Too Close to Home, Nuclear Power and the Threat to Drinking Water

[Fledermaus]

Released by: Environment Rhode Island Research & Policy Center, RIPIRG Education Fund

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, which took place in March 2011, delivered a reminder to the world that nuclear power comes with inherent risks. Over a period of several days, three Japanese nuclear reactors suffered meltdowns. A large amount of radioactive material escaped into the environment over the ensuing months.

Among the risks demonstrated by the Fukushima crisis is the threat of water contamination—including contamination of drinking water supplies by radioactive material. In the wake of the Fukushima accident, drinking water sources as far as 130 miles from the plant were contaminated with radioactive iodine, prompting cities such as Tokyo to warn against consumption of the water by infants........................

The inherent risks posed by nuclear power suggest that the United States should move to a future without nuclear power.

The nation should:

•Retire existing nuclear power plants, at the latest, at the end of their current operating licenses.
•Abandon plans for new nuclear power plants.
•Adopt policies to expand energy efficiency and production of energy from clean, renewable sources such as wind and solar power.
In the meantime, the United States should reduce the risks nuclear power poses to water supplies by:

•Completing a thorough safety review of U.S. nuclear power plants and re- quiring plant operators to implement recommended changes immediately.
•Ensuring that emergency plans account for the potential impacts of drinking water contamination to residents outside the current 50-mile boundary used in planning.
•Requiring nuclear plant operators to implement regular groundwater tests in order to catch tritium leaks.
•Enforcing laws against tritium leaks by fining plant operators for unauthorized releases of radioactive materials.
•Require that nuclear waste be stored as safely as possible, preferably by using hardened dry cask storage (which reduces the risk associated with spent fuel pools).
•Requiring plants to take steps—such as construction of on-site storage capacity for contaminated water—to prevent the release of radioactive water in the event of an accident. Plant operators should have a plan to contain the amount of water that they anticipate using to flood the reactor in a worst-case scenario.

http://www.environmentrhodeisland.org/reports/rie/too-close-home

[wtmusic]

1. Let's meet the author of this insightful report

Rob Kerth is an associate in Frontier Group's Boston office, where he has focused mainly on energy issues. Before joining Frontier Group in 2009, Rob spent a year with Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing, where he worked on grassroots environmental campaigns in the New England states. Rob is a 2008 graduate of Yale University, where he received a B.A. in history, was active in political discussion groups and led outdoor trips.

Apparently in Rob's history classes they never taught how long radioactive iodine stays radioactive (then again, why would they?)

He must have received his training in nuclear physics on an outdoor trip.

[PamW]

3. He must have majored in...

He must have received his training in nuclear physics on an outdoor trip.
------------------------------

He must have majored in the singing of "Kumbaya"

PamW

[JDPriestly]

4. The Frontier Group looks like a good thing to me.

http://www.frontiergroup.org/about-us

I agree with the OP.

Nuclear energy is a lot more dangerous than the industry's apologists want to admit.

The proposals in the OP are reasonable, not at all extreme.

[wtmusic]

6. This report is rife with misinformation and just plain ignorance.

The radioactivity from iodine releases at Fukushima lasted about three weeks, and it's unlikely anyone received as much radiation as a cross-country airplane trip.

Their proposal to "require that nuclear waste be stored as safely as possible, preferably by using hardened dry cask storage (which reduces the risk associated with spent fuel pools)" reflects a total ignorance of what happens to spent nuclear fuel after it leaves a reactor.

I could go on, and on. And on. But addressing members of the Anti-Nuclear Cult with facts is totally pointless pursuit. It's very much a religion - much like many are drawn to religion by the fear of an unknown (death), members of the ANC are sucked in by the fear of Invisible Radiation. I wouldn't give a crap but their evangelism is making things more dangerous for everyone.

[Fledermaus]

7. 49 Million Americans receive their drinking water from surface sources within 50 miles of a nuclear

power plant.


New York has the most residents drawing drinking water from sources near power plants, with the residents of New York City and its environs making up most of the total. Pennsylvania has the second most, including residents of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg

[wtmusic]

8. Can you tell me how many times radiation has been detected in drinking water

Last edited Mon Jan 30, 2012, 01:42 AM - Edit history (1)

in the US with a power reactor as its source?

Can you tell me what the average US homeowner's exposure to radiation from radon gas is? How about from the sun? From coal ash? From potatoes or bananas? From the ground itself?

