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Page added on March 2, 2016
NY nuclear plant 65,000% radiation spike is worse than Fukushima
A radioactive flow from the Indian Point nuclear power plant is leaking into groundwater that leads to the Hudson River, raising the possibility that the U.S. may have its very own Fukushima-like disaster only 25 miles from New York City.
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The Indian Point nuclear plant is located on the Hudson River, and it serves the electrical needs of about two million people. But last month, when workers were preparing a reactor for refueling, they accidentally spilled contaminated water containing the radioactive hydrogen isotope tritium, The Free Thought Project (TFTP) reports. That caused an enormous radiation spike in groundwater monitoring wells, and one well’s radioactivity increased by 65,000 percent.
Entergy, the Louisiana company that owns the plant, offered an explanation of the readings that can’t be described as anything other than “Ho-hum,” saying they were “fluctuations that can be expected as the material migrates.” The company further said that the tritium contaminated water spill was contained within the plant, and never made it to the Hudson River or any other water source.
“There is no impact to public health or safety,” said Entergy spokeswoman Patricia Kakridas.
Maybe so, but this is the ninth leak in just the past year, and four of those were serious enough to shut down the reactors. However, this most recent leak contains a number of radioactive elements such as strontium-90, cesium-137, cobalt-60, and nickel-63, meaning it isn’t limited to tritium contamination, according to the New York Department of State’s Coastal Zone Management Assessment.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also doesn’t seem convinced, and earlier this month he launched a multi-agency probe into operations at the plant, The New York Daily News reports.
At that time, samples taken from groundwater monitoring wells showed concentrations of tritium that were 80 percent higher compared to when the leak was first reported in January.
Additionally, Cuomo has ordered the state health and environmental conservation commissioners to investigate the accident, and on Wednesday, he ordered a more extensive investigation that also includes the Department of Public Service.
Investigators from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are also scheduled to visit the plant Thursday to look into the accident.
“Last week the company reported alarming levels of radioactivity at three monitoring wells, with one well’s radioactivity increasing nearly 65,000 percent,” the governor said. “The trends of unexpected outages and environmental incidents like these are extremely disconcerting.”
It’s believed that the leak occurred when a drain overflowed during a maintenance operation as workers were transferring water containing high levels of radioactive contamination.
Environmentalists have called for the plant to shut down while the probe continues, and say there have been too many leaks and other problems at the plant over the years.
“The news just keeps getting worse,” said Paul Gallay, president of the Riverkeeper, a watchdog group. “Our concerns go beyond the spike in tritium levels. This is about a disturbing recurrence of serious malfunctions — seven over the last eight months.”
Jerry Nappi, a spokesman for Entergy said the contaminated water wasn’t going into the Hudson River or into drinking water sources.
“Some organizations who are longtime opponents of nuclear power will take opportunities to try and frighten the public,” he said. “The fact is this issue did not and cannot impact human health or any aquatic life in the river.”
But TFTP notes that the area around Indian Point is a “cancer cluster,” and the local rate of thyroid cancer registers 66 percent higher than the national average, said Joseph Mangano, Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP).
Researchers at RPHP compared cancer data from state and national levels from 1988-1992 with three other five-year periods (1993-1997, 1998-2002, and 2003-2007), RT.com reports. The results were published in 2009, and they show the cancer rates rising from 11 percent below the national average to seven percent above in that time span. What’s worse is that some rates of cancer showed unexpected increases in 19 out of 20 major types of cancer, with thyroid cancer showing the largest increase. Rates for this cancer went from 13 percent below the national average to 51 percent above.
However, Entergy says there’s no correlation between the plant’s operation and the increased cancer rates.
“There is no relation whatsoever,” Kakridas told RT.com.
But everyone who lives near a nuclear power plant is exposed to radiation, Mangano said, and some plants are worse than others. Indian Point, he noted, is an old plant, and since there is a large population living nearby, the danger of radiation exposure is greater.
When RPHP’s study was published, more than 20 million people lived within 50 miles of the plant.
The first reactor at Indian Point began operating in 1962, but was decommissioned in 1974 when the core cooling system no longer met regulatory requirements, RT.com reports. And the facility’s initial 40-year license expired last December, but the NRC issued Entergy a temporary extension pending final approval.
