[ RadSafe ] Is there an answer to the query on damage to tissue due to tritium decay?

[parthasarathy k s]

Dear Dr Muckerheide,
 
The health impact of the decay of C-14 atoms and Tritium atoms incorporated in to tissue (impact due to the absorption of beta particle energy and effect, if any, due to the tarnsmutation of one element into another.) has not been (as far I know) a subject of study.I do not think that we have to lose sleep on the effects. But at the same time, we need scientific answers to them.
 
In an interview, I had with Dr Jack Valentin, Scientific Secretary, ICRP  I asked this question. Let me reproduce the text of that part of the interview:
 


KSP: DNA molecule may have some molecules of radioactive carbon or H3 associated with it. What will be the impact of radioactive decay and transmutation of the element to another element? ICRP is ignoring such events. 

Dr.Valentin: I would not say that we are ignoring such events. As a matter of fact, we do not know what the effects are. There has been, similarly, the effects of Auger electrons. For want of adequate information, we are unable to comment on them.

[Full text of the interview was published in AERB Newsletter Vol 13 no1, 2000. It is available at AERB home page www.aerb.gov.in under the caption Newsletters]

Can Any one can provide more information on related research.

Regards


K.S.Parthasarathy Ph.D

Raja Ramanna Fellow

Department of Atomic Energy 

GN 18,

Vikram sarabhai Bhavan

Mumbai 400 094,India

 

"Muckerheide, James" <jimm at WPI.EDU> wrote:

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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