Radioactive rabbit trapped at Hanford Nuclear Reservation

[Ian David]

Radioactive rabbit trapped at Hanford

TRI-CITIES, Wash. —

A radioactive rabbit was trapped on the Hanford nuclear reservation, but there is no sign any people were exposed to the animal.

Washington state Health Department workers with the Office of Radiation Protection have been searching for contaminated rabbit droppings. None have been found in areas accessible to the public, regional director Earl Fordham said Thursday.

Officials suspect the rabbit sipped some water left from the recent demolition of a Cold War-era building used in the production of nuclear weapons, the Tri-City Herald reported Friday.

Contaminated animals occasionally are found at the nuclear reservation, but more often they are in the center of Hanford, far from town.

<snip>

The rabbit trapped at the 300 Area caught the Health Department's attention because it was close enough to the site's boundaries to potentially come in contact with people - if it had been caught by a dog or if its droppings were deposited in an area open to the public.

More:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2013354107_apwaradioactiverabbit1stldwritethru.html

[madmax]

1. I say turn him loose in the House! Let's see if

the old foxes can hunt him down :rofl:

[virgogal]

2. How comforting this all must be for the people of the Hanford area.

[Generic Other]

4. They are so into denial...they would put dibs in on the rabbit meat for Sunday dinner

A teacher I know showed the film "Atomic Cafe" at the local high school a few years ago. No one in the town had ever seen it. The teacher was attacked by the locals for criticizing the nuke industry. The school's mascot was a mushroom cloud. We got to go on a tour of the facility. Scariest trip I ever took! Within 5 miles of the towers they had a housing development. All the homes had alarms in their basements to alert them if they needed to evac. Those people are walking ghosts there--dumb ones at that. Women of childbearing age aren't even allowed to work at the place. The men are all bald with keloids. Time to buy a clue folks!!!

here's a poem I wrote about my visit:


Company Town

Along this stretch of river,
silence never lifts.
Boarded up houses with “for sale” signs
line the edge of town,
out past the Atomic Autowrecker’s
tangle of rusted chrome, windshields,
and blackberry vines.

Downwind, nothing moves.
Not many secrets remain buried either;
the rotten past bubbles up
through floorboards,
sloughs off walls,
grimly oozes into the river.

Where scientists once spun starglass,
nothing left now but ticking death
the rattle of geiger counters and security badges.

Seems everyone in town knows
someone who worked at the plant forty
years, never had an accident,
smoked five packs of marlboros
every day, ate lard on toast, pissed
out gutloads of beer,
drove ten miles in his pickup to the plant
along this road every damned day,
window rolled down, dust blowing
in off the arid reach.
He was the oldest man in town
when he died. Outlived a whole lot of people.

Even outlived his kid. Some problem with the
thyroid. No one knew what.
A long time ago before they had names
for that kind of stuff. Could
have been Strontium 90 in the milk, they said.

His wife got tired easy,
worn out long before, no doubt;
she caught a bus heading west. Never came back.
His neighbor left too.

That’s when the first ones on the fuel reactor crew
went on medical disability. One of the plant managers
blamed carelessness. Company doctor wouldn’t
say, but everyone else knew it was cancer.
They died in pieces, one inch at a time, in those days.

No one dares keep score in a company town
where the high school jocks wear
atomic mushroom clouds emblazoned on
their letterman’s jackets, and everyone
knows someone they like who works over there.

the women work elsewhere if they are
still young enough to want more babies.

In a place like this, everyone
is strictly non-essential personnel,
sniffed and x-rayed everyday before
they get off work. With blank expressions,
all carry the weight of spent fuel rods
like enormous suppositories. Their footsteps
echo as they pass through scanners and,
machine gun stiff security, with shoes that click
against cement as they punch a timeclock
ticking to meltdown.

[onethatcares]

9. I read it and I like it.

keep on writing.

Peace

[DeSwiss]

3. K&R!

Cuddly, aint' he? ;)

[Warren DeMontague]

5. He really, really, really, really should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque. nt

[hootinholler]

6. Bring out thine Holy Hand Grenade

Three is the number thou shalt count to...

-Hoot

[pinboy3niner]

7. Love the graphic. A Wascally Wadioactive Wabbit, LOL!

Wecommended!

[NightWatcher]

8. But but but nuclear power is sooooo clean...... until the radioactive bunnies attack.

Did you hear what happened to the bunnies at the solar power plant or the wind farms?
Not a damned thing.

[rug]

10. Silly rabbit. Clicks are for kids.

[blindpig]

11. Uh oh.......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year_of_the_Angry_Rabbit

[LiberalEsto]

12. They failed to mention the rabbit is 35 feet tall

and that there are HUNDREDS of them, all glowing in the dark.

:evilgrin:

[Catshrink]

13. I saw that movie...

Night of the Lepus

DeForest Kelly (Bones from Star Trek) is in it - with a 'stache

[Ian David]

14. Damn it, Jim! I'm a doctor, not a Lagomorphologist! n/t