[ RadSafe ] Mangano: US Beta Levels Up 40% Since 1980

[Jim Hoerner]

[Sorry if this has already been posted to RadSafe; I get the digest. I would 
appreciate any solid debunking, which should probably be fairly easy since 
Mangano's calulator has been broken for a while. I don't have the time to do 
it myself in the near future.  Thanks.  - JH]

Article Published: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 2:15:20 AM EST

Radiation levels measured in rainwater

Editor of the Reformer:
Vermont state health official Larry Crist is quoted as saying there has been 
no increase in environmental radiation levels near the Vermont Yankee 
nuclear plant since the 1970s, when the plant opened ("Studies differ on 
radiation levels near VY," Reformer, Nov. 29).

Crist's claim contradicts what the federal Environmental Protection Agency 
has found across the nation. The EPA measures levels of beta-emitting 
radiation in rainwater each month at about 50 U.S. locations. Since the late 
1980s, average beta levels have risen about 40 percent around the nation 
(one can see reports on www.epa.gov/narel, environmental radiation data).

While no EPA monitoring stations are located in Vermont, the closest ones 
are in Concord, N.H. and Hartford Conn., 50 and 60 miles from Vermont 
Yankee. Beta levels in both locations are increasing, similar to the nation. 
The EPA finding that beta levels are rising corresponds to our research 
group's study of Strontium-90 in baby teeth, the levels of which jumped 
around the nation since the late 1980s.

Nuclear reactors in this country are aging, and being operated more of the 
time. Vermont Yankee, the 10th oldest of 103 U.S. reactors, has operated at 
95 percent of capacity in the past six years, versus only 83 percent before 
that. Meanwhile, cancer death rates in Windham County are rising even though 
they are falling elsewhere in the state.

We need to understand whether running an old reactor like Vermont Yankee 
into the ground is putting more radiation into our environment and bodies 
and making us more likely to become cancer victims. Health officials like 
Crist need to present their results publicly, to better understand these 
crucial matters.

Joseph J. Mangano,

National Coordinator
Radiation and Public Health Project
Norristown, Pa., Dec. 5


http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8855~3173752,00.html

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