nukes in our water?

[unionrdr]

I just found this article on msnbc.com about nuclear reactors around the country leaking Tritium into our ground water. Glowing beer anyone? I thought y'all might like to see this...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43475479/ns/us_news-environment/
Def something to be aware of...

 

[thegerm]

I thought I tasted something thermonuclear in my last 70 shilling.... :cross:

 

[rico567]

I can't see how awareness of this helps one way or another. On the one hand, detection of ionizing radiation is simple. On the other, most private individuals don't have such equipment, except for possibly radon detectors for their basement.

I think the operative words in the article come toward the end:

"Tritium is relatively short-lived and penetrates the body weakly through the air compared to other radioactive contaminants. Each of the known releases has been less radioactive than a single X-ray.
The main health risk from tritium, though, would be in drinking water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says tritium should measure no more than 20,000 picocuries per liter in drinking water. The agency estimates seven of 200,000 people who drink such water for decades would develop cancer."

Can't see much risk here. The Wikipedia article states, under the relevant topic:

Health risks
Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen, which allows it to readily bind to hydroxyl radicals, forming tritiated water (HTO), and to carbon atoms. Since tritium is a low energy beta emitter, it is not dangerous externally (its beta particles are unable to penetrate the skin), but it is a radiation hazard when inhaled, ingested via food or water, or absorbed through the skin.[14][15][16][17] HTO has a short biological half life in the human body of seven to 14 days, which both reduces the total effects of single-incident ingestion and precludes long-term bioaccumulation of HTO from the environment.
Radioactive tritium has leaked from 48 of 65 nuclear sites in the United States.[18]

This doesn't seem like much risk to me.

 

[unionrdr]

We all know about government reporting,though. We're told what they want us to know. I thought,since they lie & exaggerate about other things,why not this too? The article also makes mention of other things leaking as well. Those plants are getting old...

 

[Darwin18]

I work for an environmental consultant and if you really worried about impacts to groundwater and potable wells, I would be much more concerned with petroleum and chlorinated solvent impacts to groundwater than a tritium plume. These are much more common than most people realize and most go undetected. I mean think about it. Most of the public lives closer to an underground storage tank than a nuclear power plant.

We all know about government reporting,though. We're told what they want us to know. I thought,since they lie & exaggerate about other things,why not this too? The article also makes mention of other things leaking as well. Those plants are getting old...

I have to disagree with this. The regulators in my state are overworked and there are not enough of them, however, without regulators enforcing the law the responsible parties would simply walk away from their contamination. And please, don't feel too badly for the responsible parties. North Carolina has a tax payer trust fund that pays large corporations (ie ExxonMobil) to clean up their contamination.

 

[unionrdr]

Aah well,just thought maybe I was raising a legitimate concern. And politicians aren't exactly being forthright with us either. So much for raising concerns. But if it's no big deal,why report study findings?...

 

[rycov]

people report all kinds of useless crap. remember that guy who predicted the end of the world?

 

[unionrdr]

Idk about the rest of you,but I don't consider radioactive hydrogen to be a worthless concern. What do you think anti-matter is? Negatively charged hydrogen. So,in light of that,I thought this'd be similar.?

 

[lordbeermestrength]

Idk about the rest of you,but I don't consider radioactive hydrogen to be a worthless concern. What do you think anti-matter is? Negatively charged hydrogen. So,in light of that,I thought this'd be similar.?

Well, I'm personally more worried about all that anti-matter reacting with matter and creating a vacuum. And you know what happens when you create a vacuum, right? Yep, loss of gravity. (if that doesn't make sense to you, think about what happens in space!)

And when we lose gravity, we get closer to the sun which makes everything hotter. Global warming? More like global HOTTENING. You won't even be able to have a beer because it will be too hot for you. We'll have to use more and more AC's to cool everything down, which will drain our DC power supplies, which makes the energizer bunny slow... down...

 

[DrBrewDC]

I have to disagree with this. The regulators in my state are overworked and there are not enough of them, however, without regulators enforcing the law the responsible parties would simply walk away from their contamination. And please, don't feel too badly for the responsible parties. North Carolina has a tax payer trust fund that pays large corporations (ie ExxonMobil) to clean up their contamination.

I have some anecdotal evidence to suggest that in the state of Michigan, they ARE overworked. Also, to suggest that some gov't policies do not have our best interest in mind.