If you knew the statistics for these things, you would get a hearty chuckle out of ever giving a moment of thought to tritium in your drinking water.

Below: just radon.

[Fledermaus]

11. Chernobyl & Fukushima and how many more in the next 25 years?

[txlibdem]

12. Meanwhile the coal power plants the ANC made possible have killed ~60 million people

... since Chernobyl. Do you see 60 million corpses littering the area by Chernobyl or Fukushima combined? NO. Most credible scientists wouldn't go near the hysterical rantings of anti-nukers who say that TWO MILLION people *may* die due to Chernobyl in the long run.

And yet every nuclear power plant that is NOT built causes another 2 or 3 coal power plants to be built instead. The anti-nuke cult is full of brilliant members (not).

"Hey you bad person, don't kill those 2 million over there... KILL THAT 60 MILLION INSTEAD." ANC

[SpoonFed]

10. Your typical pro-nuke rant vomit spew

The radioactivity from iodine releases at Fukushima lasted about three weeks, and it's unlikely anyone received as much radiation as a cross-country airplane trip.

Your statement is just total industry propaganda misdirection. You know full well that the half-life of I-137 is so short in comparsion to all the other filth that has been spewed and explosively expelled from Fukushima Daichi.

I don't understand how such a fouth mouth piece of nuke industry propaganda can continue to be welcome on this supposedly progressive democrative website.

The last line of your post is calling the kettle black if there ever was a clear example.

[txlibdem]

13. Typical anti-nuke cult religious dogma

"And Saint Attila raised the holy hand grenade on high. And the people did feast upon the lambs, and the sloths, and the ocelots, and the orangutans, and the fruit bats, and the breakfast cereals..."

[Kolesar]

14. "Enter the best liberal discussion forums on the internet" eom

[PamW]

2. Tritium is HYPED!

The Tritium issue is one of the most hyped because the anti-nukes taking the samples
never think to take samples UPSTREAM of the plant.

The anti-nukes "think" that Tritium is solely a product of nuclear power plants. In reality,
Mother Nature makes Tritium. It is a NATURAL byproduct of the neutrons released by
cosmic rays interacting with atmospheric nitrogen:

N-14 + n --> C-12 + H-3 ( Tritium )

Mother Nature is responsible for WAY MORE radiation dose than are nuclear power plants.

Courtesy of the Health Physics Society at the University of Michigan:

http://www.umich.edu/~radinfo/introduction/radrus.htm

The amount of radiation dose due to nuclear power plants and the entire nuclear fuel
cycle ( listed as "nuclear fuel cycle" in table ) is < 0.03%

That means that Mother Nature is responsible for giving you 3000 times the radiation
exposure that you get from all aspects of the operation of nuclear power plants.

You can whine and cry about the radiation from your local nuclear power plant, and if you
were even so lucky as to get it shut down; the net effect on your radiation exposure would
be ZILCH.

Mother Nature is doing to you FAR FAR MORE than what the nuclear industry is -
and there's NOTHING you can do about it.

PamW

[JDPriestly]

5. As long as all functions well in a nuclear facility,

no problem. But, when, as in Fukushima, things go wrong, the damage is horrifying. That is why I think we should review every nuclear reactors in light of today's technology and experience and close most if not all of them until our technology is developed well enough to insure that no more Fukushimas happen.

[PamW]

9. How do you know our technology isn't developed enough now?

That is why I think we should review every nuclear reactors in light of today's technology and experience and close most if not all of them until our technology is developed well enough to insure that no more Fukushimas happen.
=================================================

Fukushima couldn't have been licensed in the USA. The USA requires that the diesel generators be in water-tight vaults so
that the generators and switch gear can't be swamped. The USA requires that the diesel fuel tanks be buried like the tanks
at your local gas station so they can't be swept away. Fukushima had the diesel fuel tanks sitting above ground right on the
ship dock for ease of fueling.

The USA requires that the utility have backup diesel-generators stored offsite and ready to move onsite. The utility is required
to drill in the process of hooking up the backups. TEPCO didn't drill / practice this - otherwise they would have discovered during
the drills that the connectors on the backup generators weren't capatible with those at the plant.

Seems you've made up your mind without regard to the facts.

It is always good to review; but from what I've seen, all the mistakes at Fukushima have been successfully dealt with by the
NRC and US power plants.

PamW