Records for the same year indicate 33 contaminated animals or animal-related materials were discovered."

Comment The Immaculate Conception isn't Jesus... (Score -1, Redundant) 478

by THE anonymus coward (#34120650) Attached to: Immaculate Conception In a Boa Constrictor

The Immaculate Conception is Mary's (Jesus' mother) conception. Catholics and Orthodox believe that she was conceived in the normal way, but God gave her a special grace to be conceived immaculately, that is without sin. Jesus' conception is known as the Incarnation, since that was God becoming Man. I know that this has nothing to do with the article, but it is so often confused and so rarely clarified, I had to speak up.
Mars

Mars Camera's Worsening Eye Problems 93

Posted by kdawson from the ringing-in-the-eyes dept.
Mr_Foo writes "According to a Nature article, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE imager is suffering from a loss of peripheral vision. The problem surfaced less than a month after the orbiter reached Mars. One the camera's four color detectors has completely stopped working, and it is feared that the problems are spreading. Currently seven of the fourteen HiRISE's detectors are sending back corrupted data and although the issue is only creating a 2% loss of signal at this time it is expected to worsen. The lead investigator for the mission is quoted as saying the problem is systemic: 'In the broken detectors, extra peaks and troughs are somehow being introduced, causing... a "ringing" in the signal. "We don't know where the ringing is coming from," [the investigator] says.' Warming the electronics before taking images seems to help the problem. This effect might be one reason why the detectors on the cold periphery of the array were the first to pack up."

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