Cvairwerks wrote:
Until all the stuff from those programs is declassified, you can't be sure that it isn't true. Boeing claims it was part of a anodizing line, but the chemicals in that process attack concrete. Besides, there is no engineering reason for an inground tank like that to have the wall thicknesses that the photos show, unless it was a containment tank for some kind of alpha/beta/gamma emmitter. Also, if it were a process tank like they claim, why would you design a set of steps into the wall? That would be a major design and fabrication expense. Besides, most process tanks would use retractable ladders for access, so as to eliminate the problems that stairs would cause. I don't necessarily buy into a conspiracy on this, but the photos and the testing do raise some questions about it's original purpose. It will be interesting to see what the raw data and test results end up revealing in a couple of weeks.
Well, all I can say is that I have been in those buildings and seen those very tanks in use. Tanks like that are normally lined with plastic. Being in Long BEACH, and the fact that much of southern California has loose sandy soil, the thickness would not surprise me at all. What makes you think those are steps? A tank that size needs circulation pumps and filtering that don't encroach on the open tank space.
They are also sampling the soil after the soil has undergone reclamation, so the soil they are testing may not have even come from that area of the facility. They still have a mountain of soil there that is about 50 feet high and the size of a football field.
If there is something to hide I would think that they are smart enough to remove the tank foundation before they knocked the building down.
There are many reasons to find depleted uranium around the area. Not only does it occur naturally, but control surfaces for commercial airliners used depleted uranium for years (and may still) as balance weights. No doubt this material was machined on occasion at the Douglas Long Beach plant. Don't forget that this plant was in continuous use as an aircraft factory for nearly 60 years.
It seems as though many people seldom look for the simplest solution and instead look for government coverups, conspiracy theories, etc.
BTW, Rocketdyne (now part of Boeing) did have an active reactor in the Santa Susana mountains near Los Angeles that expelled a large cloud of radioactive iodine (3rd largest in history I read) on one occasion in the early 1950s and another smaller cloud in the early 1960s until the reactor was shut down.
If it was a TRIGA reactor as claimed, the water itself is dense enough to contain the radiation and thick concrete would be of no more value than it would in an anodizing tank.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIGAQuote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pool-type_reactorThe water acts as neutron moderator, cooling agent and radiation shield. The layer of water directly above the reactor core shields the radiation so completely that operators may work above the reactor safely.
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Rocketdyne is a part of Pratt & Whitney.
