[ RadSafe ] We can't bury a few tritium atoms incorporatedinfoundation materials!?

Fri Aug 19 15:51:57 CDT 2005

Can anyone give a plausible scenario whereby a credible tritium release to
the environment could result in  significant health effects??

----- Original Message -----
From: "John R Johnson" <idias at interchange.ubc.ca>
To: "Muckerheide, James" <jimm at WPI.EDU>; <radsafe at radlab.nl>;
<rad-sci-l at WPI.EDU>
Cc: <cdn-nucl-l at mailman1.cis.mcmaster.ca>; <mbrexchange at list.ans.org>
Sent: Friday, August 19, 2005 11:57 AM
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] We can't bury a few tritium atoms
incorporatedinfoundation materials!?

> James and other radsafers
>
> FYI, there is a special issue of HPJ on tritium. Our paper in it is
>
> METABOLISM AND DOSIMETRY OF TRITIUM, R. L. Hill and John R. Johnson,
Health
> Physics, Vol. 65/6 (1993)  628-647.
>
> John
>  _________________
> John R Johnson, Ph.D.
> *****
> President, IDIAS, Inc
> 4535 West 9-Th Ave
> Vancouver B. C.
> V6R 2E2
> (604) 222-9840
> idias at interchange.ubc.ca
> *****
> or most mornings
> Consultant in Radiation Protection
> TRIUMF
> 4004 Wesbrook Mall
> Vancouver B. C.
> V6R 2E2
> (604) 222-1047 Ext. 6610
> Fax: (604) 222-7309
> johnsjr at triumf.ca
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl]On
> Behalf Of Muckerheide, James
> Sent: August 19, 2005 10:30 AM
> To: radsafe at radlab.nl; rad-sci-l at WPI.EDU
> Cc: cdn-nucl-l at mailman1.cis.mcmaster.ca; mbrexchange at list.ans.org
> Subject: [ RadSafe ] We can't bury a few tritium atoms incorporated
> infoundation materials!?
>
>
> Friends,
>
> Note the following intended use of the explicitly fraudulent BEIR VII
> report:
>
>
> But Diane D'Arrigo, a low-level radiation specialist with the Nuclear
> Information and Referral Service in Washington, said that when tritium
> enters
> the human body, "if it were to displace a hydrogen atom in our DNA we
would
> have potential genetic damage."
>
> Because tritium is almost always found as a water contaminant, it goes
> directly into soft tissues and organs, according to the EPA.
>
> Tritium "is very much something that can be taken up by the body,"
D'Arrigo
> said. "It gives off beta emissions, so wherever it lodges it will give off
> radioactivity in that region."
>
> A National Academy of Sciences panel in June said that even very low doses
> of
> radiation pose a cancer risk over a person's lifetime. "It is unlikely
that
> there is a threshold [of radiation exposure] below which cancers are not
> induced," the scientists stated.
>
> Of course, the electric ratepayers are stuck with the $ millions for such
> ludicrous "decisions," continuing to profit the "rad protectionists" while
> continuing to destroy the economics of all things nuclear.
>
> Now, maybe we can get $ billions to prevent cosmic radiation from
constantly
> manufacturing tritium in the atmosphere?  Can we sequester tritium to
reduce
> the world equilibrium tritium inventory of 50 million curies?  (How about
> reducing the legacy of the 2,000 million curies in the early '60s from
> above-ground weapons tests - now about 700 million curies? :-)
>
> But we explicitly suppress the data that shows that biology ceases to
> function without radiation (including biology studies from removing K-40
> from
> natural potassium in the Oak Ridge calutrons).
>
> All relevant data is discarded by the BEIR VII Committee.
>
> (Note also that these foundations are above a "tritium plume" in ground
> water
> from 1960's leakage from the below-ground spent fuel pool.)
>
> Regards, Jim Muckerheide
>
> ===================
>
>
>
>
> More radioactive Yankee Rowe waste to pass through Vermont
>
>
> By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian
>
> posted August 19, 2005
>
> BRATTLEBORO - As much as 23 million pounds of tritium-laced construction
> waste could be trucked through southern Vermont within a stone's throw of
> two
> elementary schools after Massachusetts regulators turned thumbs down on a
> request to leave the low-level radioactive material on site.
>
> Officials of the shuttered Yankee Rowe nuclear power plant near Rowe, MA,
> had
> asked the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP)
for
> a "beneficial use determination" (BUD) permit, which proposed leaving in
> place building foundations and other underground structures of the reactor
> containment building, one of the few structures left standing at the site.
>
> They also asked for permission to fill holes left by demolished
foundations
> and other excavations with about 20 tons of concrete rubble from
demolition
> of other structures at the site.
>
> Yankee Rowe, the nation's third-oldest nuclear power plant, began
> decommissioning in 1993. Late last year, officials there estimated there
> were
> about 1,000 shipments left before decommissioning was complete.
>
> But in a July 29 decision, MassDEP said the proposal could complicate
> cleanup
> of soil and groundwater contamination. "MassDEP has concluded that the BUD
