RADIATION FOUND ABOVEGROUND NEAR WIPP

Some radioactive elements were discovered in a filter located at an access road aboveground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the Department of Energy said last night. This comes after last Friday officials said that an underground air monitor at WIPP detected airborne radiation, triggering filtration of air going from the mine to aboveground. “Recent laboratory analyses by Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center (CEMRC) found some trace amounts of americium and plutonium from a sampling station located on the WIPP access road,” DOE said in a statement last night. “This is consistent with the fact that HEPA filters remove at least 99.97% of contaminants from the air, meaning a minute amount still can pass through the filters. As noted by the CEMRC, an independent environmental monitoring organization, the levels found from the sample are below the levels established by the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure public health is protected.”