Alongside Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition, Scenic Hudson, and Physicians for Social Responsibility say they have asked NRC Regulatory Commission Chairman Stephen Burns to order plant operations to be suspended until Indian Point’s safety is thoroughly reviewed by state and federal investigators, Daily Freeman News reports.
However, U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), says the organizations should first demonstrate how to replace the energy produced by the nuclear plant.
Indian Point should never have been built because of its proximity to a hugely populated area, Schumer added, but said he doesn’t support shutting it down immediately, because the plant provides 25 percent of the power to the downstate area, making it crucial.
“I have told some of the environmental people, if you can show me a plan to figure out a way to replace that electricity, fine, but if you can’t, it’s going to raise electricity rates 30 or 40 percent, which are high enough on average people and that’s not the way to go,” he said. “In the meantime, I have emphasized very strong safety.”
But with radiation levels spiking so high, one has to wonder how safe can this possibly be?
The Indian Point plant is located about 45 miles south of Kingston City Hall, on the Hudson River’s eastern shore, and about 24 miles north of the boundary of New York City.
54 Comments on "NY nuclear plant 65,000% radiation spike is worse than Fukushima"
Pennsyguy on Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 7:09 pm
With around 100 aging nukes in the U.S., I think that the odds of a serious accident increase over time. It may not be a meltdown, but a billion dollar “event” will be bad enough for our staggering economy. Then there is all the spent fuel laying around without a permanent repository.
Go Speed Racer on Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 7:23 pm
Tritium is a vital nutrient. The board of directors owning the power plant said so.
Outcast_Searcher on Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 8:48 pm
Why don’t you wait until there is an actual serious leak that affects the public and THEN use a title like “worse than Fukishima”?
Otherwise it’s just empty grandstanding and you have zero credibility.
HARM on Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 8:56 pm
“However, this most recent leak contains a number of radioactive elements such as strontium-90, cesium-137, cobalt-60, and nickel-63, meaning it isn’t limited to tritium contamination…”
Half life of ~30 years (strontium & cesium), dangerous tendency to collect and concentrate in bones & muscle tissue, thereby irradiating a person for decades, but… “Ho hum”, it’s all a big nothingburger. Move along people, nothing to see///
HARM on Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 9:03 pm
I used to have some hope for the new Gen-IV liquid sodium reactors that could actually “burn” waste from older “dirty” LWR reactors (the vast majority in use today). But given that the only unlimited renewable resources appears to be human stupidity, myopia and greed, I’m beginning to lose hope for that too.
twocats on Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 9:22 pm
Wait, guys, I’ve got it. I’m just inventioneering here, but What If we all just switched to EV’s!? It would… oh wait, never mind. Fuck it, let’s bridge-fuel it with coal until fusion is scalable.
ennui2 on Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 9:43 pm
“Wait, guys, I’ve got it. I’m just inventioneering here, but What If we all just switched to EV’s!? It would… oh wait, never mind. Fuck it, let’s bridge-fuel it with coal until fusion is scalable.”
Useless snark.
There are more options than nukes and coal. After all, Elon Musk runs Solarcity and is not (as far as I know) a nuke proponent.
Bloomer on Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 11:38 pm
Thorium-based nuclear power has many advantages; Thorium is more plentiful then uranium, there is less nuclear waste and these reactions are meltdown proof.
This technology could hold the key to reducing our reliance on burning fossil fuel. However with oil at 30 dollars a barrel, I am not holding my breathe.
WV on Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 11:45 pm
Energy rates or cancer is that the question? There has been more than enough time to create a back up plan but of course there isn’t one. Nuclear power is safe until it isn’t and it’s cheap until it takes 40 years to clean up a massive problem and mass amounts of land becomes uninhabitable.
makati1 on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 12:22 am
I keep telling everyone to buy a Geiger Counter to check your living area and things you buy. No one seems to think that it is more important than having the latest I-gadget. Too bad. It is #1 on my purchase list when I visit the States this year.
“Native Americans: ‘We Are The Miner’s Canary'”
“The Invisible Killer: Fight Radioactive Pollution In 2016”
“Stop Fukushima Freeways”
“School Water Poisoned With Uranium: ‘Where’s The Help?'”