> approval to abandon-in-place subsurface structures and reuse concrete
rubble
> as fill shall be limited to only those materials with no distinguishable
> plant-related radioactivity above background level," said MassDEP
> Commissioner Robert W. Golledge, Jr.
>
> "While the risk posed to the public by Yankee's proposal may be low,
> tritium-contaminated rubble is low-level radioactive waste which cannot be
> left on site. Further interring the material on site may exacerbate or
> complicate the clean up of existing soil and groundwater contamination at
> the
> site," he determined.
>
> Tritium, a known carcinogen, is released in steam from commercial nuclear
> reactors and may leak into the underlying soil and ground water, according
> to
> the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It has a half-life of about 12
> years.
>
> The EPA considers tritium one of the least dangerous radionuclides because
> it
> emits very weak radiation as it decays, and leaves the body relatively
> quickly.
>
> But Diane D'Arrigo, a low-level radiation specialist with the Nuclear
> Information and Referral Service in Washington, said that when tritium
> enters
> the human body, "if it were to displace a hydrogen atom in our DNA we
would
> have potential genetic damage."
>
> Because tritium is almost always found as a water contaminant, it goes
> directly into soft tissues and organs, according to the EPA.
>
> Tritium "is very much something that can be taken up by the body,"
D'Arrigo
> said. "It gives off beta emissions, so wherever it lodges it will give off
> radioactivity in that region."
>
> A National Academy of Sciences panel in June said that even very low doses
> of
> radiation pose a cancer risk over a person's lifetime. "It is unlikely
that
> there is a threshold [of radiation exposure] below which cancers are not
> induced," the scientists stated.
>
> Yankee Rowe spokeswoman Kelley Smith said that plant officials and
> Massachusetts state officials are in negotiations about how much of the
23.7
> million pounds of concrete in the reactor support structure will have to
be
> shipped out. That determination will be made after officials measure
tritium
> background levels, she said.
>
> MassDEP spokeswoman Elizabeth Stinehart said the process used to determine
> background levels is "still under development."
>
> Kelley said that if left in place, the tritium would result in exposure
> levels that exceed only those set by MassDEP, but would be within the
limits
> set by both the Massachusetts Department of Health and the Nuclear
> Regulatory
> Commission.
>
> According to NRC criteria, Kelley said, decommissioning plants must
> demonstrate that a hypothetical resident living on a reclaimed site would
> not
> be exposed to more than 25 millirems of radiation in addition to the 360
> millirems that resident would receive during the course of a normal year.
> She
> said the increased dosage must take into account all possible pathways,
> including drinking water from a well drilled on the property, or drinking
> milk from a cow raised on the land.
>
> Because Massachusetts restricts the transport of radioactive waste through
> various towns and on certain roadways, the concrete will be shipped north
on
> Route 100 through Readsboro and Whitingham, VT, then east on Route 9, a
> windy
> highway that crosses Hogback Mountain and comes within yards of Marlboro
> Elementary School and the Academy School in West Brattleboro.
>
> The trucks will connect to Interstate 91 at exit 2, where they will head
> south, eventually ending up at a rail line in Worcester, MA, where the
waste
> is loaded onto railcars and transported to a nuclear waste facility in
Utah,
> Smith said.
>
> Yankee Rowe notifies the Vermont Department of Health in advance about the
> shipments, which in turn notifies Vermont State Police headquarters in
> Waterbury. But local emergency response officials have told the Vermont
> Guardian that they are not notified of the shipments.
>
> State records showed that 250 shipments had passed through southern
Vermont
> as of November 2004, the last time the Vermont Guardian requested the
> information. Current statistics were unavailable this week because the
> Vermont Department of Health Protection was moving.
>
> Past shipments have contained low levels of the radioactive isotopes
cobalt
> 60; nichol 63; iron 55; cesium 137; cesium 134; americium 241; CM-243;
> plutonium 238, 239, 241, 245; and depleted uranium said Carla White,
> Vermont's senior radiological health specialist.
>
> During the busiest demolition periods, about one truck per week has passed
> through southern Vermont, state records showed.
>
> Marlboro School Board Chairwoman Lauren Poster said the elementary school
> has
> long been concerned with traffic on Route 9, which includes a passing lane
> in
> front of the school, where the speed limit is 50 miles per hour. She said
> traffic accidents and jack-knifed trucks are routine on the roadway during
> the winter months.
>
>
>
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