Three paint buckets full of uranium were sitting in the Grand Canyon’s museum collection building, exposing tourists for nearly two decades to radiation, according to USA Today on Monday.

Even though the five-gallon containers were removed from the site last June, this is the first time that park workers or the public have been warned of the possible exposure to radiation.

The park’s safety, health and wellness manager Elston Stephenson sent an email Feb. 4 to all Park Service employees about the alleged cover-up.

“If you were in the Museum Collections Building (2C) between the year 2000 and June 18, 2018, you were ‘exposed’ to uranium by OSHA’s definition,” Stephenson wrote.

Stephenson said that he repeatedly told Park executives to warn the public and workers, but was always shut down.

“Respectfully, it was not only immoral not to let Our People know,” he wrote in another email. “But I could not longer risk my (health and safety) certification by letting this go any longer.”

Within the building, the buckets were set near a taxidermy exhibit where tours frequently stopped to talk for 30 minutes or more. Stephenson claims that close exposure could have exposed adults 400 times over the health limit and children 4,000 times over.

“Of particular concern are 1000s of children attending ‘shows’ in very close proximity to the uranium,” he said.

The buckets were originally discovered in March 2018 by the teenage son of a park employee with a Geiger counter, a device used for detecting radiation. However, the buckets were simply moved somewhere else in the building until Stephenson managed to get technicians to dump the buckets out in June.

Emily Davis, a public affairs specialist at the Grand Canyon, confirmed that the Park Service is launching an investigation with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In a recent check of the building that stored the radiation, Davis found no danger.

“There is no current risk to the park employees or public. The building is open … The information I have is that the rocks were removed, and there’s no danger,” said Davis.

Davis did not address Stephenson’s claims of people being exposed to unhealthy levels of radiation and the Park Service’s alleged cover up of the situation.

“We do take our public and employee safety and allegations seriously,” Davis said.

https://dailycaller.com/2019/0...n-radiation-decades/

quote:

However, the buckets were simply moved somewhere else in the building until Stephenson managed to get technicians to dump the buckets out in June.

I’m curious as to where the buckets were “dumped out”. Knowing the agency like I do, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn they were simply dumped out behind the building. The NPS mostly cares about its employees safety when they get caught doing something unsafe.

Finally we have a legitimate reason to demolish all the tourist facilities and fill in the Big Hole in the Ground. With the radiation levels so high, no housing developments can be built, either.

There is uranium all over that part of the country. That's where they mine it from.

I'm curious what OSHA considers "the health limit". My guess is it's equivalent to a chest XRay.

The only upside to this is that if visiting tourists returned some day to hike and got lost, the glow at night would make them easier to find.

I doubt if anyone would have been near it long enough other than the people that work there every day..

Hmmm, well, that may explain why my penis has grown entirely too large since I first visited the park in 2009...

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Hmmm, well, that may explain why my penis has grown entirely too large since I first visited the park in 2009...

I imagine that 90° bend to the left "down there" you mentioned elsewhere has severely diminished your enthusiasm over the other radiation induced changes / abnormalities / mutations you seem to brag about here.

quote:

why my penis has grown entirely too large

...ever hear of the condition dermatologists call "Pickers Nodule"?

How many tourists thought, "Hey, free rocks, lemme grab some and display them in my living room". Lots, I bet, including the one in Balzé Halzé's bathroom.

There is a bit more to the story.
The report indicated 800 mR/hr" on contact with the ore.
"13.9 mR/hr" where the buckets were stored.
Just 5 feet from the buckets, there was a zero reading.
“The NRC says average radiation exposure in the United States from natural sources is 300 millirems per year at sea level, or 400 at high altitude.”

So if you sat on the bucket of rocks for a half hour your butt cheeks would get the yearly dosage that someone living in Colorado would get in a year from natural background radiation.

Also note that the “Paint buckets” were actually labeled as radioactive.

Grand Canyon tourists exposed for years to radiation in museum building, safety manager says

“Stephenson said technicians concealed the radiation readings from him and dumped the ore into Orphan Mine, an old uranium dig that is considered a potential Superfund site below the Rim, about two miles from Grand Canyon Village.”

