INITIAL LANL TESTS CAN?T CONFIRM WIPP REACTION THEORY

Los Alamos National Laboratory is expected to report today that initial tests have not been able to replicate a reaction that was thought to be linked to the release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, WC Monitor has learned. A leading theory has been that nitrate salts in a LANL transuranic waste drum reacted with either an organic absorbent or acid and base neutralizers used in waste processing, resulting in the breached drum and heat damage discovered in the WIPP underground. LANL and Savannah River National Lab have conducted a round of tests on the materials, and the LANL tests have not been able to create a reaction that could have cracked open a waste drum lid. Testing is expected to continue at LANL and other labs.