“Fukushima Report Dangerously Downplays Ongoing Health Risks” (IAEA)
“Stop Radioactive Contamination Of The Great Lakes”
“Radiation Detected In Groundwater At Peach Bottom Nuclear Plant”
https://www.popularresistance.org/
And on and on…
gggreggg on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 2:17 am
People still eat the fish out of the Pacific, the Atlantic needs to be balanced out so a 65000% increase in radiation is a small price to pay. The people of Louisiana enjoy eating it, maybe we could sell it to them, as pride of NY produce?
Dubya on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 2:30 am
Mak… $300 for a Geiger counter (I like an alpha detector) seems like a reasonable price to pay when there is no other way to detect radiation and ‘the authorities’ seem to be doing their best to avoid publishing public data.
So far I’ve found nothing since the initial 5x background increase after the 2011 Japan tsunami.
President Trump has announced there is no reason to be concerned. Return to your homes.
theedrich on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 3:45 am
This is just another of the countless ominous brakes by nature in response to her wanton exploitation by man. Schumer, a typical representative of the vox populi, is essentially claiming that, instead of halting the marvelous “growth” of his electorate by importing ungodly numbers of ThirdWorlders into NYC, his state must continue BAU at all costs. (But of course, he is emphasizing “very strong safety.”) The petri-dish population electing him is unable to grasp the fact that the post-WW II glory days of wine and roses are long past. They are sure that cancer will happen to somebody else.
Rodster on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 6:06 am
This is old news but with China wanting to build hundreds of low cost Nuclear Power Plants within a decade it’s still relevant. Let’s hope China doesn’t use some of their leftover drywall. Nuclear Power contrary to popular beliefs is NOT clean power.
Brett on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 6:37 am
Worse than Fukushima… Good grief! The ignorance level of this reporting should be a crime! Get informed people, don’t buy into the fear monguring!
Watchman on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 6:39 am
Cancer diagnosis rate going from 13% below the national average to 51% above the national average in about a 20 year period. Surely is must be someone else mistake/evilness/greed causing all this cancer, not the radioactive cesspool of accidents happening Indian Point nuclear plant. Asks yourself the bigger question… who profits from making you sick? Who’s hiding behind the endocrinologist (pancreas/ thyroid doctors) making tons of money from you, your children and grandchildren? I wouldn’t be surprised if the people that are proponents of nuclear power own stock in the healthcare system. These same people, are they anywhere near the problem? Does Patricia Kakridas and cohorts drink the ground water at Indian Point or do they buy bottle water that’s packaged far away from there? So close to the Hudson River and no hydroelectric power plant… shameful.
arkieguide on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 7:09 am
migrate ? leaks into the ground water, the ocean, drinking water, irrigation water, and the air.Seems to me that plant has too many problems, just shut it down, and the people can harry around looking for a power source.This type accident is caused by human error,not the plants fault. Need better supervision and design improvements,many things can happen in a nuke plant.Most of them very bad !
Leslie Corrice on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 7:11 am
Tritium is the weakest radioactive emission in the Universe. Its Beta cannot penetrate the outer layer of dead skin, and if ingested the Beta can only migrate less than a millimeter before being attenuated. The minimum concentration to cause non-cancerous tumors in mice is 37,000,000 Becquerels per liter…more than 10,000 times greater than the innocuous release found in one piezometer at Indian Point. The only danger in Tritium is scare-mongering postings like this one.
Cuomo is either ill-informed, or trying to garner some political hay through radiation-based terrorism…tell everyone to be afraid and then provide them with protection from the hypothetical risk. The whole issue is deplorable!
frederick on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 7:12 am
Some tritium contamination İS NOT worse than a triple meltdown and explosion of a MOX spent fuel pool at Fukashima That is for certain
DadinWestchester on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 7:43 am
What a bunch of BS. The empty suit governor is just looking for his sound bite along with Chucky Lucky. Fear mongering is all they know along with the rest of the limousine liberals spouting this nonsense.
icantstandthis on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 7:47 am
65000% increase!!! That means 650 time the original amount. Now, when you do not report the original amount, you can scare people into thinking that something catastrophic is going on.
