[ RadSafe ] "urgent revision" suggested by junk science

[Miller, Mark L]

>From Water Technology OnLine    Environment - 8/4/2005

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Report: EPA should revise drinking water radioactivity rule

 

LAS VEGAS - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should revise its
standard for radioactive materials in drinking water since those
materials could endanger water sources near former government nuclear
weapons facilities, an Associated Press article in the Las Vegas Sun
<http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2005/aug/03/080310871.
html>  reported on Aug. 3.

According to the report's author, Arjun Makhijani, president of the
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Takoma Park, MD, the
nation's drinking water is generally safe from radioactive
contamination, the article said.

However, water sources at risk, according to the AP's article and the
report, include groundwater near the Nevada Test Site, the Savannah
River between South Carolina and Georgia, the Snake River plain aquifer
in southern Idaho and the Columbia River in Washington State.

Makhijani's report suggests an "an urgent revision" of maximum
contaminant levels for alpha-emitting, long-lived transuranic
radionuclides, the AP reported.

The EPA reviews its standard every six years and, "unless someone has
significant information not previously available, there is not a
compelling case to change the rule," EPA spokesman Dale Kemery said in
the article. 

 

 

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Following is the referenced Associated Press from the Las Vegas Sun
Paper.

 

August 03, 2005 


Report says EPA should update drinking water radioactivity rule 



ASSOCIATED PRESS 

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Environmental Protection Agency should revise its
standard for radioactive materials in drinking water, according to a
report released Wednesday that raises concerns about contamination near
the Nevada Test Site. 

In general, the nation's drinking water is safe from radioactive
contamination, said the report's author, Arjun Makhijani, president of
the Takoma Park, Md.-based Institute for Energy and Environmental
Research. 

But radioactive materials could endanger water sources near former
government nuclear weapons facilities, including groundwater near the
Nevada Test Site, Makhijani said. 

An EPA spokesman said the agency reviews its standard every six years. 

"Unless someone has significant information not previously available,
there is not a compelling case to change the rule," EPA spokesman Dale
Kemery said in Washington, D.C. 

Other water sources at risk, according to the report, include the
Savannah River between South Carolina and Georgia, the Snake River plain
aquifer in southern Idaho and the Columbia River in Washington state. 

The report calls for "an urgent revision" of maximum contaminant levels
for alpha-emitting, long-lived transuranic radionuclides. 

Makhijani told the Las Vegas Sun he was concerned about plutonium
dispersed during above- and below-ground nuclear weapons testing,
especially in the 1950s and 1960s, at the Nevada Test Site. Testing
ended in 1992. 

The 29-year-old federal drinking water standard for allowable levels of
materials like plutonium-239, an atomic bomb ingredient, is too lax,
Makhijani said. The report recommends the EPA set a standard that is 100
times more strict as the government continues clean-up at former nuclear
weapon sites. 

Clean-up efforts include enclosing radioactive waste, including
plutonium, in tanks, but the waste is still left near vital water
sources, Makhijani said. 

Makhijani also is a critic of a federal plan to build an underground
nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. He recommended a
stricter standard be applied to that project, where the government plans
to entomb 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive commercial,
military and industrial waste for tens of thousands of years. 

Nevada officials argue the site cannot meet current EPA standards
limiting the release of radiation into the environment. 

Waste that would be permanently stored in casks in the repository
tunnels would contain long-lived radionuclides like plutonium and
neptunium that could ultimately seep into groundwater if the repository
fails in the future, said Joe Egan, a Vienna, Va.-based lawyer for the
state.