Tainted Nuke Plant Water Reaches Major NJ Aquifer

[Chef Eric]

Wayne Parry, Associated Press

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Radioactive water that leaked from the nation's oldest nuclear power plant has now reached a major underground aquifer that supplies drinking water to much of southern New Jersey, the state's environmental chief said Friday.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station to halt the spread of contaminated water underground, even as it said there was no imminent threat to drinking water supplies.

The department launched a new investigation Friday into the April 2009 spill and said the actions of plant owner Exelon Corp. have not been sufficient to contain water contaminated with tritium.

Tritium is found naturally in tiny amounts and is a product of nuclear fission. It has been linked to cancer if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin in large amounts.

"There is a problem here," said environmental Commissioner Bob Martin. "I am worried about the continuing spread of the tritium into the groundwater and its gradual moving toward wells in the area. This is not something that can wait. That would be unacceptable."

The tritium leaked from underground pipes at the plant on April 9, 2009, and has been slowly spreading underground at 1 to 3 feet a day. At the current rate, it would be 14 or 15 years before the tainted water reaches the nearest private or commercial drinking water wells about two miles away.

But the mere fact that the radioactive water , at concentrations 50 times higher than those allowed by law , has reached southern New Jersey's main source of drinking water calls for urgent action, Martin said.

<http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20100507_ap_taintednukeplantwaterreachesmajornjaquifer.html>

[HereSince1628]

1. Believe me the solution will suck

Really.

[Mojorabbit]

2. How would they stop it

I am wondering?

[Tesha]

3. Use wells to reverse the flow of underground water.

Much like they do when your local landfill is leaking contaminated
leachate, you pump water from one point and inject it at another,
filtering as it passes through your pumping system.

Nashua has several systems like this, one for an old landfill and
one for a Superfund site.

Tesha

[HereSince1628]

4. Yep, this is the solution that sucks.

[Liberation Angel]

5. Greenpeace Report on "ACCEPTABLE"government tritium cancer exposure levels

Disgusting that Millions of people are exposed and huge numbers of them will die from cancer from Tritium exposure, yet it is deemed "acceptable" to the government.

Read the PDF report here (especially if you live near this area or any other nuke plants - which is most of us), because the tritium problem is EVERYWHERE there are nuke plants.

http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/canada/en/documents-and-links/publications/tritium-hazard-report-pollu.pdf

You REALLY should be informed about what exposure does to you BUT ESPECIALLY what it does to your children or any babies in utero.

[underseasurveyor]

6. But Nukes are safe, they haven't killed a single person in 50 years

So says the Pro-nuke people here.

Perhaps these types of incidences don't count and I can hear them already.... That plant is old, NEW nuke plants will be completely safe. Yea uh huh.

Nukes don't kill people
Cancer kills people

But there's no connection between the two so move along.

[truedelphi]

7. So far, those folks haven't chimed in on this discussion.

They have attacked my remarks in recent days. So sooner or later sometime today...

Apparently, dying years before your time from nuke power -caused cancer doesn't count as being harmed.

[underseasurveyor]

9. They are uncharacteristically silent for a change

Wonder why:evilgrin:

I mean what could they possibly say, right? I would be curious to hear their spin on this ;-)

[hunter]

8. Horrors, I'm sure.

It's bad to find tritium there, but how's it rate compared to the other crap in the aquifer, both natural and man made?

How's that risk compared to disinfectants like chlorine deliberately added to domestic water? How's the risk compared to something really dangerous like cars?

[underseasurveyor]

10. Oh let's see there is already "disinfectants like chlorine"

And tritium, man-made and natural.. duly noted. Let's add petroleum products, lawn and garden chemicals and fertilizers, bug sprays and chemicals, paints and thinners and the like, throw in the occasional sewage spills along with the daily barrage of garbage, soaps, detergents and a cocktail of god know what else....

And you see no problem with ADDING MORE absolutely deadly man-made crap on top the mix? Because you trust and believe there could never be some kind of "accident?" Ever?

While each 'risk' by itself may not be high on the scale of being really dangerous, by compounding everything together do the risks not increase? Of course it does. Come on man think!

