#1 Hazardous waste disposal in the 40s
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:24 pm
Yes, we don't do it like this anymore. But hey, it was a dead lake and it was fucking cool.
[youtube][/youtube]
At my previous employer, we did exactly this kind of work and that's still how you dispose of sodium, albeit in a much more controlled fashion with much smaller quantities dropped in. I always regretted not getting in on one of those gigs, because I heard it was neat to watch the sodium chunks zipping around in the mixing pan.
We also had a couple of operators demonstrate why, when doing the same job with lithium, you don't get impatient and whack the lithium chunk with the bucket of an excavator. Nobody was hurt, but it was a pretty good fireworks show and a plume of smoke that was visible for miles around.
[youtube][/youtube]
At my previous employer, we did exactly this kind of work and that's still how you dispose of sodium, albeit in a much more controlled fashion with much smaller quantities dropped in. I always regretted not getting in on one of those gigs, because I heard it was neat to watch the sodium chunks zipping around in the mixing pan.
We also had a couple of operators demonstrate why, when doing the same job with lithium, you don't get impatient and whack the lithium chunk with the bucket of an excavator. Nobody was hurt, but it was a pretty good fireworks show and a plume of smoke that was visible for miles around.