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Nuclear Regulatory Commission downplaying radiation risks

the level of cesium 137 contamination at Vermont Yankee was “three to 12 times the levels found at Chernobyl,” the 1986 nuclear accident in Ukraine.…….

Lawmakers take NRC to task: Rutland Herald, by Daniel Barlow, April 2, 2010“……….several lawmakers questioned the NRC’s overall approach to dealing with aging nuclear power plants and wondered if they were downplaying the dangers associated with some of the radiological releases from the 38-year-old Vernon reactor.

Under questioning from Rep. Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, the chairman of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee, an NRC official admitted that – outside of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident – the federal agency overseeing nuclear power plants has never issued a public health warning about problems at a power plant…..

Sen. Diane Snelling, R-Chittenden, pointed out that Bill Irwin, Vermont’s radiological health chief, told reporters that the level of cesium 137 contamination at Vermont Yankee was “three to 12 times the levels found at Chernobyl,” the 1986 nuclear accident in Ukraine……..
Klein accused the NRC and the Public Service and Health departments in the state of Vermont of “trivializing” the danger of tritium. He pointed out that Vermont Yankee releases tritium daily via its smokestacks, an emission that “goes off God knows where.”

Lawmakers take NRC to task: Rutland Herald Online

April 3, 2010 - Posted by | spinbuster, USA | , , , , ,

1 Comment »

  1. Regulators are not usually English majors, but should perhaps give the “mother” togue a little more study AND mind what impressions their comparisons and similes might leave with nuclear unaculturated members of the press and public.

    New radioactive isotope found at Vermont Yankee

    “Irwin reported Tuesday that the concentration of the cesium — three to 12 times greater than was found at the Chernobyl 1986 nuclear accident in the Ukraine — was unexpected. “We’re kind of questioning why the cesium is there in these concentrations,” he said. “To me, that means it’s coming from the plant and probably from the leak. It’s just a hypothesis.”

    I’m certain that what Irwin said…or meant to say was that cesium levels at VY exceeded those deposited in the region(VT) from the 1986 Chernobyl accident; not “at” or “in” the accident. This accident fallout was (in 1986) added to remnants of weapons testing fallout and is what we measure when we try to determine Cs-137 background.

    At Chernobyl, a thirty kilometer radius , the “dead zone”, including a worker’s city which housed 28,000 people, is to this day evacuated –largely because of the Cs-137 accident fallout.

    Raymond Shadis's avatar Comment by Raymond Shadis | April 5, 2010 | Reply


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