Oh:scared: but cars are really dangerous.

:spray:

[Statistical]

12. Name a single person who has died from tritium?

More people have died from plain water than by tritium.

[Better Believe It]

13. It's good for you. Nine out of ten doctors recommend it ! And it tingles and tastes good too!

[Statistical]

14. Nice strawman. That wasn't what I said.

lead, arsenic, radon (naturally occurring radiation), fossil fuel pollution, traffic accidents all have killed millions of people over last 50 years. Hell too many BigMac is killing peoples of people today.

Name a single person who has been killed by tritium in last 50 years.

Some people would rather lash out at the invisible scary monster which hasn't killed a single person than look at the real things that are killing people every day.

[Better Believe It]

15. I know. I just wrote that. You didn't write that.

[underseasurveyor]

18. Your buddy brought up tritium here. RE-read what I said

because I didn't say it killed anyone now did I and that wasn't the point either.

And "Name a single person who has died from tritium?"
You've become ridiculous

[Statistical]

20. Ridiculous really

You could easily name a single (or thousands) of people who died from:
car crash
airline crash
terrorism
pollution
mining accidents
drowning
falling
gunshot wounds
criminal activity

How easily? This easily
http://www.google.com/search?q=drown&hl=en&prmd=nb&tbo=u&tbs=nws:1

In matter of seconds you can find dozens hundreds of names of people who have drowned just in the last couple days.

However this super duper ultra scary thing you can't name a single person who has died from it. Not a single person in 50 years and 104 reactors?

Maybe because tritium is a relatively small danger. It should be monitored and it should be regulated but it doesn't even rank in the top 1000 of things that are likely to kill you. Hell naturally occurring radium and radon kill a magnitude more people.

Strange that the fear that something might kills someone someday outweighs the fear of things that are killing people every single day.

[underseasurveyor]

21. "It has been linked to cancer if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin in large amounts."

And you know better than the people testing the water:eyes: You mean these "experts" are all lying when they report that tritium levels are 50 times higher than is safe and that it causes cancer? And what, I guess the good news is that cancer doesn't kill people now?

There is radioactive water in a major aquifer that supplies drinking water to a lot of people in New Jersey. Shall we tell them that some guy on the internet says it's safe so no need to worry and that no one ever dies from these things, but gee for those of you that do get cancer or tumors and your unborn children are also affected... oops sorry but the cause of your cancer must have been something else because it could never be anything related to nuclear plants or it's waste byproducts or accidently leaked materials. Accidents and mistakes never happen in the nuclear industry.


"LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. - Radioactive water that leaked from the nation's oldest nuclear power plant has now reached a major underground aquifer that supplies drinking water to much of southern New Jersey, the state's environmental chief said Friday.

The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station to halt the spread of contaminated water underground, even as it said there was no imminent threat to drinking water supplies.

The department launched a new investigation Friday into the April 2009 spill and said the actions of plant owner Exelon Corp. have not been sufficient to contain water contaminated with tritium.

Tritium is found naturally in tiny amounts and is a product of nuclear fission. It has been linked to cancer if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin in large amounts.

"There is a problem here," said environmental Commissioner Bob Martin. "I am worried about the continuing spread of the tritium into the groundwater and its gradual moving toward wells in the area. This is not something that can wait. That would be unacceptable."

The tritium leaked from underground pipes at the plant on April 9, 2009, and has been slowly spreading underground at 1 to 3 feet a day. At the current rate, it would be 14 or 15 years before the tainted water reaches the nearest private or commercial drinking water wells about two miles away.

But the mere fact that the radioactive water , at concentrations 50 times higher than those allowed by law , has reached southern New Jersey's main source of drinking water calls for urgent action, Martin said."

And you're OK with this:banghead: You know I wish someone from New Jersey would bottle up their water and send you some to consume. Let's see how comfortable you are drinking radioactive water. It won't kill you.........................................................
I'm some girl on the internet and I say so ~bottomsup~ :beer: ..................................right away.

