Radioactive leaks found at 75% of US nuke sites

BRACEVILLE, Ill. - Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The number and severity of the leaks has been escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation.

Tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen, has leaked from at least 48 of 65 sites, according to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission records reviewed as part of the AP's yearlong examination of safety issues at aging nuclear power plants. Leaks from at least 37 of those facilities contained concentrations exceeding the federal drinking water standard -- sometimes at hundreds of times the limit.

While most leaks have been found within plant boundaries, some have migrated offsite. But none is known to have reached public water supplies.

At three sites -- two in Illinois and one in Minnesota -- leaks have contaminated drinking wells of nearby homes, the records show, but not at levels violating the drinking water standard. At a fourth site, in New Jersey, tritium has leaked into an aquifer and a discharge canal feeding picturesque Barnegat Bay off the Atlantic Ocean.

Previously, the AP reported that regulators and industry have weakened safety standards for decades to keep the nation's commercial nuclear reactors operating within the rules. While NRC officials and plant operators argue that safety margins can be eased without peril, critics say these accommodations are inching the reactors closer to an accident.

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Any exposure to radioactivity, no matter how slight, boosts cancer risk, according to the National Academy of Sciences. Federal regulators set a limit for how much tritium is allowed in drinking water. So far, federal and industry officials say, the tritium leaks pose no health threat.

But it's hard to know how far some leaks have traveled into groundwater. Tritium moves through soil quickly, and when it is detected it often indicates the presence of more powerful radioactive isotopes that are often spilled at the same time.

For example, cesium-137 turned up with tritium at the Fort Calhoun nuclear unit near Omaha, Neb., in 2007. Strontium-90 was discovered with tritium two years earlier at the Indian Point nuclear power complex, where two reactors operate 25 miles north of New York City.

The tritium leaks also have spurred doubts among independent engineers about the reliability of emergency safety systems at the 104 nuclear reactors situated on the 65 sites. That's partly because some of the leaky underground pipes carry water meant to cool a reactor in an emergency shutdown and to prevent a meltdown. More than a mile of piping, much of it encased in concrete, can lie beneath a reactor.

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.

Still, the NRC and industry consider the leaks a public relations problem, not a public health or accident threat, records and interviews show.

"The public health and safety impact of this is next to zero," said Tony Pietrangelo, chief nuclear officer of the industry's Nuclear Energy Institute. "This is a public confidence issue."

Leaks Are Prolific

Like rust under a car, corrosion has propagated for decades along the hard-to-reach, wet underbellies of the reactors -- generally built in a burst of construction during the 1960s and 1970s. As part of an investigation of aging problems at the country's nuclear reactors, the AP uncovered evidence that despite government and industry programs to bring the causes of such leaks under control, breaches have become more frequent and widespread.

There were 38 leaks from underground piping between 2000 and 2009, according to an industry document presented at a tritium conference. Nearly two-thirds of the leaks were reported over the latest five years.

Here are some examples:

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[PourpaixPourpaix]

It's a pity more people don't understand, but it's not so hard that only a nuclear physicist can understand. If the source of radiation is external to your body, you can absorb some radiation with minimal risk. Much of the radiation cannot penetrate beyond the skin. However, if you inhale or eat a source of radiation and it of the type that is not excreted quickly in some way, now sensitive organs are directly radiated from within constantly. Inside the body, it only takes a very small radiation source to be dangerous. Plutonium, for example, is a radiation source that goes straight to the bone and stays there, radiating the marrow. It doesn't take cancer long to develop.

[uktena]

WAKE UP America. The Germans did. But here in the land of free exploitation GE whats to build 61 new plants. They have already been busted falsifying the specifications on the containment vessels for this new reactor design. As it has been said, "a nation of sheep breeds a government of wolves.

[justme2012]

We've got to have energy from somewhere.

I don't see liberals liking anything.

[sjc_1]

I favor combined cycle natural gas plants that are 60% efficient and much cleaner as base load to wind, solar, geothermal and tidal.

[Diamonddavej]

A picocurie is 0.000000000001 curie (1 thousandth billionth). In contrast, Fukushima released 60 MILLION curies.

[uktena]

We are overdue for our own Fukushima

[dustin93sc]

Abu Dhabi misinformation? ...

[bajajohn1]

When...will we ever learn? Japan has learned. They will probably beat us in the solar energy field..again..because our politicians are bought and paid for by the oil and nuclear energy industries.

[uktena]

Yes sir. You are correct.

[justme2012]

How much of YOUR energy consumption is being met with solar power?

[global_eye]

According to a group of highly advanced men (perfect from our standpoint) who are now emerging publicly, known by some as the Masters of Wisdom, all nuclear plants should be shut down immediately. There is a form of radiation that our out-dated Geiger Counter instruments cannot detect - on the higher, more subtle and finer plane of matter known as "etheric matter".

There is a teacher named Maitreya who is head of this group of men. He is emerging as a man concerned with modern day problems, but he is unique to be sure. He is here to inspire humanity to re-shape our entire society, to create peace and justice through sharing of the world's resources. You will find his advice among other things is to do away with this dangerous and life-threatening form of nuclear energy production. We are about to witness some major breakthroughs with much more advanced, "clean" and sustainable forms of energy production. Look up share-international and search for the article titled "invisible peril".

[Brokennews]

Is that from the original Star Trek or one of the newer ones??

[bajajohn1]

Why must you repeat your comment. You have anything new to add?

[global_eye]

According to a group of highly advanced men (perfect from our standpoint) who are now emerging publicly, known by some as the Masters of Wisdom, all nuclear plants should be shut down immediately. There is a form of radiation that our out-dated Geiger Counter instruments cannot detect - on the higher, more subtle and finer plane of matter known as "etheric matter".

There is a teach named Maitreya who is head of this group of men. He is emerging as a man concerned with modern day problems, but he is unique to be sure. He is here to inspire humanity to re-shape our entire society, to create peace and justice through sharing of the world's resources. You will find his advice among other things is to do away with this dangerous and life-threatening form of nuclear energy production. We are about to witness some major breakthroughs with much more advanced, "clean" and sustainable forms of energy production. Go to share-international's website and look up the article titled "invisible peril".

[global_eye]

According to a group of highly advanced men (perfect from our standpoint) who are now emerging publicly, known by some as the Masters of Wisdom, all nuclear plants should be shut down immediately. There is a form of radiation that our out-dated Geiger Counter instruments cannot detect - on the higher, more subtle and finer plane of matter known as "etheric matter".

There is a teach named Maitreya who is head of this group of men. He is emerging as a man concerned with modern day problems, but he is unique to be sure. He is here to inspire humanity to re-shape our entire society, to create peace and justice through sharing of the world's resources. You will find his advice among other things is to do away with this dangerous and life-threatening form of nuclear energy production. We are about to witness some major breakthroughs with much more advanced, "clean" and sustainable forms of energy production. Go to share-international's website and look up the article titled "invisible peril".

[karek40]

And the water was turned to wormwood and many died from drinking the water. Hmmm

[Jhihmoac]

Refreshing...Anyone have about a thousand or so pinwheels?