When you report an original amount that is most likely somewhere along the lines of one one-hundred-thousandths, the resulting increase raises that to about one one-thousandth. In other words, something still extremely small.
omar on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 7:49 am
big picture… a few more cases of cancer around the plant is no smoking gun.
What is the ethnic and racial make up of the cancer cluster???? Perhaps they are closely related or from certain villages in northern europe predisposed to cancer because of a shared gene.
MAYBE they were exposed to RADON in the ground or water at the same point in time years ago at the same school or daily daycare or the whole neighbourhood.
Tritium gives off alpha particle radiation it CANNOT go further than a mm through cheap plastic or paper or paraffin wax.
Ground water contamination by heavy water. will not magically pass through pipes in the ground.
Ground water usually refers to aquifers it takes time to get down to aquifers. In that time it has mixed with millions of gallons of water. Depending on the speeding of penetration tritium water has had time to fire off some of its alpha particles.
IM MUCH MORE WORRIED ABOUT RADON !! Radon levels fluctuate year to year and spike off the charts at times. Americans move alot and few people check for radon and even fewer people check on a regular basis.
CANCER is dependent on many factors including life time exposure to RADON. We really dont track life time exposure to radiation very well lest alone from specific sources like radon in the ground and ground water.
anybody can die at any time, causality is something else entirely.
When people face death they want to blame something or someone it gives them a degree of power and control to be able to say that this or that killed me. Living next to a nuclear reactor has its risks.
Coal has nuclear contamination too…and it releases alpha beta and gama radiation….and its dust is toxic and radioactive too…and when u burn coal it releases radioactive dust and gasses and DIOXINS and all kinds of unburnt hydrocarbons with benzene structures. Coal mines poison the land with run off.
screw nuke and coal.
Pamela on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 7:50 am
These things aren’t sustainable, and now anyone that is using them for their electricity will suffer. It will continue until they are all shut down, as anything that is this toxic is not in our future.
Simon on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 8:01 am
If Nuclear is so cheap, why is the CEGB (britain generating board) having to Guarantee to buy their electricity for 3 times the going rate, and why is EDF running to the Gov. to bail it out, when maintenance of old stations come up this year. Oh yeah, and Geneva has launched an official complaint about leaking french nukes.
Simon
JuanP on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 8:10 am
We have hundreds of nuclear plants and fuel pools all over the planet, and hundreds more are being constructed. We have been completely unable to deal with the spent fuel issue yet. What could go wrong? I expect that at least one out of ten of these places will go critical before the end of this century, say a few hundred nuclear reactors and a few hundred waste pools. I am probably being optimistic, since humanity never ceases to disappoint me and fail to live up to my expectations. Most of these places will end up being a clusterfuck.
I am so glad and proud that I had a Vasectomy instead of breeding.
Jim on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 8:10 am
Just shut the site down and have the 2 mil plus residents get power from eklsewhere. when the brownouts start just blame yourselfs. Nuke power is the way to go. More pre start effort should have occurred but since it didnt shut it down and fix it. All Nuke facilities need to be maintained at the highest levels. Pseodu Environmentalists decry nuke power but cannot come up with anything else that does it as cheaply . Just keep it maintained and BTW cut the rates on power provided cutr the oprfits that go to the owners and give the people lower rates
ghung on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 8:19 am
Tritium being detected is an indication that this nuclear plant has a coolant leak. It’s remarkable how much hand-waving is going on, above. Only an idiot would posit that a leaking reactor coolant system is nothing to worry about, especially when the cause and extent of this leak is apparently unknown.
chad deans on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 8:21 am
I feel like I have heard this story before. oh wait yeah. Flint MI? none of it got out its all ok. if they say so then I guess its safe? like my favorite line from 2012. “when they say theirs nothing to worry about everything is just fine don’t panic” guess what its not going to be good. plus where is all the people from new York city going to go? Food for thought.
ghung on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 8:28 am
@Mak: You can get a ‘radiation detector’ and ap for your smart phone ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Smart-Geiger-Nuclear-Radiation-Detector-Counter-Test-for-iPhone-Android-Phone-/252029708129?hash=item3aae242761:g:qsAAAOSwjVVVwPjp ). Not sure how well it works, but for $35….. From S. Korea.
