San Ramon California, the Nuclear Reactor is still in operation

San Ramon Nuclear Reactors were being built 10 at a time

US NRC 2021-2022 Information Digest p118 Appendix H

The Nuclear Reactor in San Ramon California is still in operation. This was the site of Aerojet which made nuclear reactors for colleges and research institutions. When they started the nuclear reactor San Ramon had a population of less than 200 people within a mile of the site. Today it is in the middle of the city and the city parks its school busses on the site of one of the radioactive labs. At any one time was building 10 portable nuclear reactors.

It is being active 4 hours in any quarter so they must be doing basic maintenance on the facility and are unable to close the reactor for safety reasons. It could also be a place to store nuclear waste and since the waste containers nationwide do not match with shipping containerrs they cannot remove any nuclear waste. The Savannah River Nuclear Reactor has that problem, tonsof nuclear waste and no way to ship it.

Aerojet Radiography and Research Reactor Hazards Summary Report, September 1964 (Redacted Version)
page 114 of 123 in the PDF file

In the above map:

1) An AGN-201 reactor, currently operating at 20 w, used for instrument and dosimeter calibrations and for research work in connection with AGN’s fission-chemistry development programs.
2) A hot cell with high-density concrete walls 20 in. thick. And high-density glass viewing windows, also 20 in. thick, designed to handle specimens up to 300 curies at 1 Mev
3) Chemistry laboratories, including two radiochemical laboratories, two wet chemical laboratories, a sample preparation laboratory, and storerooms
4) A specialized experimental laboratory for AGN’s fission-chemistry programs, used for UO2 slurry circulation, sample vessel assembly, loading, and unloading, safety tests, and sample analysis

5) A metallurgical and material laboratory for evaluation of high temperature materials and nuclear applications of both fueled and unfueled materials
6) A liquid metals Laboratory, including two liquid metal capsule corrosion test facilities, a boiling and condensing heat transfer test facility for space system radiators and boilers, and a dynamic liquid metal corrosion loop test facility
7) An electronics development laboratory
8) A nuclear measurements laboratory with equipment for precision alpha, beta, and gamma counting

The main office building (2) contains engineering and administrative offices, drafting rooms, computer facilities, a document control center, and printing, photographic, and other supporting services. It includes special AEC and DOD restricted area, for work on classified projects.

The shops building (3) includes a general machine shop, a separate bay of 3000 sq ft for welding operations, specialized machine tool areas for the handling of radioactive materials, facilities for the fabrication, assembly, I maintenance, and calibration of instrumentation and electronic equipment, and supporting shop services.

The nuclear fuel fabrication facility (7) is used for ceramic fuel production, sealing and assembly of wire-spaced pins for elements, and preparation of fuel-loaded parts. It is equipped with dust-free assembly rooms, glove boxes, and special equipment for inspection, testing, analysis, and leak detection. Fireproof vaults are provided for storage of plutonium and uranium.
The entire facility is a restricted area, and appropriate accountability and
health physics services are provided.

Other installations on the western side of the railroad tracks include a special radionuclide laboratory (14), cleaning and decontamination facilities, housing for pumps, generators, and air compressors, and special storage facilities for inflammable (5) and hazardous (9) materials.

Google Earth image of the San Ramon School Buses parked on a nuclear reactor site. What is the city of San Ramon Thinking?

To the east of the tracks, a new facility (51) for testing power conversion equipment and other rotating machinery was completed this year. The facility includes a high-bay assembly area, control room, test room, and special power sources and testing machinery. The concrete floor slab extends outside the building to provide a base for testing fully-assembled power conversion units for nuclear power plants.

A new physics laboratory (52) was recently completed to accommodate AGN’s expanding research in plasma physics and related fields. The laboratory houses various large magnetic-field power supplies, capacitor banks, vacuum chambers, von Ardenne and other ion sources, an energetic arc, microwave diagnostic equipment, and other special equipment for experimentation and analysis. The building is-300 ft from the site of the proposed AGNIR facility.

A new building (55) for a pulse power research facility is now under construction northeast of the new physics laboratory. The building will provide 650 sq ft of floor space for research and experimentation in the field of pulsed power production.

