Radioactive Material Found in Groundwater Below Nuke Plant

[inanna]

Source: Associated Press

By The Associated Press
BUCHANAN, N.Y. — Feb 6, 2016, 7:17 PM ET

An apparent overflow at a nuclear power plant north of New York City spilled highly radioactive water into an underground monitoring well, but nuclear regulators said the public isn't at risk.

Officials at the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, 40 miles north of Manhattan, reported on Friday that water contaminated by tritium leaked into the groundwater under the facility. The contamination has remained contained to the site, said Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ordered the state's environmental conservation and health departments to investigate.

"Our first concern is for the health and safety of the residents close to the facility and ensuring the groundwater leak does not pose a threat," Cuomo said Saturday in a statement.

<snip>

It was unclear how much water spilled, but samples showed the water had a radioactivity level of more than 8 million picocuries per liter, a 65,000 percent increase from the average at the plant, Cuomo said. The levels are the highest regulators have seen at Indian Point, and the normal number is about 12,300 picocuries per liter, Cuomo said.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/radioactive-material-found-groundwater-nuke-plant-36760676

[Chemisse]

1. The contamination is contained?

Later in the article:

Contaminated groundwater would likely slowly make its way to the Hudson River, Sheehan said, but research has shown that water usually ends up in the middle of the river and is so diluted that the levels of radioactivity are nearly undetectable.

It does sound like a small spill, but any radiation leak is unacceptable, imo.

[cstanleytech]

7. The article did say it had "remained" not that it "would remain".

[silverweb]

2. But, but, but...

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Nuclear energy is safe and clean and green!

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

3. It is green.

Glowing green.

[silverweb]

4. You've got that right!

[villager]

5. All my faxed-in bullet points tell me so!

My sponsors wouldn't lie to me, would they!?

[silverweb]

16. Of course not!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Except in nearly everything they tell us.

[blackspade]

6. "...but nuclear regulators said the public isn't at risk."

It's in the ground water. It can't be contained within the site.
This will be swept under the rug. Nothing to see here, move along citizen....

[trillion]

15. It sounds like it will be going down the Hudson river. The fish can even get

contaminated and you can't really Dilute radioactive waste to the point it's safe. Those little particles will cause cancer for their half life which for tritium is 12.5 years. By diluting they must mean, spreading every effing where.

[toothless dragon]

8. Its not the Radation, but the particulate matter

that is the problem. Small doses of radioactivity happen all the time... The real problem lies with the radioactive particles involved. Some have very short lives, but others don't . The problem is with people getting these particulates in the their bodies. Some, like Strontium, tend to bind to our systems... Strontium acts like calcium and isn't a major problem if your diet is calcium rich... then it tends to get sloughed off like excess calcium... But People with a calcium need, like growing children, can accumulate strontium instead of calcium, where the accumulation will continually irradiate the person making them much more likely to get cancer. And then there is the heavy metals like Uranium... where it not only irradiates... it is also very poisonous, much so worse than lead.

Yes i am an idiot.. but it is OK I know this..

[Recursion]

10. This is tritated water so it's not a particulate contamination

It's that some amount greater than normal of the water has tritium rather than hydrogen 1 (there's a base level from cosmic and biological activities). Red wine, for instance, carries a good deal of tritiated water in it; you can screw up some of the tests by dumping a bottle in a pond...

Some have very short lives, but others don't

Tritium's is about 12 years, and it passes through the body in about a week. It's a beta emitter so it's completely safe externally; the problem is when you ingest it.

[MisterP]

17. they always emphasize how little gamma radiation gets out

alpha- and beta-emitters that get bioconcentrated, they tend to ... not reserach

[Scruffy1]

9. Just another day.

Bobby Junior has been talking about this impending disaster for many years.

[RoccoR5955]

11. There has been a move on to close Indian Point for a while.

These plants are very long in the tooth, and should be put to bed already.
Follow the link for more info: http://www.clearwater.org/ea/indian-point-campaign/

[Tab]

13. Just as devil's advocate

doesn't this show that various scenarios were accounted for?

I mean, you don't want this to happen, but at least you want it controlled or have a plan in place if it does happen.

[Recursion]

18. Tritiated water is deliberately released in small amounts to track water flows

There's some amount that is considered safe enough that hydrologists do that a lot. No idea how that level compares to this one.

[trillion]

14. I think it's safe to say if they spilled it into the public drinking water, they would claim nobody

is at risk.

From the article:
"An Associated Press investigation in 2009 showed three-quarters of America's 65 nuclear plant sites have leaked tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen that poses the greatest risk of causing cancer when it ends up in drinking water."

[left on green only]

19. But There Is A Bright Side (literally)

The town of Kennewick, Washington (just down stream [Columbia River] from the location of the 1940's Hanford Site, Manhattan Project) does not require the use of street lights at night. The reason why is because everyone who lives there glows in the dark.

[truthisfreedom]

20. Oh that's fine...

Tritium's half life is a short 12.3 years.

[In_The_Wind]

21. Just wonderful! Seepage and tides will spread the contamination no matter what they say.

We are so screwed.

[closeupready]

22. This must be why property values in the area are so low.

Relative to other areas along the Hudson. I did not realize it was so close to Peekskill. Shame, as the area is so naturally beautiful. Oh well.