Charles on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 8:32 am
If nuclear power is so safe they should put the reactor in the middle of the city.
Name-Name on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 8:40 am
This is all nothing compared to what I read about Chinese plan to build a floating nuclear plants in the Ocean. That would be a nice “contamination” in case of accident. I think such plan justifies outright bombing of such nuclear plants immediately during their building, before any material is brought on them.
Tim on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 9:15 am
“Maybe so, but this is the ninth leak in just the past year, and four of those were serious enough to shut down the reactors. However, this most recent leak contains a number of radioactive elements such as strontium-90, cesium-137, cobalt-60, and nickel-63, meaning it isn’t limited to tritium contamination, according to the New York Department of State’s Coastal Zone Management Assessment.”
Yeah but it’s not as scary as DHMO.
Death due to accidental inhalation of DHMO, even in small quantities.
• Prolonged exposure to solid DHMO causes severe tissue damage.
• Excessive ingestion produces a number of unpleasant though not typically life-threatening side-effects.
• DHMO is a major component of acid rain.
• Gaseous DHMO can cause severe burns.
• Contributes to soil erosion.
• Leads to corrosion and oxidation of many metals.
• Contamination of electrical systems often causes short-circuits.
• Exposure decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes.
• Found in biopsies of pre-cancerous tumors and lesions.
• Given to vicious dogs involved in recent deadly attacks.
•Often associated with killer cyclones in the U.S. Midwest and elsewhere, and in hurricanes including deadly storms in Florida, New Orleans and other areas of the southeastern U.S.
•Thermal variations in DHMO are a suspected contributor to the El Nino weather effect.
Pass the word around about the dangers of DHMO.
Kenz300 on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 9:18 am
Wind and solar power are safer, cleaner and cheaper…..
Nuclear energy is too costly and too dangerous….
Who will pay to clean up all the waste from old nuclear power plants and store that waste FOREVER?
Al Sayee on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 9:30 am
Nuclear Energy far too expensive..Overseas
a lot of countries are doing research on production of wafer thin Solar Panels*Wind Turbines and what not.More emphasis should be paid on these alternative power resources at a fraction of investment costs*Even Coal..Wood powered furnaces are far more advanced now..Look at these alternatives please.Would be a great help. AL SAYEE
W Lui on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 9:52 am
Something drastic happens and it’s too late. Look at what’s happening at Fukushima.
JoeBlo on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 9:57 am
As a lifelong resident of NY State this is just more evidence of the hypocrisy of our liberal politicians and of course NYC. If Cuomo or Schumer really wanted this shut down, it would have been shut down months ago. NYC acts like it is the greatest place on earth and loves to look down it’s liberal nose at the rest of NY state. However, if upstate NY for 2 hours shut down the power, clean water, or food supply they give them they would be rioting in the streets. NYC can’t even pay for it’s own schools as the rest of the state pays 50% of the school taxes. On top of that NY state is rich with natural gas which can be obtained from fracking BUT the liberal NYCer’s feel they are too good for this and Cuomo and his ilk continue to block what would not only create much more cheap energy but also many new jobs in upstate NY, which desperately needs them. NYC has wall street to mooch off of, that is the only thing that keeps that city “nice,” that and corruption.
Mike, former Russian on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 10:39 am
“Wind and solar power are safer, cleaner and cheaper…..”
Never heard so stupid things said before. These are the most expensive sources and the life span of the solar panels and the wind turbines are not more than 30 years. Germany already faces a huge financial problem as they have to replace 1/3 of their wind towers after 25 years of service and they don’t have no money for this, no additional electrical capacity to replace the towers to be put out of the service.
