Is Radiation Actually Good For Some of Us?

Exposure limits based on Reference Man set by federal agencies, along with guidelines from advisory organizations worldwide, have yet to catch up with the strange realities now being revealed.This title is a tantalizingly deceptive representation of what is in this well-written and -researched article, free of industry polemic and not afraid to address the complex nature of radiation damage. This article reviews the latest science on radiation exposure, saying that reference man, the model used to determine radiation damage to people, is "passe" and that the evidence of health effects from the Japan atomic bombings is no longer adequate to represent the complexities of radiation's impacts on health. With new evidence of harm eroding central assumptions, "Limits formerly considered safe seem less and less so...by the age of 10, most people will have accumulated enough exposure from all sources to be at some risk."

"...prenatal exposure at the rate of 1.5 millisieverts a year could cause birth defects and even stillbirths...[meaning that the current] risk models lead to 'considerably underestimated health risks' at [lower doses]." Miller-McCune

Environmental coalition raises cumulative health concerns in resistance against Fermi 3

NRC file photo of Fermi 2 on the Lake Erie shore, where Detroit Edison wants to build a giant new reactorOn Feb. 13, 2012, attorney Terry Lodge of Toledo, on behalf of an environmental coalition, filed a rebuttal to challenges by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff and Detroit Edison. The agency and utility were challenging contentions filed by the environmental coalition on Jan. 11, 2012 concerning NRC's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) about the new Fermi 3 reactor, a proposed General Electric-Hitachi ESBWR (so-called "Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor"). The new contentions involve such issues as impacts on endangered and threatened plant and animal species, and their critical habitats, from the overall Fermi 3 proposal, as well as related sub-proposals, such as the contemplated transmission line corridor; radiological health impacts on the Monroe County community from Fermi 3, which has already suffered a half century of radiological and toxic chemical harm from the Fermi 1 and Fermi 2 reactors, as well as a number of giant coal burning power plants; and impacts on the Walpole Island First Nation, just 53 miles away across the U.S./Canadian border. Joe Mangano, executive director of the Radiation and Human Health Project, serves as expert witness for the environmental coalition. The coalition includes Beyond Nuclear, Citizen Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. Beyond Nuclear has compiled all the filings relating to the battle over the Fermi 3 Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

Update on February 14, 2012 by admin

The environmental coalition issued a media release about its defense of contentions against the NRC's Fermi 3 DEIS.

Health hazards tritium and hydrazine released to environment at Prairie Island

NRC file photo of Prairie Island nuclear power plantXcel Energy's Prairie Island nuclear power plant has made what appears to be two admissions of separate toxic chemical and radiological spills in less than a week. Residents, and the tribal day care center, of the Prairie Island Indian Community are located within hundreds of yards of the nuclear power plant. Read more...

Update on February 8, 2012 by admin

The Saint Paul, Minnesota Pioneer Press ran a front page article about the recent spills at Prairie Island nuclear power plant, quoting Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps responding to Xcel Energy's and the NRC's downplaying of the risks of the tritium spills:

"But Kevin Kamps, a radioactive-waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear, a Maryland-based watchdog group that focuses on the nuclear power industry, said it was irresponsible to claim that there was no danger.

'We do take exception to that flippant disregard they have. Tritium is a clinically proven cause of cancer, birth defects, and genetic mutations,' Kamps said. 'It's long known that any exposure carries a health risk.'

...But just because the level is below the EPA's limit does not mean there's no risk, Kamps said.

'It's long known that any exposure to radioactivity, no matter how small, still carries a risk of cancer," he said. "And those risks accumulate over a lifetime."

The articles reports that Xcel Energy did not notify the Prairie Island Indian Community, located 600 yards from the nuclear power plant, about last November's spill until last week, and waited till Monday to notify them about last Friday's spill, as it had occurred "after business hours" just before a weekend.

NEIS reveals apparent NRC deception regarding radioactive steam release at Byron

Last week, the Byron nuclear power plant released steam containing tritium to the environment after a transformer fire cut a reactor off from grid power. NRC spokeswoman Viktoria Mytling was quick to assure the public that the tritium concentrations in the escaping steam must be exceedingly low, as on site radiation monitors were not detecting any. However, as revealed by Nuclear Energy Information Service of Chicago, the State of Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety admits that it has no radiation monitors on site at Byron that can detect tritium levels in real time. Samples must be collected, sent out to a lab, and returned -- a process that can take an extended period of time. NRC's continual downplaying of tritium's health hazards are alarming, given its clinically proven hazards as a cause of cancer, birth defects, and genetic damage, and its ability to go wherever hydrogen goes in the environment and human biology -- including right down to the DNA molecule level, which it can lodge and deliver a very harmful blow.

"Fermi 3 foes urge health analysis"

NRC file photo of Fermi 2, located on the Lake Erie shore, just north of OH, and a mere 8 miles from OntarioThe Detroit News has reported, in an article entitled "Fermi 3 foes urge health analysis," that indications of health damage from the operations of Fermi 2 be further studied before any plans for a new reactor at Fermi 3 move forward. The article reports on the questions raised in a recent report by Joe Mangano, Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project, such as why Monroe County suffers from inexplicably high rates of infant motality, low birth weights, cancer mortality, and non-fatal cancer incidence.

Mangano serves as an expert witness for the international environmental coalition officially intervening against the Fermi 3 proposal. The coalition's member groups are Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Citizen Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, and the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter.

The article quoted from Mangano's submission: "Of 19 indicators, the Monroe County rate change (before and after Fermi 2 began operating) exceeded the state or nation for all 19...".

The article also quoted from Don't Waste Michigan's Michael Keegan: "It's important to establish what the situation is...If you're talking about putting another reactor into play, you need to know where you are with baseline cancer statistics."