One of my business properties is located next to a gas station. Like most, over the years, the ground and therefore, the ground water have become contaminated. Per regulations, it is the station's responsibility to cover the cost of contamination clean-up. OR.... and this is a big OR.... if the company hired by the station (or their insurance company) is able to get each property owner affected by the contamination to attach a clause to the deed stating that a well is not able to be put on the premises, then the case is closed and there would be no clean-up. Since the cost of clean-up is so great, BIG dollar amounts are offered, making it hard for property owners to decline.

(I suppose technically, this is )

 

[dino2gnt]

I thought this'd be similar.?

You thought wrong.

 

[harrydrez]

We are bombarded with radiation from natural sources every day of our lives; the radiation comes both from space and from radioactive elements on Earth. It really isn't that big of deal; our bodies are much tougher than you would think.

What do you think anti-matter is? Negatively charged hydrogen. So,in light of that,I thought this'd be similar.?

It is more like sub-atomic particles that hold a charge opposite of normal matter, for example: positively charged electrons and negatively charged protons.

 

[Boodlemania]

You should be more concerned about those nice shiny granite countertops in your new house. And bananas.

And you really shouldn't be concerned about either of those.

 

[thegerm]

Aah well,just thought maybe I was raising a legitimate concern. And politicians aren't exactly being forthright with us either. So much for raising concerns. But if it's no big deal,why report study findings?...

because when you attach the word nuclear to anything, you stoke fears and attract readers and increase ad revenue. There is a hysteria about all things nuclear, and a downplaying of more conventional and much more widespread contaminants, because they are boring and don't evoke images of mushroom clouds.

 

[Darwin18]

I have some anecdotal evidence to suggest that in the state of Michigan, they ARE overworked. Also, to suggest that some gov't policies do not have our best interest in mind.

One of my business properties is located next to a gas station. Like most, over the years, the ground and therefore, the ground water have become contaminated. Per regulations, it is the station's responsibility to cover the cost of contamination clean-up. OR.... and this is a big OR.... if the company hired by the station (or their insurance company) is able to get each property owner affected by the contamination to attach a clause to the deed stating that a well is not able to be put on the premises, then the case is closed and there would be no clean-up. Since the cost of clean-up is so great, BIG dollar amounts are offered, making it hard for property owners to decline.

(I suppose technically, this is )

I'm not familiar with regulations in Michigan, however that sounds somewhat similar to North Carolina. It sounds like the station by your business property closed their incident through risk based closure. The cost of an excavation or a remediation system depending on the scale, can run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I've learned not to be surprised that a lot of environmental policy on the federal and state level is heavily influenced by corporations and their lobbyists. They obviously have enormous financial incentives to reduce their liability and responsibility to their incidents. The policies that were originally created to protect the environment and our resources have been eroded away over the years. And some folks think that if the EPA is removed that responsible parties will self-regulate themselves...Sorry to have taken this completely

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

EVERYBODY knows that Tritium causes thin film bubble nucleation formation, thereby enhancing head retention.

Duh.

 

[rico567]

because when you attach the word nuclear to anything, you stoke fears and attract readers and increase ad revenue. There is a hysteria about all things nuclear, and a downplaying of more conventional and much more widespread contaminants, because they are boring and don't evoke images of mushroom clouds.

And the special attention in this case may well be due to the Fukushima reactor in Japan......even though there are few comparisons possible with most other reactors in terms of being hit by a tsunami, and the Fukushima stories carried in this country carried the terms "hysterical" and "journalistic fantasies" to new heights.

 

[DrBrewDC]

Sorry to have taken this completely

it seems to have navigated far from topic, i.e. antimatter, granite counter tops and bananas. we are probably safe

 

[unionrdr]

I just used anti matter as an example,& it's not negatively charged electrons & such. But,rather complete molecules in sufficient numbers with positively charged ones that are used in the matter-anti-matter drive experiments that are being conducted.
The engine uses a laser too start the reaction in a pre-combustion chamber. But it can only run for 3 seconds,as it burns so hot,it melts the nozzle.
Anyway,This hydrogen is being leaked many many times safe levels,to the point where wells near the reactor cannot be used.
I don't want my water from the lake to be tainted by the thermal exhaust from the one over by Toledo.

 

[dino2gnt]

I just used anti matter as an example,& it's not negatively charged electrons & such. But,rather complete molecules in sufficient numbers with positively charged ones that are used in the matter-anti-matter drive experiments that are being conducted.

[Citation Needed]

 

[ETCS]

I've spent 20+ years on Nuclear powered submarines with no ill effects (other that the 3rd ear I've developed). Seriously, the amount of radiation that a nuclear power plant produces is minimal. You get more exposure spending a day in the sun then from a Nuclear reactor.

 

[unionrdr]

...unless they're leaking,like some 45 of these are.