Practicalmaina on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 12:48 pm
How many cancer deaths would it take to justify investing in renewables? I hope new York sticks to its guns keeping gracing out, we are polluted enough
mwanning on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 12:58 pm
Another article of useless information designed to scare people. If the REM exposure level in the well was .0000001, then 65,000 times that is .065. When I was in college, we were limited to 10 REM per year (I think it is 5 now. And yes, there are better ways to measure besides REM – but that what was when I worked in a lab.) .065 REM is nothing. But the article never states what the ACTUAL level is or was before the release. Since the article NEVER GIVES REAL NUMBERS, I would suspect that the actual exposure is very very low and the 65,000 is just to scare you. If there was a real danger, the FEC (Federal Energy Commission) would have stepped in and the article, to help scare you, would have mentioned it. No FEC involvement – must not be a danger. In the early days of the Fukushima problem, many news sites that the level of one isotope was 60,000 times higher than normal. I looked it up. Turns out that the some level of isotope is found everywhere in the world – except…but is almost non-existent on a small peninsula in Japan. That peninsula is Fukushima. Taking the normal levels of the background level at Fukushima and multiplying it by 60,000 and the level was less than 1/3 of the normal level found at ANY place in the U.S. To say that the level had risen to 1/3 of your home does not scare anyone – but to say that the level is 60,000 times normal makes headlines and sells news – and in effect is a lie. And today’s news is not about the truth but money. So what is the level in NY at 65,000 times higher – very low or dangerous. Based on the facts or really lack of facts, I would guess real low.
Practicalmaina on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 1:07 pm
It may be the most costly for the utility because they can’t fuck you while poisoning you nearly as easily with solar.
Practicalmaina on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 1:10 pm
Yeah we need to wait for that bitch to crumble in its own footprint to justify worrying, we will have fossil fuels to fix that but not recycle panels
Dan Jones on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 1:21 pm
So the question is, what are they doing about it??? Surely this is not a “surprise” because if so then whoever is in charge needs to be terminated…
More News At:
http://www.shininginthedark.com/?page_id=6088
tax payer on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 1:41 pm
“ninth leak in just the past year”
Clearly they are incompetent and need to be shut down.
twocats on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 1:52 pm
Tritium leaks are common, and I imagine leaks in general at nuclear power plants are common: pipes rust, etc.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2011/06/21/tritium-leaks-found-many-nuke-sites
I don’t think nuclear is a good idea, but if tritium leaks (and occasionally other more-dangerous radiation leaks) were nuclear’s only problems, to be honest, it would be worth small increases in cancer rates in exchange for the energy.
It’s the long-term nuclear waste storage issues, and the Fukushima/ Chernobyl level accidents which make nuclear a complete non-option.
For storage, we are talking about designing systems that need to last longer than any Human Language Has Survived.
As for the accidents, I’d like to think humans could act responsibly enough or plan well enough to forever prevent such an occurrence, but apparently not. Even one accident every 50 years is too much.
Apneaman on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 2:02 pm
A 50-year-old agreement with the IAEA has effectively gagged the WHO from telling the truth about the health risks of radiation
“The language appears to be evenhanded, but the effect has been one-sided. For example, investigations into the health impacts of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in Ukraine on 26 April 1986 have been effectively taken over by IAEA and dissenting information has been suppressed. The health effects of the accident were the subject of two major conferences, in Geneva in 1995, and in Kiev in 2001. But the full proceedings of those conferences remain unpublished – despite claims to the contrary by a senior WHO spokesman reported in Le Monde Diplomatique.”