At the time the area was orchards wih very few people living within range of the site in the case of a nuclear accident. Unfortunately they used the city sewage for the release of radioactive water which would flow downstream through Walnut Hill and then all the way to Suisan Bay and given the safety levels of the times, this was a lot of radiation.

They built portable nuclear reactors for the following entities:

Catholic University of America
Oklahoma State University of Agriculture and Applied Science
University of Akron
Texas A&M
University of Utah
Argonne National Laboratory (AEC)
Colorado State University
University of California Berkeley
University of Delaware
Oregon State University
AGN 201-111 was operated in the commercial exhibit of the 1958 International Conference in Geneva prior to transfer to the University of Geneva
Switzerland (University of Basel)
Italy (University of Palermo)
U. S. Naval Post Graduate School (USN) – melted down but was contained; no explosion
National Naval Medical Center (USN)
William Marsh Rice University
University of Oklahoma
West Virginia University, College of Engineering
Aerojet-General Nucleonics (5 reactors) AGN 201 reactors
Aerojet-General Nucleonics (5 reactors) AGN 211 Reactors

Today the City of San Ramon parks its School Buses on the site. Google Map

The radioactively contaminated water from the site went into the sewer system of San Ramon and gets dumped into Suisun Bay through Walnut Hill. Unfortunately 1950’s standards for radiation were so dangerous that in 1959 they were cut to 1/3 of what they were in 1955 and this put the portable nuclear reactor business under as the effects of radiation became apparent and all of these reactors were emitting at least 7.5 mrems per hour when today the level of safety is 2 mrems per hour. Any amount above that number is a nuclear accident.

They also had issues with meltdowns and explosions. The Santa Susana reactors near Simi Valley built for NASA spacecraft and for satellites had three nuclear reactors melt down and at least one of them exploded making it the worst nuclear reactor disaster on record. People think Three Mile Island was bad, the reactor exploded and a radioactive cloud of Strontium 90 spread over the valley from the site into Simi Valley and across the hills to Los Angeles County to the River.

Reactor that melted down, note the size for colleges and educations institutions
Ruzich, K. C.., Sturm, W. J.. Hazard Summary Report for the Argonne AGN-201 Reactor. United States: Argonne National Laboratory, 1962.

Bloomfield NJ Uranium Processing at Westinghouse started before 1942

The Westinghouse plant in Bloomfield was in operation purifying uranium before 1942. It was a part of the process to turn Uranium into Uranium metal for the Chicago Pile which had the first nuclear reaction in 1942. Linking Legacies published by the Department of Energy lists some of the sites used in the production of the Atomic bomb. There are a lot more but this was published in 1997. It is part of a congressional hearing, the expert testimony of most hearings are reports like these. https://www.energy.gov/…/2014/03/f8/Linking_Legacies.pdf

This is one of the most densly populated places in the United States 10 miles due west of Manhattan. And it is clear that the Atomic Energy Commission did not care about inspections as will be revealed in these reports.

New Page Glen Ridge New Jersey features the Bloomfield Site and the extensive documentation of the nuclear and toxic waste sites including the EPA Superfund Site of Carteret Street and Lorraine Avenue sites.

Glen Ridge High School Physics Department Gammator 50B device 400 Curies of Cesium 137

1968 to at least 1989 the Atomic Energy Commission numbers for GRHS were 29-12957-01 and 29-12957-02 Update below, it was removed in 1991.

I grew up in this town in New Jersey, 11 miles due west of the Empire State Building where the EPA found Uranium, Thorium and Radium under our Little League Field at Carteret Park, and the next town over was Bloomfield New Jersey that had the Westinghouse Uranium and Thorium processing plant. But I just found that we had a device, the Gammaton 50B which contained 400 curies of Cesium 137 and was rated for 50,000 REM of radiation inside the chamber.

I will be posting the NRC correspondence and reports and you can decide for yourselves who is responsible. The man in charge was a good friend but he was way over his head on this and this whole mess is the result of the most destructive force known to man, the irresponsible Atomic Energy Commission that sent devices like this all over the country and the world on the “Atoms for Peace” initiative and they were also responsible for the atomic tests.

