If you would like see an example on how to best exploit nuclear fear for
your own political benefit, read the following. For those who haven't
followed the story regarding Brookhaven National Lab's High Flux Beam
Reactor (HFBR), it's been closed since January following the discovery of a
leakage in the fuel storage pool. Though in stand-by, the reactor itself is
in full, working order and is not implicated in the release. Bear in mind
also that the total amount of tritium lost to groundwater is estimated at
about 6 (six) Ci.
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Following is the text of the press release that Senator D'Amato and
Congressman Forbes issued jointly today in advance of their news
conference:
D'AMATO, FORBES: BROOKHAVEN LAB'S DAMAGED NUCLEAR REACTOR MUST BE
PERMANENTLY SHUT DOWN.
Disclosures of accidents and environmental contamination convince Senator
and Long Island Congressman to oppose restarting reactor at Department of
Energy lab
Shirley, Long Island -- U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) and Congressman
Michael P. Forbes (R,C,I- Suffolk County) today became the first officials
to publicly call for the permanent closure of the aging and damaged nuclear
reactor at Brookhaven National Lab.
"After a long and thoughtful review of the environmental, health and safety
problems at Brookhaven National Lab, I have come to the inescapable
conclusion that the High Flux Beam (HFBR) nuclear reactor must be
permanently shutdown," said Forbes. "All of the Lab's resources and
energies must be directed toward cleaning up the many sources of
radioactive and chemical contamination on-site, and not toward restarting
the larger of the two nuclear reactors at the facility."
"Given the sorry history of this nuclear reactor, the best solution is to
shut it down, and see to it that it does not restart. It must be
decommissioned and we must end any threat it poses to the health of Suffolk
County residents," D'Amato said. "There is no doubt that the operation of
this facility has caused a very real threat to the groundwater in Suffolk
County. People have to be assured that the reactor will not pose a threat
in the future."
The HFBR nuclear reactor has been taken off-line temporarily since last
December, when high levels of tritium were found leaking into the soil and
groundwater at the lab, possibly for as long as 15 years.
Referring to the lengthy history of accidents and contaminations at BNL, a
National Superfund cleanup site, Forbes was joined by Senator Alfonse
D'Amato in asking Energy Secretary Federico Pena to block any and all
efforts to restart the nuclear reactor. "While we trust that Secretary Pena
will act to protect the environmental health and safety of the Long Island
community, Senator D'Amato and I will also take action legislatively, to
see that the disabled and aging reactor is permanently shutdown," Forbes
said.
There have been no fewer than seven plumes detected in the soil and
groundwater at Brookhaven Lab, including two containing radiological
contamination from tritium and strontium-90. The other five plumes have
assorted chemical contaminants, including a 25,000 gallon oil spill that
dates back to 1977. In late July, after a delay in advising the public, lab
officials also admitted to a tritium discovery near the other small nuclear
reactor used for medical research. They also then revealed that tritium
contamination at more than three times the safe drinking water standard had
leaked from the Lab's sewage treatment plant into a dry river bed that is
connected to the Peconic River.
"The people living in communities near Brookhaven Lab have a right to know
that their drinking water is safe. It is imperative that we ensure the
people of Long Island that there will be no further threats to their health
or the safety of their drinking water." D'Amato said.
"As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I continue my efforts
and compliment those of Senator D'Amato, to identify
environmentally-sensitive activities that will broaden the mission and
complement the research projects where Brookhaven Lab excels, including the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, Lyme Disease and Brown Tide research,"
Forbes said.
"BNL's history of ignoring its responsibilities and the almost weekly
revelations of accidents and contamination, leads me to conclude that there
is no adequate assurance that the High Flux Beam Reactor could operate
without further jeopardizing the health and safety of Long Islanders,"
Forbes said.
=======================
Gary L. Schroeder
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Environmental Protection Office
gs1@bnl.gov