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/may/28/who-nuclear-power-chernobyl
voices for safe energy on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 2:11 pm
Indian Point has been fraught with problems from the beginning. Unit 1 was designed by Babcock and Wilcox, the same firm that designed the ill-fated Three Mile Island reactors. Pipes would not fit and while lowering the reactor vessel into its final resting place, its cables snapped, sending the 80 ton reactor vessel crashing to the floor. When assembled, 50 tons of pressure was required to force pipes to fit into place. Completed in 1962, Unit 1 was shut down in 1974 because it could not meet federal safety requirements. During its short lifetime, it produced power less than half the time it was licensed to operate, yet the waste it generated will be toxic for centuries to come. It, along with the waste generated by its two sister reactors, consists of thousands of highly radioactive fuel rods submerged in fragile pools of water at the site — which sits on an active earthquake fault. These 12-14 foot rods contain spent fuel, the nuclear material removed from reactors periodically when they become too worn to sustain an adequate chain reaction. Despite the word “spent” to describe them, these rods are highly radioactive and must be stored in 40 feet of water for long after the reactors are considered ancient artifacts. Units 2 and 3 are pressurized water reactors designed by Westinghouse and are subject to serious age-related degradation of components. According to the Nuclear Information and Resource Services (NIRS), these reactors are subjected to chronic exposure to extreme radiation, heat, pressure, fatigue, and corrosive chemistry that combines — causing embrittlement of metal, cracking, and erosion of components that are integral to the protection of public health and safety. Not only New Yorkers must be concerned about Indian Point, but the entire tri-state area. Well over 300,000 people live within a 10 mile radius of Indian Point and over 50 million within a 50 mile radius. A major concern, since before the reactors went online, has been the issue of evacuating the area in the event of an accident. Plans for evacuation assume that roads, now barely handling rush hour traffic, will be able to facilitate a total evacuation. In 1988, responsibility for emergency evacuation was placed in the hands of FEMA and many claim they conform only to regulatory requirements but are not sound or even feasible. All parents within the area need to ask questions about emergency evacuation plans relating to their children attending school. These plans assume there will be an 8 hour warning and they cover the evacuation of only a 10 mile radius around the reactors. At TMI, radiation was released within 5 minutes. At Chernobyl, initially a 50 mile radius was evacuated, which was later expanded to 200 miles, and the consequences from Fukushima have not even been realized or quantified as they are ongoing. Studies conducted by the Sandia National Laboratories (nearly 35 years ago) estimated that scaled peak early fatalities (deaths within one year) within a 17.5 mile radius could reach 50,000 in the event of a serious accident at Indian Point Unit 3, and 46,000 at Unit 2. These studies also set estimates for early injuries (which could later result in death) within a 50 mile radius at 167,000 for Unit 3 and 141,000 for Unit 2. Estimates for damage costs in 1982 were then $314 billion for Unit 3 and $274 billion for Unit 2. These costs would be far higher today. The art and financial capitals of the world along with the United Nations are based in New York City, only 25 miles south of Indian Point. Shortly after the accident at TMI , Charles Luce, the chairman of Con Edison admitted that Indian Point had been built too close to NYC. At around the same time Alfred DeBello, then Westchester County Executive, told 500 public officials charged with emergency tasks from the 4 Hudson River Counties nearest to Indian Point that any disaster program must not only address a catastrophic incident for the neighborhood of Indian Point but for radiation releases two states away. Con Edison was not the only utility company during the 50’s who bought into the heavily promoted idea of building commercial reactors to supply electricity that would be “safe, clean, and too cheap to meter”. They would not get into the business however, until the government passed the Price Anderson Act financially indemnifying them in the event of a nuclear accident. (Check your homowners insurance policies) .Time has proven that nuclear power is not safe (TMI, Chernobyl, Fukushima, etc.), it is far from clean, and if you factor in the cost of safely babysitting the waste for the next 250,000 years or so, it is not cheap. And now there is growing evidence that the dangers posed by normal releases from nuclear furnaces are far more serious than ever anticipated (see Petkau Effect). Conservation, Solar and wind power, geothermal, hydro power and co-generation, agro bio-diesel fuels such as from hemp or jatropha as well as hydrogen produced on demand would all create more jobs than nuclear power. Given what we now know about nuclear power, it is ludicrous to pursue it further. Indian Point should never have been approved and must be shut down now.
karin wastdyk on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 2:15 pm
All within a 50 mile radius of Indian Point (or any reactor) need Sara Shannon’s 2014 edition of Radiation Protective Foods.
makati1 on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 5:49 pm
ghung, I’ll check into that. Thanks. As almost all of our electronics (or at least the parts) come from Asia, it is probably as good as the $200+ models. I am buying it more for curiosity use than any protection. Where do you run when it is everywhere?
Freddy on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 7:54 pm
The lies that some people believe.
HagenT on Thu, 3rd Mar 2016 9:09 pm
This is why we need to do away with our current nuclear reactors and invest in the technology of a SAFE Thorium liquid molten salt reactor. This is walk away safe folks! And Thorium is a by product of rare earth mining. Also these reactors can eat all the old nuclear waste.
Check out http://flibe-energy.com/
There is some great stuff on Youtube.