These documents are on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Website and I will post the Title of document with link and then the screen shots of the pages

Informs that Gammator-50 will be placed in physics project room in science wing of new high school.Burglar alarm sys connected to police station for security against break-ins.

Continue reading “Glen Ridge High School Physics Department Gammator 50B device 400 Curies of Cesium 137” →

Beatty Nevada nuclear waste sites

This post is for a friend of mine who inquired about the site.

Beatty Nevada is a nuclear waste disposal site for all types of nuclear waste.

Responds to 741120 request for Directorate of Regulatory Licensing to inspect AEC licensed waste burial sites on priority basis. Results of insps summarized.Measurements encl.

“Annual Operating Rept 1974.” Rancho SEco Nuclear Gegnerating Station Unit 1 Clay Station Calfironia – trucking reports on pages 67 and 73

Its a nuclear waste site. i could find more but this pretty much covers it. There are some contamination in the city itself from low level radiation disposal but the high level stuff would be in a more secure location on the mountain. Byproduct material is material made in a nuclear reactor, isotopes of radiation. Radium comes under low level, which is rediculous but thats how the law was written.

1982 Report on Fuel Tanks and pipeline leaks at Pearl Harbor today causes oil in 1/8 of Honolulu’s water supply

0DTIC ADA119026: A-E Services to Perform a Cathodic Protection Survey of the Bulk Fuel Terminals at N.S.C. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Volume II. page 660

Pearl Harbor is an ecological disaster area thanks to the US Navy and their leaking oil tanks that rest on the aquifer – leaking since at least 1982 according to Navy report.

Volume 1 is located at this link , it includes maps of the sites. Volume 1 maps are below:

DTIC ADA119026: A-E Services to Perform a Cathodic Protection Survey of the Bulk Fuel Terminals at N.S.C. Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Volume II. This documents each leak and its position in the pipeline that also includes the water pipeline and the tanks of oil that are on top of the aquifer.

The Navy is also censoring all mention of the crisis as Dec 7th comes along the 80th Anniversary of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor but what are the survivors going to drink as the tap water is now toxic. The NAVY screwed up, again and instead of addressing the leaking oil tanks and pipeline they let it fester and now 1/8 of Honolulu’s water supply is contaminated with oil. The Navy is distributing bottled water and it couldn’t have come at a worse time for their PR and the people are appalled at the results.



Nuclear Reactors in Space and the California Nuclear Disaster of 1959

Santa Susana Nuclear Disaster America’s China Syndrome, nuclear cloud spread over Simi and San Fernando Valleys

With the recent press about placing a nuclear reactor on the moon, the environmentalists are reacting to this as if it was a new thing. Neil Armstrong armed a nuclear reactor on the Moon during the Apollo 11 landing which is still in operation on the moon. It is used as a measuring device to measure the distance from the earth to the moon and thus help in navigating in space.

Boeing and Atomics International developed the SNAP reactors at Santa Susana which is in the hills just south of Simi Valley. One of the reactors melted down in 1959 causing the largest and most deadly nuclear accident in US history if you don’t count the nuclear tests. Here is a documentary explaining what happened when the nuclear reactor, the salt cooled reactor melted down and exploded causing a radioactive cloud to encompass Simi Valley and across San Fernando Valley. There was no containment, no shielding.

Also they burned radioactive waste so that it would be dispersed on the wind because the red tape made it “impractical” to bury it properly in disposal sites. Note that again this smoke was deposited over Simi and San Fernando Valleys.

4 reactors blew up over the course of many years of the SNAP reactor project. The reactors were being developed for spacecraft and airplanes. The airplane engine program was halted when the military decided it was a bad idea because if a plane crashes, we would have just given the enemy a working nuclear reactor.