[Statistical]

22. It is obvious you have made up your mind.

Natural radium in ground water has killed thousands of Americans, radon gas kills 100,000 Americans every year (largest source of lung cancer after smoking), fossil fuel pollution kills another quarter million. These deaths happen every single years. Millions upon millions of people in last 5 decades. Very proven, very well known yet you are utterly afraid of tritium an extremely weak beta emitter with short biological half life that in last 50 years hasn't killed a single human on the planet.

The key word is LARGE AMOUNTS. Tritium is such a weak beta emitter and has such a short biological halflife one would need to ingest a massive amount of tritium to have gain more than a background dose of radiation.

You are aware that our planet is highly radioactive right?

If you drank straight from the monitoring well for an entire year (average water consumption) you would incur a dose of about 40mrems (milli-rems) which is slightly less than what you get from xrays. You could get the same amount of radiation from living in a brick house (yup bricks are radioactive). You get about 8 times that from background radiation, about 300 mrems a year. Hell even if you hide indoors you can't excape cosmic radiation (about 27 mrems annually). Altitude increases radiation exposure too. Denver is "massively" radioactive. You get a whole 10 extra mrems per year compared to sea level. Every 3 hours in a plane nets you a bonus mrem. Imagine how lethally radioactive pilots are.

Don't swim in the ocean. Tritium is naturally occurring you might accidently drink some.
Yo avoid bananas right consuming a banana would give you a larger dose than drinking a gallon of tritinated water? Bananas contain radioactive Potassium-40. Then again your bodies contains a lot of K-40 and even more Carbon-14. If you sleep in same bed as someone else you are slowly irradiating them and they you (about 5 extra mrems per year). Why do you want to kill other people with your radiation?

Should they EPA monitor the situation? Of course.
Should the power company be forced to cleanup the leak? Of course they should.
Should you be utterly fearful of this "non killer"? Nope.

However it is obvious you have made up your mind, carry one with the misguided fear.

[underseasurveyor]

24. "Should the power company be forced to cleanup the leak?"

How many leaks are you willing to endure? You're aware that they happen obviously.

If it were only one I wouldn't concern myself at all however we both know there have been and will be more than just this one. Yes I have my mind made up. History and decades of compiled data say that we are polluting ourselves to death. So just because this 'little' thing is no big deal in and of itself it's ok to continue down this path of compounding problem upon problem? And no I'm not in "fear" and yes I know about the huge nuclear reactor in the sky and of the many of the natural hazards of the earth, that's why I have a hard time understanding people like you that are so seemingly careless about adding more hazards upon the numerous ones that already exist. The earth, not to mention it's inhabitants can only withstand so much.

Suffice it to say that I am not for nuclear energy. Man and his reckless disregard and insatiable greed for more are not a safe combination.

[hunter]

16. Cars are really dangerous.

Even if you don't crash you are spewing pollutants that kill people, supporting wars that kill people, supporting toxic and dangerous mining and manufacturing that kills people, and using oil that should have been left safely in the ground.

To the extent nuclear power displaces fossil fuels, especially coal, the overall damage done to the environment is greatly reduced.

[underseasurveyor]

19. I get your point and I don't necessarily disagree

However the way you keep spinning and spewing your talking points that nuclear is completely safe is ridiculous. My POINT being that while nuclear energy may be "cleaner" over time it's that one accident or maybe the second accident or perhaps it will be the third one that really fucks our shit up for thousands of years to come. Compound that deadly hazard to the already long list of chemicals and pesticides, etc., that we're already killing ourselves with and the odds will continue to increase against our favor of a clean inhabitable world.

And when there is a nuke accident then what will you pro-nuke people say? Oops sorry.

If there is anything you should have learned in this world by now is that nothing is perfect or infallible. It's impossible to be 100% forever in anything. Now add into that equation the greedy assholes that don't don't give a rats ass about you, me or the environment because all they care about is their bottom dollar. Mmmm now what to do with all this waste byproduct? Not a safe or clean combination.

[spin]

11. I wonder if the water from a faucet glows in the dark. (n/t)

[fascisthunter]

17. nukes baby, nukes!

drill, baby drill!

and who pays for the consequences, you do and not them!

[UndertheOcean]

23. How long do we have to wait before we get those to help clean up NJ