Do Sattelites Pickup Nuclear Waste?

[Saggy]

So, I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge about whether satellite imagery can actually pick up nuclear waste.

 

 

 

The Hanford Site is a facility of the government of the United States established to provide plutonium necessary for the development of nuclear weapons. It was established in 1943 as the Hanford Engineer Works, part of the Manhattan Project, and codenamed "Site W." No longer used to produce plutonium, it is currently the United States' most contaminated nuclear site.[1]

 

The site occupies 586 square miles (1,517 km²) in Benton County, south-central Washington, and is approximately equivalent to half the total area of the state of Rhode Island (centered on [show location on an interactive map] 46°30′00″N, 119°30′00″W.) The Federal government bought the towns of White Bluffs and Hanford and all of the surrounding farmland and orchards, and evacuated the residents to make room for the site.

 

Plutonium manufactured at the Hanford site was used to build the first nuclear bomb, which was tested at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico, and used to build Fat Man, the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.

 

Currently, the Hanford Site is engaged in the world's largest environmental cleanup, with many challenges to be resolved in the face of overlapping technical, political, regulatory, and cultural interests. The cleanup effort is focused on three outcomes: restoring the Columbia River corridor for other uses, converting the central plateau to long-term waste treatment and storage, and preparing for the future.

 

Although most of the original Hanford Site is in Benton County, approximately twenty percent was once across the Columbia River in Grant and Franklin counties. This land has since been returned to private use and is now covered with orchards and irrigated fields. In 2000, large portions of Hanford were turned over to the Hanford Reach National Monument.

 

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

 

 

Just as a little history behind the Hanford site. What I'm really curious, is this just coincidence, or is this satellite image actually showing radioactivity? I was always under the impression that satellites could not do that.

 

I mean, is it just me, or does the discoloration seem to go along the edge of the reservation?

[TFatseas]

Could you be more specific on what you think the radiation looks like?

 

All I see is a bunch of farms to the NW of that picture.

 

I'm quite sure a sat can't pick up radioactivity. I may be wrong though.

Edited December 24, 2007 by TFatseas

[Saggy]

Could you be more specific on what you think the radiation looks like?

 

All I see is a bunch of farms to the NW of that picture.

 

I'm quite sure a sat can't pick up radioactivity. I may be wrong though.

Did you actually view the full sized picture or just the small one?

 

The land surrounding the reservation seems to be a ligther beige, with the land inside being an almost rust looking orange, with several spots that have a blue/green look.

 

 

Here's a link to the actual map so you can zoom in

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geoc...5&t=h&z=11&om=1

[jimmy.]

It looks pretty normal to me. I have no idea what radioactive material looks like or would look like from space, if it would look like anything. But I don't think that the discolored waste would actually be kept within an area exactly conforming to the borders of the site, since I figure wind would probably disperse contaminated materials beyond that to a good degree. I think it just looks that way coincidentally because of the farms and the mountain range running along the SW border. I'd guess the orange is just probably a different soil or rock than the brown kind.

 

The most contaminated nuclear site houses orchards and farms on 1/5 of it's land? I don't get it.

Edited December 24, 2007 by jimmy.

[Saget]

The land is ok, it just doesn't have any trees so all you see is a big patch of dirt. If there was nuclear waste contamination, I don't think it would be out in the open, right

The fact that it is just beside a river also bothers me...

[derty]

Yes, you are pretty much looking at nuclear wastelands.

 

Basically, from that distance, all the death is very visible.

[Saggy]

I know that open-pit waste lands can be clearly seen from a sattelite, such as this huge one in Butte, Montana.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geoc...4&t=h&z=14&om=1

 

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

 

The Wiki says that all of the pits at Hanford are buried though, so if this was somehow an effect of the nuclear waste, wouldn't it have to be an effect from the radiation? I just thought things like that didn't effect satellites.

 

 

Also, I found it kind of strange that they had a river and orchards right on the land too.

[Saget]

Also, I found it kind of strange that they had a river and orchards right on the land too.

And they say OUR tap water is suspicious

[TheRoper]

Our county dump is surrounded by strawberry fields.

 

 

 

@topic: I think it's just different soil/dirt but who knows?

[DemonKing]

im pretty sure a satelite would be able to pick up thermal nuclear activities. with the right filters of course, and if were talking about the government satelite that would be definetly installed upon it.