“Stephenson said he drove to Phoenix in November and filed a report with OSHA, which sent inspectors to the museum building in yellow protective suits.”

“Stephenson said they detected a low-level site within the building and traced it to the three buckets, which Park Service technicians had inexplicably returned to the building after dumping their contents.

"You could hear their meters going off," Stephenson said.”

“As complaints escalated, Stephenson was fired. He turned to the Office of Special Counsel, a federal agency that protects whistleblowers, and his termination was stayed. It is unclear how that case was resolved, but within months, Stephenson had a new job with the National Park Service.

Stephenson said the uranium exposure saga developed while he was pursuing a racial-discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity office. Stephenson is African-American.”

“Stephenson eventually obtained a report submitted by the Park Service's regional safety manager, confirming the area was "positive for radioactivity above background" and showing high levels near the taxidermy area.

The report indicated radiation levels at "13.9 mR/hr" where the buckets were stored, and "800 mR/hr" on contact with the ore. Just 5 feet from the buckets, there was a zero reading. The abbreviation, "mR" typically stands for milliroentgen, a measurement roughly equivalent to a millirem, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The NRC says average radiation exposure in the United States from natural sources is 300 millirems per year at sea level, or 400 at high altitude.

The commission lists a maximum safe dosage for the public, beyond natural radiation, is no more than 2 millirems per hour, or 100 per year.”

quote:

Stephenson said they detected a low-level site within the building and traced it to the three buckets, which Park Service technicians had inexplicably returned to the building after dumping their contents.

Rocket Surgeons! Top men there.
Surprised they didn't use the buckets to store ice cream in 'cuz recycling shit is good.

The north side of the Grand Canyon, especially the region to the west of Kanab Canyon, is very rich in uranium, where it was mined for many years. The watershed coming out of Kanab canyon dumps into the Colorado, and flows through that area. Much of the region is quite rich in uranium.

The areas north of the the canyon were downwind of the nuclear tests in Nevada, and have a much higher incidence of cancer; in fact, throughout much of southern Utah. It's not related to the Uranium, or that link hasn't been made, but one of the main mining companies was headquartered in Fredonia, AZ, on the UT/AZ border.It's still there.

They dumped the buckets of uranium ore into The Orphan Mine.

Radiation levels are elevated throughout the compound and in a visitor-use area to the west, with combined beta and gamma sometimes exceeding 3.0 mR/hour.

A bit off topic, but if you want a bit of radiation for your very own Wal-Mart has a good source of it.
Coleman Mantles

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Hmmm, well, that may explain why my penis has grown entirely too large since I first visited the park in 2009...

Did you seek medical help after four hours of tumescence?

quote:

the buckets were set near a taxidermy exhibit where tours frequently stopped to talk for 30 minutes or more. Stephenson claims that close exposure could have exposed adults 400 times over the health limit and children 4,000 times over.

OH The Humanity !!!!
I don't see the MSM crying for the employee's that repeatedly led the tours there... 5 days a week,/8hrs. day/all year.

quote:

Originally posted by kimber1911:
There is a bit more to the story.
The report indicated 800 mR/hr" on contact with the ore.
"13.9 mR/hr" where the buckets were stored.
Just 5 feet from the buckets, there was a zero reading.

The sudden dissipation of the radiation seems rather strange. The buckets - unless made of lead, would offer little moderation or shielding value. Explanations anyone?

Radiation isn't all the same. Some types can't penetrate a piece of paper...

Alpha wouldn't make it through the bucket. Beta would drop off quickly - even with just air as a "shield." Gamma would keep going and going.

Uranium is mostly alpha rays and is an internal problem (hurts you if swallowed). Some low-level gamma.

quote:

A bit off topic, but if you want a bit of radiation for your very own Wal-Mart has a good source of it.
Coleman Mantles

Not any more. The current mantles aren't radioactive. I have a friend in the "radiation business" who saw I had some older mantles in my camping gear, and asked to trade them for some new ones to demonstrate radioactivity. No go, neither the 1980 era or current mantles were active.

Oh, damn!

Time to panic!

As I understand it, that "radiation" is from uranium ore, not processed stuff. As noted, that stuff is common all over that area.

Anyone else remember those "glow in the dark" watch dials several years ago? Yes, they were radioactive.