Reactor Cores - Steam Blast

On the 18th July 2007, an underground blast blew a 7m wide crater in the middle of
Lexington Avenue, near Grand Central Station. The blast was said to be caused by the
rupture of an underground steam pipe, installed in 1924. This report in the Daily Mail said
that an initial burst of steam rose higher than the nearby 77 storey Chrysler Building. It
goes on to say:

"There were also concerns about what was spewed into the air. Some of the pipes carrying
steam through the city are wrapped in asbestos. "The big fear that we have is there may or
may not have been asbestos release," Bloomberg said."

The Daily Mail article then included this very interesting photograph, of workers
supposedly "protected against asbestos" examining the crater.

The men are wearing full Nuclear Biological Chemical (NBC) protection suits. Is this
required to deal with asbestos? From at most 30-40 feet of 2 foot diameter pipe? Hardly a
vast environmental hazard.

It could be argued that the explosion was treated as suspicious as a matter of routine - are
all such events now considered to be possible NBC attacks? The report went on to say:

Officials won't know the test results until later, the mayor said, but if there was a release it
may have washed away with the water that came with the steam.

This is not credible. The asbestos thermal insulation would have been dispersed into the air
and all over the street with the 77 storey high steam blast. And of course they have instant
test kits - in the case of an NBC attack, it would not be much use having to wait hours to
know or not.

The incandescent reactor cores buried beneath Manhattan will remain "hot" for centuries,
continuing to emit radioactive gases and heat. This heat and buildup of gas pressure has
nowhere to go but permeate through the underground facility that was under Manhattan
and then - up.

Did anyone manage to get a Geiger Counter or a Gas Sampler anywhere near this crater?