“Carefully Cleaning Up the Garbage at Los Alamos - New York Times” plus 4 more |
- Carefully Cleaning Up the Garbage at Los Alamos - New York Times
- Honeywell 3Q profit falls but tops expectations - Morris County Daily Record
- Minn. man admits driving drunk in his custom La-Z-Boy - Boulder Clarion
- East Northport man finishes Air Force basic training - Newsday
- Women take a seat in Transportation Hall of Fame - WJLA
| Carefully Cleaning Up the Garbage at Los Alamos - New York Times Posted: 23 Oct 2009 02:08 PM PDT LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — No one knows for sure what is buried in the Manhattan Project-era dump here. At the very least, there is probably a truck down there that was contaminated in 1945 at the Trinity test site, where the world's first nuclear explosion seared the sky and melted the desert sand 200 miles south of here during World War II. But now a team of workers is using $212 million in federal stimulus money to clean up the 65-year-old, six-acre dump, which was used by the scientists who built the world's first atomic bomb. They are approaching the job like an archeological dig — only with even greater care, since some of the things they unearth are likely to be radioactive, while others may be explosive. The dump has become part of the $6 billion stimulus program to clean up the toxic legacy of the arms race, which is one of the biggest sources of direct federal contracts in the $787 billion stimulus act. More than $1.9 billion is being spent at the Hanford site in Washington, the home of the nuclear reactor that made the plutonium for the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Another $1.6 billion is being spent cleaning up a Savannah River site, in South Carolina. After the stimulus bill passed, some Republicans questioned the wisdom of devoting so much money to nuclear cleanups, noting that the Department of Energy's environmental management program had been bedeviled by cost overruns in the past. Democrats countered that the labor-intensive projects would create many jobs while advancing the stimulus act's goal of improving the environment. They also noted that the money was only a downpayment on what is still a staggering task: the Department of Energy is responsible for cleaning up 107 sites, with as much acreage as Delaware and Rhode Island combined, in work that could take decades and cost up to $260 billion to complete. Nearly 73,000 people have applied for stimulus jobs cleaning up nuclear sites since the program was announced, the Department of Energy announced, and more than 10,800 positions have been saved or created with the money. Here at Los Alamos, some of the first work involves tearing down buildings and cleaning up land at what is called Technical Area 21. It was an isolated mesa in 1945 when the laboratory moved its plutonium processing operations there after a fire broke out uncomfortably close to its original plant near the center of town. But the town has grown since then, and now several businesses — including a hardware store, an auto repair shop and the local newspaper — are right across the street from the old dump. Since the dump, the laboratory's first, was only used from 1944 through 1948, the cleanup team had to do a great deal of detective work to figure out what might be in it. "You look for every possible shred of evidence that you can to give you an idea of what kind of surprises you might encounter," said Allan B. Chaloupka, who directs the decontamination and decommissioning program. The team members pored over wartime classified documents and interviewed old-timers to learn what materials might have found their way into the dump, and took soil samples to test their estimates of how much plutonium might be buried there. They debriefed a laboratory worker who once fell into it as a young man. They asked scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory to come up with worst-case scenarios of how explosive the chemicals dumped there might have grown over the years — and then they blew up the equivalent amounts of dynamite to test all the safety measures that they would be taking. While the laboratory has worked to reassure the public that the work will be done safely, some of the site's closest neighbors are eyeing the project warily. "You wonder what's going on," said Ken Romero, 40, a machinist at the Jona Manufacturing Company, across the street. "One day we looked across the street and there was a guy in a full-body white suit, and he was just 100 yards away from us." On a recent visit, officials emphasized the extreme care they were taking. When they tore down an air-processing building early one morning, they did not use any explosives, for obvious reasons. Instead, an excavator tore a slice down the center of the building, and then surgically knocked the building's walls inward, so the debris would not hit any of the neighboring buildings. Some of the workers did wear white body suits, but in this case they were for protection from asbestos, not radiation. The building was not contaminated, though some of its neighbors were. So far, about 156 people — many from small businesses in the area — have been given jobs on the project, which will ultimately employ roughly 300 people, officials said. "Many are basically common laborers that come out of commercial operations," Mr. Chaloupka said, "and we're teaching them to do something at a little higher level, and we're creating a cadre of people that can do other jobs later." The government is under a consent order with the state of New Mexico to clean up the area, so there will be more work after the stimulus program ends. George Rael, an assistant manager for environmental operations at the Department of Energy's site office here, said that by clearing most of the mesa, the stimulus work would send a signal to the public. "This is gong to be very visible skyline change that people will actually see and recognize," Mr. Rael said. Several of the buildings they are tearing down date back to the Manhattan Project days, when a secret laboratory hastily thrown up here at the site of a ranch school for boys on the Pajarito Plateau produced the bomb that changed the world. The complex was top-secret: eminent physicists who visited were given pseudonyms, the whole town was behind a fence, and the laboratory's inhabitants all had the same mailing address, "P.O. Box 1663, Santa Fe," which was also used on the birth certificates of babies born there. Over the years the labs being torn down saw discoveries — they pioneered research in the element americium-241, which was used in smoke detectors — and tragedies. In 1958, a chemical operator, Cecil Kelley, was working with plutonium when it started a chain reaction that emitted a burst of neutrons and gamma radiation that killed him 36 hours later. When the job here is done, and the waste is dug up and trucked elsewhere, officials said, the mesa will be clean enough for homes to be built on it. