nuclear-news

The cancer study, released by the Radiation Public Health Project (RPHP) and written by epidemiologist Joseph Mangano at the request of Unplug Salem, a citizen’s group, indicates rising cancer rates in communities around the facility. Mangano has published 34 medical journal articles on the effects of radiation on public health, including areas around the Oyster Creek nuclear reactor in Lacey that showed elevated pediatric cancer rates and the presence of radioactive strontium 90 in baby teeth. Strontium 90 is a radioactive isotope that can be found only in a nuclear bomb or nuclear plant.

The report states that Salem County had the highest cancer rates of any New Jersey county for 2014, the most recent year statistics were gathered. Prior to 1990, the county cancer death rate was below the state rate. Since then, the county rate has steadily risen. The report indicates the 2014 rate was 40 percent higher than the state rate.

The study does not draw a definite link between radiological releases from the plant and cancer rates, but strongly urges state and federal agencies to do more in-depth analysis.

In light of the revelations of potentially flawed components at Salem and the RPHP report, the NRC must step up its oversight and provide the public with hard-core data proving the public is not at risk.

The NRC has refused to confirm or deny whether there are American nuclear plants using defective French parts, saying it is proprietary information between the plant operator and manufacturer, and that there is not a safety concern at this time.

The proprietary information argument is absurd. The NRC should not have to be reminded that its obligation and mandate is the protection of the American public. If this were a defective automobile part, recall notices would be sent to owners and then advertised in nationwide news outlets.

The French Nuclear Safety Authority reported in April 2016 that analysis showed manufacturing flaws, and since then, regulators in France have shut down 18 reactors to test for potentially defective parts. The parts include crucial cooling components.

We need to do exactly what France is doing.

According to Beyond Nuclear, a national nuclear watchdog group, the parts include reactor pressure vessels and replacement steam generators. In addition to uncovering the defective parts, French regulators also suspected falsification of manufacturing reports.

Beyond Nuclear’s Paul Gunter has filed an emergency petition with the NRC to release the list of nuclear plants that could be using defective French parts.

Congress must join that call and demand proof that those potentially defective parts could not cause a catastrophic accident or meltdown. Until that analysis is conducted and made public, any nuclear plant operating with a potentially defective part must be shut down.

The NRC’s long history of putting nuclear industry profits ahead of public safety, and its abrupt cancellation of a cancer study around nuclear plants, including Oyster Creek, does nothing to quell public unease. International cancer studies in France, Germany and the United Kingdom have found increased childhood leukemia rates in neighborhoods around nuclear plants.

The public is exposed to daily emissions of low-level radiation from nuclear plants. These nuclear isotopes are man-made and not naturally occurring. The National Academies of Science has stated in a report referred to as the Bier VII that no amount of continuous exposure to radiation can be considered safe.

The unfolding events at Salem/Hope Creek, which had three safety problem findings in 2015, including the presence of icicles that contained tritium about 500 times the federal standard, demands immediate state and congressional attention.

A new governor will be in Trenton in 2017, and that individual must get New Jersey on track toward a renewable energy future so that we can leave dangerous nuclear energy and dirty fossil fuels in the past. It’s time to embrace 21st century technology and become a shining example for other states. Las Vegas is now entirely powered by renewables. If Las Vegas can do it, so can New Jersey. It just takes political will, determination and a hefty dose of foresight for the well-being of the planet and future generations.

Janet Tauro is New Jersey board chair of Clean Water Action.