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Re: Fwd: Plutonium Found in Nev. Groundwater



Bob Cherry has done the RadSafe community a service in calling this to 
our
attention.  I note with some interest that the none of the persons to 
whom
the risk assessment statements are attributed is a member of the HPS or
AAHP, and hence presumably not a health physicist.  While the primary
problem is not health physics per se, the impact assessment seems to be 
in
the purview of environmental health physics.  One would have hoped that 
the
reporter would have gone or been directed to the HPS for comment in this
regard. 

Having said the above, I add that I hope to engender some positive 
rational
and gentle discussion re what role the health physicists might/should 
play
in such matters, and how we can/should be involved.  Hopefully, flaming 
will
be kept to a minimum, but just in case, I'm wearing my asbestos flame
retardant clothing (meets EPA standards!)

Ron Kathren

OK Ron - I agree that it would be nice if an HP were involved or asked 
for comment but in this instance I can easily see how it would not be 
necessary.  Bob's forwarded article mentioned that the Pu levels were 
extremely small, presumedly in the femto curie range.  It does not take 
an hp to figure out that such a low concentration does not pose a risk to 
human health.  It seems that the article stuck true to the main point of 
interest - the colloid transport of Pu.  I, for one, would like more 
information about the potential quantities that could be transported via 
such a mechanism.  Once this extrapolation were made - then I would 
expect an hp involved in assessing the impact.