Reactors for Space

“NUCLEAR SPACE POWER SYSTEMS,” H. M. DIECKAMP Vice President, Engineering; ATOMICS INTERNATIONAL A Division of North American Aviation, Inc. P. 0. Box 309 Conoga Park, California ISSUED: SEPTEMBER 1967 p 223

Film: First Nuclear Reactor In Space 71502
From Internet Archive:
“Made in 1965 by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, this rare film discusses the design of SNAP-10A, an experimental nuclear reactor launched into space in 1965. The Systems Nuclear Auxiliary Power Program (SNAP) reactor was developed under the SNAPSHOT program overseen by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

SNAP-10A was launched from Vandenberg AFB by an ATLAS Agena D rocket on April 3, 1965 into a polar low Earth orbit altitude of approx. 1,300 km. Its nuclear electrical source, made up of thermoelectric elements, was intended to produce over 500 watts of electrical power for one year. After 43 days, an onboard voltage regulator within the spacecraft — unrelated to the SNAP reactor — failed, causing the reactor core to be shut down, after reaching a maximum output of 590 watts. The reactor was left in a 700-nautical-mile (1,300 km) earth orbit for an expected duration of 4,000 years. In November 1979 the vehicle began shedding, eventually losing 50 pieces of traceable debris. The reasons were unknown, but the cause could have been a collision. Although the main body remains in place, radioactive material may have been released. ”

The following is from “NUCLEAR SPACE POWER SYSTEMS,” H. M. DIECKAMP Vice President, Engineering; ATOMICS INTERNATIONAL A Division of North American Aviation, Inc. P. 0. Box 309 Conoga Park, California ISSUED: SEPTEMBER 1967

“The first nuclear power system in space was SNAP 3B, a 2.7-watt radioisotope unit fueled by Pu [Plutonium], which was launched in June 1961. The first reactor power system in space was SNAP 10A, a 500-watt unit, which was launched m April 1965. To date, five radioisotope units with power levels up to 25 watts and one 500-watt reactor unit have been used in the U. S. Space Program.” page 19

Page 378 the SNAP 3B Generator

SNAP 10A Nuclear Reactor launched in 1965

SNAP 10A Nuclear reactor was launched into Space in 1965

SNAP 27 Nuclear Reactor for NASA’s Apollo Missions

Re-entry vehicle for nuclear fuels

NASA planned on regular missions to fuel a space station where they would send nuclear fuel up to orbit and back down again. This involved creating a device that could land and safely return the fuel elements of a reactor without breaking. This led to the creation of the Space Shuttle. The question is how much nuclear materials were on the Space Shuttles that crashed to the earth and should the local populations of the crash sites be concerned?

Concept drawing for a device to return nuclear fuel back to earth safely by gliding it in just like what would eventually be the Space Shuttle.

Diagram of a Plutonium powered heat source for a capsule that returns to earth.

EAST BAY Toxic Waste Sites

Composite image of GeoTracker map showing toxic waste sites. Geotracker uses Google images. Click on the image to go to Flickr

east bay with key

Toxic Waste sites in San Francisco

I posted this 5 hour ago and then I just noticed it was gone. What the hell WordPress? We are back again.

Composite image of GeoTracker map showing toxic waste sites. Geotracker uses Google images. Click on the image to go to Flickr

san francisco

Silicon Valley Toxic Waste Sites Map

Flickr image 4.5 MB or click on image below

silicon valley dark

Silicon Valley Composite image of GeoTracker map showing toxic waste sites. Geotracker uses Google images.

Howard Center Oakland A’s stadium site was GE’s port of entry for Nuclear Reactor Fuel Rods

Nuclear Regulatory Commission has several surviving documents on General Electric moving Nuclear Reactor Fuel Rods to and from the Oakland Howard Terminal from its Vallecitos Nuclear Center near Pleasanton California where they were regularly shipping nuclear reactor fuel rods to Europe and back to be irradiated and tested. This is just one of the reports from May 18 1984:

Requests route approval per 10CFR73,for shipment of spent irradiated reactor fuel from Oakland to Pleasanton, CA.

Alameda County approves Howard Terminal as site for Oakland A’s new stadium November 7 2021 https://www.5thnews.com/2021/11/alameda-county-approves-howard-terminal_418.html
They are awaiting an Environmental Impact Statement, I wonder if they know the history of the Port of Oakland and nuclear waste?