disposal of sodium

The disposal of drums of sodium into Lake Lenore, an alkaline lake in the Grand Coulee area of eastern Washington State, in 1947 by the War Assets Administration. From a January 13, 1947 newsreel available at the Internet Archive.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• chemical
• disposal
• sodium
• reactive
• Hazwoper

[fireblast540]

the star wars text is reeaaally not necessary man.

[MrEpicTruth]

Only one lesson to take away from this:

News was fucking AWESOME in the 40s.

[v1los]

What a bloody waste!! You try and get hold of sodium these days. It either virtually impossible or you have to pay a fortune for it.

[healmyperfume]

@interferinginsect I play L.A. Noire,too haha. It's the best isn't it?

[basballplayer8]

@guicapone2 This is 1947.

[interferinginsect]

I just realized that the audio of this newsreel was used in LA Noire, while driving around town.

[mcavic]

It would have been more dramatic if they catapulted the barrels into the lake instead of rolling them down the hill. Just sayin.

[mcavic]

So nobody would accept the containers for shipment to a purchaser, yet they were able to transport them to the lake. Seems like they could have found a way to sell the stuff. Then again, if they hadn't figured out about packing the sodium in kerosene to keep it safe, it just would have gone into a warehouse and blown up there.

[shamanqueen13]

Dumb people. they should have gotten rid of it in an environmentally friendly manner.

[endimion17]

@Crabjesus Actually it's mostly concentrated aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide. Corrosive, but not flammable, of course.

I wouldn't like to be in that cloud's path, that's for sure. :D

I'd imagine that the surroundings were covered in baking soda deposits in the next few days. Probably a shitful of butterflies came to feast upon it. :)

[endimion17]

@guicapone2 I think it's not because it was the same man, but because they used that same style over and over again, and their recording devices were mono microphones with old technology. That would give this irritating, pompous yelling which strips the voice of its natural "color", so mostly everyone sounds the same.

[LeLutinBanni]

@Kadda67

Nothing