In the spirit of discussion
Drew Thatcher

   At 01:26 PM 1/6/99 -0600, BobCherry@aol.com wrote:
>This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
>
>--part0_915650341_boundary
>Content-ID: <0_915650341@inet_out.mail.aol.com.1>
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
>In a message dated 1/6/99 2:02:43 PM Eastern Standard Time, AOL News 
writes:
>
><< Plutonium Found in Nev. Groundwater
> 
> .c The Associated Press
> 
>  By JEFF BARNARD
> 
> Traces of plutonium from a test blast in the Nevada desert migrated 
nearly a
>mile through groundwater, according to a study that prompted the 
government to
>recalculate slightly the risks that would be posed by an underground 
nuclear
>waste storage site.
> 
> Scientists said the amount of radioactivity that can move this way is 
too
>small to endanger the public, and the U.S. Energy Department, in 
reassessing
>the risks of the government's proposed waste site beneath Nevada's Yucca
>Mountain, agreed.
> 
> Until recently, it was commonly believed that significant amounts of
>plutonium would not move through groundwater because the element 
dissolves at
>a very low rate and attaches strongly to any rocks it touches.
> 
> But in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers
>confirmed suspicions that plutonium can hitch a ride on colloids, or 
particles
>of debris suspended in water.
> 
> Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California 
and Los
>Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico looked at a 30-year-old nuclear 
blast
>that reached below the water table on the Nevada Test Site, where the 
United
>States has conducted 828 underground nuclear tests between 1956 and 
1992. The
>site is 70 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
> 
> The scientists found minute amounts of plutonium -- measurable only by 
the
>most sensitive equipment -- in test wells nearly a mile away from the 
blast,
>and concluded that the plutonium had flowed downstream on colloids.
> 
> ``We have shown there is a new potential pathway that has been 
suggested
>before, but never definitely shown. The question is what the maximum 
amount is
>that you could move. We don't know that,'' said Annie Kersting, a 
Lawrence
>Livermore scientist.
> 
> The Energy Department wants to build a nuclear waste repository at 
Yucca
>Mountain, about 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The government has 
already
>spent $2.2 billion in 15 years of research in hopes of entombing 80,000 
tons
>of used reactor fuel that will remain deadly 300,000 years.
> 
> The department took the latest findings into account and concluded that 
the
>seepage wouldn't happen for 10,000 to 100,000 years, and even then, the
>escaped radiation would be less than the background amount.
> 
> ``They are not rates that would bust any kind of standards. We see no
>impact,'' said Abe Van Luik, senior technical advisor for performance
>assessment for the Energy Department.
> 
> Bruce Honeyman, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines, said the 
very
>nature of colloids -- their extremely small size and low concentrations 
--
>assure that they would never move large amounts of radiation.
> 
> ``The radioactivity is so low that it probably is not of significance 
for
>adverse human health effects,'' he said. ``Conceptually, you can think 
of
>colloids being like a conveyor belt. The belt is really not turning very
>quickly.''
> 
> The Energy Department's conclusions did not satisfy Bob Loux, executive
>director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects in the Nevada 
governor's
>office. He said he believes containers holding the waste will fail much 
more
>quickly than the government estimates and allow unknown quantities of
>contaminants to escape within 500 years.
> 
> AP-NY-01-06-99 1402EST
>  >>
>
>
>--part0_915650341_boundary
>Content-ID: <0_915650341@inet_out.mail.aol.com.2>
>Content-type: message/rfc822
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
>Content-disposition: inline
>
>From: AOLNews@aol.com
>Return-path: <AOLNews@aol.com>
>Subject: Plutonium Found in Nev. Groundwater
>Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1999 14:02:43 EST
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
>
>Plutonium Found in Nev. Groundwater
>
>.c The Associated Press
>
> By JEFF BARNARD
>
>Traces of plutonium from a test blast in the Nevada desert migrated 
nearly a
>mile through groundwater, according to a study that prompted the 
government to
>recalculate slightly the risks that would be posed by an underground 
nuclear
>waste storage site.
>
>Scientists said the amount of radioactivity that can move this way is 
too
>small to endanger the public, and the U.S. Energy Department, in 
reassessing
>the risks of the government's proposed waste site beneath Nevada's Yucca
>Mountain, agreed.
>
>Until recently, it was commonly believed that significant amounts of 
plutonium
>would not move through groundwater because the element dissolves at a 
very low
>rate and attaches strongly to any rocks it touches.
>
>But in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers
>confirmed suspicions that plutonium can hitch a ride on colloids, or 
particles
>of debris suspended in water.
>
>Scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and 
Los
>Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico looked at a 30-year-old nuclear 
blast
>that reached below the water table on the Nevada Test Site, where the 
United
>States has conducted 828 underground nuclear tests between 1956 and 
1992. The
>site is 70 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
>
>The scientists found minute amounts of plutonium -- measurable only by 
the
>most sensitive equipment -- in test wells nearly a mile away from the 
blast,
>and concluded that the plutonium had flowed downstream on colloids.
>
>``We have shown there is a new potential pathway that has been suggested
>before, but never definitely shown. The question is what the maximum 
amount is
>that you could move. We don't know that,'' said Annie Kersting, a 
Lawrence
>Livermore scientist.
>
>The Energy Department wants to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca
>Mountain, about 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The government has 
already
>spent $2.2 billion in 15 years of research in hopes of entombing 80,000 
tons
>of used reactor fuel that will remain deadly 300,000 years.
>
>The department took the latest findings into account and concluded that 
the
>seepage wouldn't happen for 10,000 to 100,000 years, and even then, the
>escaped radiation would be less than the background amount.
>
>``They are not rates that would bust any kind of standards. We see no
>impact,'' said Abe Van Luik, senior technical advisor for performance
>assessment for the Energy Department.
>
>Bruce Honeyman, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines, said the 
very
>nature of colloids -- their extremely small size and low concentrations 
--
>assure that they would never move large amounts of radiation.
>
>``The radioactivity is so low that it probably is not of significance 
for
>adverse human health effects,'' he said. ``Conceptually, you can think 
of
>colloids being like a conveyor belt. The belt is really not turning very
>quickly.''
>
>The Energy Department's conclusions did not satisfy Bob Loux, executive
>director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects in the Nevada 
governor's
>office. He said he believes containers holding the waste will fail much 
more
>quickly than the government estimates and allow unknown quantities of
>contaminants to escape within 500 years.
>
>AP-NY-01-06-99 1402EST
>
> Copyright 1998 The Associated Press.  The information  contained in the 
AP
>news report may not be published,  broadcast, rewritten or otherwise
>distributed without  prior written authority of The Associated Press. 
>
> 
>
>To edit your profile, go to keyword <A HREF="aol://1722:NewsProfiles">
>NewsProfiles</A>.
>For all of today's news, go to keyword <A 
HREF="aol://1722:News">News</A>.
>
>--part0_915650341_boundary--
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Sincerely,
Andrew H. Thatcher, MSHP, CHP
Washington Department of Health
360-236-3255 voice
360-236-2255 fax
dht0303@doh.wa.gov
-standard disclaimers apply-

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