AW: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills

[Franz Schönhofer]

Mike,

I received a message to me personally, pointing to the possibility of EXIT
signs. I responded directly and not to the list, but I may now say, that in
Austria I do not know of any EXIT signs in use, so the tritium contamination
cannot come from them. We have in Austria two facilities, which discharge
tritium - one small research reactor and one facility burning radioactive
waste. Both are very well monitored (I have been involved in it for many
years), so nobody can secretly dump waste water into any landfill. One of
them is far, far away from any nuclear installation. Use of tritium in
consumer products and in industry is practically not existent in Austria,
except previous use in watches. So I have to emphasize that this seems to be
the only pathway for landfill contamination in Austria.

Your remark on the non trivial mental health issues of somebody drinking the
landfill leachate is right on topic, but I would like to extend this issue
also to those who for instance would compare radiation issues from the
tritium concentrations with drinking water consumption.

Best regards,

Franz

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im Auftrag
von Brennan, Mike (DOH)
Gesendet: Dienstag, 17. Juli 2007 18:12
An: radsafe at radlab.nl
Betreff: RE: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills

Hi, Franz.

I have on several occasions sampled leachete from land fills, and our lab
has reported finding tritium at puzzling concentrations.  The consensus is
that the tritium comes from exit signs that were disposed of in the
landfill, and on which the tubes containing the tritium gas were broken when
the garbage was compacted.

While I don't have a solid reason, I remain dubious of this explanation.  It
doesn't "feel" right to me.  I asked the chemists about contaminates that
might give false positives some how, and was told that the lab was confident
that was not the case.  I remain very open to suggestions beyond exit signs
and watch hands, or, as one of our activist groups claims, midnight dumpings
of drums of reactor primary coolant water into the landfill.

I am, however, quite satisfied of one thing: the tritium in the leachete
does not constitute a public health risk.  Should someone be drinking enough
leachete to gain a noticeable body burden (and do it on a regular basis, as
tritium has a 12 day biological half-life, and they would need to replenish
often), they should live so long that the rad becomes a health issue.  The
chemical hazards are far greater, though my bet is that the pathogens would
get them first.  That they would drink landfill leachete in the first place
hints at some non-trivial mental health issues that I would really have
someone look into. 

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf
Of Franz Schönhofer
Sent: Sunday, July 15, 2007 12:55 PM
To: BLHamrick at aol.com; sandyfl at cox.net; radsafe at radlab.nl; powernet at hps1.org
Subject: AW: [ RadSafe ] Radiation in landfills

Barbara and RADSAFErs,

Additionally to the discussion I would like to put forward, that we have
found in Austria highly elevated tritium concentrations - more than 3000
Bq/l in the water collected routineously from the bottom of household
garbage landfillls. This water is routineously pumped to the surface and
sprayed into the landfill for evaporation. 

We attribute these concentrations - without any really conclusive link, just
speculation - to the fact, that the use of watches from a certain Swiss
brand, which used tritium for the hands. It was more or less regarded as a
fashion object, which should be changed every few months and we attributed
this elevations of Tritium in landfill water to this fact, though we have no
conclusive research concerning the discharge of tritium from these watches. 

I would appreciate very much to get into contact with somebody who has
similar experience.

Best regards,

Franz
  
Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA


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