UK "exemptions" for disposal of radioactive gas that kills thousands.

[NNadir]

The British government has allowed an "exemption" for the release of the world's most dangerous radioactive gas in Northern Ireland:

http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/pubs/publications/Consultative_Document_Screen.pdf

"Like crude oil, natural gas is held in reservoirs of porous and permeable rock, containing small amounts of natural radiation. Once gas from the gas field has passed through the wellhead it enters a
manifold where it is combined with the output from other wells in the production field. From there it is piped ashore where it is processed at terminals and then transported in a complex pipeline system to customers. The radiation emanates from uranium-238 and its “decay daughters” (the succession of radionuclides that arise in a radioactive decay-chain). One of the decay daughters is radon-222, a naturally occurring colourless and odourless gas that mixes with the natural gas...

...The levels of radioactivity in natural gas have been monitored by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB)2 which is an independent statutory body set up to give advice and provide technical services in the field of protection against both ionising and non-ionising radiations. Although radon concentrations of up to 4.5 becquerels per gram have been measured in a single gas stream to onshore plants, the average concentration in the gas entering the onshore distribution system is less than one twentieth of this due to the blending of gas from many different fields. The Government does not believe that these levels of radioactivity in natural gas represent a danger to the public."

The government believes?!? Ha! All radiation is radiation, no matter what the level! This is clearly a cover-up to toy with human lives, and Northern Irish lives at that.

Thousands of deaths have been attributed to this gas:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/96142.stm

In fact, it is widely known that this gas is the source of most of the radioactivity to which people are exposed:

http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/radon.htm

I say we ban natural gas right now before it is too late.

[Massacure]

1. A nuclear power plant emits as much radiation in a year as one cigarette.

Let's ban smoking too!!!

[NNadir]

2. This is not true.

While it is true that tobacco plants concentrate radioactive polonium-210 and lead-210, and thus are more radioactive than the surrounding natural environment, a single cigarette contains far less radioactivity than is released by normal nuclear power plant operations. It may be that people - smokers at least - are exposed overall in their lifetimes to more radiation from tobacco than they are from nuclear power operations - just as they derive more radiation exposure from coal operations than from nuclear operations. However, this is because people are generally exposed to many hundreds of thousands of cigarettes whereas few people are ever exposed to nuclear fuel, spent or otherwise.

It is true that cigarette smoking is by a factor of many thousands much more dangerous than nuclear power plant operations. But it is a mistake to compare a single cigarette to an entire nuclear plant.

While it is important to point out that nuclear power is the safest form of energy production known, it is also important to be realistic and acknowledge that nuclear power plant operations - like all energy options - are not risk free. Nuclear power plants do emit significant amounts of radiation. The amount per watt is smaller than is released by burning coal, but it is not zero. Watt for watt nuclear power plants are risk minimized with respect to other types of energy operations, but, again, they are not risk free.

This is an important distinction.