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Honeywell 3Q profit falls but tops expectations - Morris County Daily Record Posted: 23 Oct 2009 01:32 PM PDT Honeywell International Inc. said Friday its third-quarter profit fell 15 percent as sales dropped in all its divisions with key markets in aviation and industrial products continuing to struggle. More than half of the Morris Township, N.J., company's sales are overseas. As a result of its exposure, Honeywell has been hit hard by some of the economy's weakest sectors such as the aerospace, automotive and construction markets, which have been in a prolonged slump. The company earned $608 million, or 80 cents per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, down from $719 million, or 97 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue fell 17 percent to $7.7 billion from $9.28 billion a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected lower earnings of 72 cents per share on higher revenue of $7.88 billion. Honeywell backed its previous 2009 guidance of earnings of $2.85 per share on revenue of $31 billion. Analysts are looking for earnings of $2.78 a share on revenue of $31.46 billion. Its shares were up 47 cents to $39 in premarket trading. In the company's aerospace business, sales fell 16 percent in the quarter compared with a year ago due to lower volume in commercial aerospace. It was partly offset by higher military equipment sales, aircraft modifications, and upgrades, Honeywell said. Chief Financial Officer David J. Anderson told investor analysts in a conference call that while flight hour estimates are improving slightly, airlines "aggressively manage" purchases of spare parts. As a result, sales of spare parts are declining, he said. In addition, the company expects business travel and demand for equipment to remain weak for the rest of the year even though repairs and servicing have stabilized, Anderson said. Anderson said it's too early to declare a recovery in certain sectors, but Honeywell expects its turbo business and commercial aerospace repairs and maintenance business to "rebound somewhat" next year. The company also expects commercial airline equipment deliveries and nonresidential construction to decline in 2010. However, Honeywell's government-funded and energy-efficient products should help offset some of the declines. "We're also planning for modest segment profit improvement despite flattish sales in 2010," Anderson said. Honeywell's automation and control solutions business, which includes climate and fire control systems for buildings, sales were down 14 percent due to slower economic growth and the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange. In addition, sales at the conglomerate's transportation systems business, which makes products such as turbo chargers for car engines, fell 24 percent. Honeywell blamed the results on reduced sales to global automotive equipment customers. Honeywell's specialty chemicals business said sales dropped 23 percent due to lower volumes and raw material price declines which were partly offset by higher petrochemical sales and environmental initiatives. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Minn. man admits driving drunk in his custom La-Z-Boy - Boulder Clarion Posted: 23 Oct 2009 01:18 PM PDT MINNEAPOLIS — The operator of a La-Z-Boy chair converted into a motorized vehicle — complete with a stereo and cup holders — has admitted that he crashed the piece of furniture after leaving a bar in Proctor, Minn., extremely drunk. Dennis LeRoy Anderson, 61, of Proctor, pleaded guilty Monday to hopping on the chair on the night of Aug. 31, 2008, after visiting the Keyboard Lounge, then crashing into a more traditional vehicle in the parking lot. Anderson's blood-alcohol content was 0.29 percent, more than three times the legal limit for driving in Minnesota. Deputy Police Chief Troy Foucault said Thursday that the chair is "quite decked out." Along with the stereo and cup holders, it is powered by a converted gasoline-powered lawnmower, a steering wheel, headlights and a power antenna. Foucault estimated that the La-Z-Boy can top out at 15 to 20 miles per hour. A National Hot Rod Association sticker adorns the headrest. The chair was impounded and will be sold at the next police auction. "We have quite a few people calling about buying it," said Foucault, who half-seriously acknowledged that he's tempted to bid on it, except that "I have kids who would take it out and drive it on the street." Anderson admitted to police that he had been drinking at home, was leaving the bar and had drunk eight or nine beers that day before getting on the La-Z-Boy and crashing it into a Dodge Intrepid parked outside, Foucault said. Anderson was treated at the scene for minor injuries and given a field sobriety test, even though he pleaded several times with the officer to "give him a break," according to the police report. "He failed everything," Foucault said, leading to Anderson's arrest and seizure of the chair. The officer on the scene checked Anderson's driver's license and determined that it had been revoked because of a previous drunken-driving conviction, according to police. Anderson, who does auto body repair work out of his home, was sentenced Monday to 180 days in the St. Louis County jail or at the Northeast Regional Corrections Center and was fined $2,000. The jail time and half of the fine was stayed for two years of supervised probation with conditions that include a chemical dependency assessment, random testing and 30 days of electronic monitoring. Via McClatchy-Tribune News Services. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| East Northport man finishes Air Force basic training - Newsday Posted: 23 Oct 2009 01:11 PM PDT 2 candidates in county's
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| Women take a seat in Transportation Hall of Fame - WJLA Posted: 23 Oct 2009 12:14 PM PDT
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Bad roads, bad weather, flat tires, breakdowns. A lot of Alice Ramsey's challenges during her New York City-to-San Francisco drive could be any traveler's. In 1909, though, and before any other woman had made such a trip, others were uniquely hers. Like when she was stopped by a posse of men on horseback who were tracking a murderer, or frightened by Indians in Nebraska, until finding they were just hunting jackrabbits. And long before GPS, there were driving guides with landmarks like "yellow house and barn" to steer her along. One hundred years after spending 41 days behind the wheel to become the first woman to drive across the continent, Ramsey will take a permanent place in a new hall of fame dedicated to women in transportation. Ramsey, who told her story in the 1961 book, "Veil, Duster and Tire Iron" and died in 1983, will be honored posthumously at a ceremony in Buffalo Friday. Other inductees into the new National Transportation Women's Hall of Fame include a Seattle woman, Emily Anderson, who retraced Ramsey's historic journey in a 1909 Maxwell this spring. The hall of fame will be housed inside the Buffalo Transportation/Pierce-Arrow Museum, which has a collection of antique and classic vehicles ranging from Pierce-Arrows - luxury cars made in Buffalo through the 1930s - to carriages, motorcycles and bicycles from the 19th and 20th centuries. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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