Radioactive (Tritium) Discovery Stuns Mayor

Radioactive (Tritium) Discovery Stuns Mayor

blog.mlive.com

SOUTH HAVEN -- After finding out Wednesday that tritium -- a low-level radioactive substance -- was found in a groundwater monitoring well between Palisades nuclear power plant and Lake Michigan, South Haven Mayor Dorothy Appleyard expressed dismay and vowed to further investigate.

"This surprised me," said Appleyard, whose city sits just a few miles north of the Covert Township power plant. "I want to investigate this further."

(visit the link for the full news article)


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This is posted for member awareness, the levels detected in the well were of a reportable level and this would be the second incident near Palisades in the past two years, the first had to do with a container.

The monitoring will continue but I would assume that this finding is connected to the nuclear power plant nearby.

The mayor was informed of this detection by a reporter Wednesday afternoon. You would think that any reportable detection information would be forwarded to the local community leaders, or am I missing something?

The plants operating license was renewed through 2031 back in January.



blog.mlive.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I think this should be heavily investigated as it would be ashame to ruin a place like this..

I also have to say that I have been to South Haven and what a great town
I remember eating at the three Pelicans Restaurant and drinking at Captain Jack's Cantina what a fun time that was.. it has been a few years but someday I plan on going back for vacation I was working at the time that I was there but as luck would have it we had a lot of free paid time..


Respectfully
GEO

[edit on 12/13/2007 by geocom]

It seems like this would be a good time to learn a little more about trituim. So here is some info.

The legal limits for tritium in drinking water can vary. The U.S. limit is calculated to yield a dose of 4 mrem (or 40 microsieverts in SI units) per year.

Canada 7,000 Bq/L.
United States 740 Bq/L or 20,000 pCi/L (Safe Drinking Water Act)
World Health Organization 1,000 Bq/L.

wiki

Whoa!

Almost missed the thread due to Geo's Enormously large Avatar.

(avatar envy)

I wonder why Canada's acceptable level is so high?

Ah, see you fixed it.

System glitch perhaps. Good show.

reply to post by Grailkeeper


Yep grabbed the wrong jpg sorry about that


Respectfully
GEO

www.ccnr.org...

Here is part of a study done on Lab rats. How they can figure out how much could affect us compared to these guys no clue. It also says that the side effects did not matter based on doses.

Not to intentionally side track the thread, but that is not the only contaminate found in Lake Michigan, tar balls where found as well, the size of cars. Really scary stuff, considering there are unexplored locations yet to be found.

Can't even imagine what will be found next.

reply to post by ADVISOR


Advisor,
What does the tar balls the size of cars mean?
Does that just show that parts are un exsplored or what?

Some more information on tritium from the Michigan DEQ

USE OF TRITIUM IN ASSESSING AQUIFER VULNERABILITY pdf

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Tritium is a naturally occurring radioactive isotope of hydrogen, which decays as a beta emitter. It
is produced in small quantities in the upper atmosphere where it is incorporated into water
molecules and, therefore, present in rainwater and surface recharge to aquifer systems. With a
half-life of 12.3 years, tritium can be used to trace and date ground water, calculate rates of water
circulation in the hydrologic cycle, and assess how long a specific ground water source has been
stored out of contact with tritium laden recharge.
In comparison to many other atmospheric radioactive isotopes, tritium is extremely rare and not
affected by chemical processes. The naturally occurring tritium level in rainwater (pre-bomb) is
estimated at 5 to 10 tritium unit (TU), where one TU = one Tritium atom per 1018 Hydrogen atoms
and an equivalent gross beta radiation 3.2 picocuries/liter. However, the amount of tritium in the
atmosphere was greatly increased as a result of nuclear weapons testing causing recharge waters
to be "tagged" with excess tritium beginning in about 1954. Nuclear weapons testing resulted in
atmospheric tritium levels in excess of 1000 TU. Modern day values have declined to levels
between 50 and 100 TU with the decline attributed to the elimination of atmospheric nuclear
weapons testing and radioactive decay.

Also some information on tritium in groundwater can be found here at NRC:

Groundwater Contamination (Tritium) at Nuclear Plants

Tritium is a mildly radioactive type of hydrogen that occurs both naturally and during the operation of nuclear power plants. Water containing tritium and other radioactive substances is normally released from nuclear plants under controlled, monitored conditions the NRC mandates to protect public health and safety. The NRC recently identified several instances of unintended tritium releases, and all available information shows no threat to the public. Nonetheless, the NRC is reviewing these incidents to ensure nuclear plant operators have taken appropriate action and to determine what, if any, changes are needed to the agency's rules and regulations. The following information provides further basic information on tritium and other isotopes released from nuclear power plants, outlines the status of the unintended tritium leaks and the NRC's actions.

The NRC report on the test that found the tritium can be seen here:

Event Notification Report for December 11, 2007

As a kind of "aside"...

Is there a reason why Canada allows such a higher level of tritium compared to the US ? Is this due to the prevalence of Uranium and Thorium in Canada leaching into groundwater systems as opposed to other countries...

Or something else ?

Peace

reply to post by JacKatMtn


seems like we are real smart when it comes to inventing toys=cars/trucks/aircraft/supertankers/buildings /bridges/overpasses/nuclear power plants------------but when it comes to doing the required maintenance----------we get real lazy-----------and going by my own experiences--------the "king" picks a friend of his that will kiss butt and kick back finances and loyalty to the "king"--money that should have gone into the maintenance and while the friend looks after his "king" he persecutes the maintenance workers that really want to do their jobs because they have a conscience but the "kings" friend has to drown his own conscience with drugs or booze because thats the only way he can fool himself that he's not doing anything wrong----------i just quite a federal government job because of being stuck with such a "kings" friend for a boss---and complaining to the police agencies-------forget it-----they think your nuts and a liar because they "know" their "king" and his friends would do nothing wrong.

Originally posted by Rilence
As a kind of "aside"...

Is there a reason why Canada allows such a higher level of tritium compared to the US ? Is this due to the prevalence of Uranium and Thorium in Canada leaching into groundwater systems as opposed to other countries...

Or something else ?

Peace

According to this website 7,000 Bq/L is an acceptable level as long as it does not meet that level on a constant basis.