Vermont — Radioactive tritium, a carcinogen discovered in potentially dangerous levels in groundwater at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, has now tainted at least 27 of the nation’s 104 nuclear reactors — raising concerns about how it is escaping from the aging nuclear plants.
The leaks — many from deteriorating underground pipes — come as the nuclear industry is seeking and obtaining federal license renewals, casting itself as a clean-green alternative to power plants that burn fossil fuels.
Tritium, found in nature in tiny amounts and a product of nuclear fission, has been linked to cancer if ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin in large amounts.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday that new tests at a monitoring well on Vermont Yankee’s site in Vernon registered 70,500 picocuries per liter, more than three times the federal safety standard of 20,000 picocuries per liter.
Comments
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 8 years, 4 months ago
Nuclear power is simply a game of Russian Roulette. The more of them are, the more bullets there are in the gun.
SettingTheRecordStraight 8 years, 4 months ago
Time to support an "all of the above" mantra for the world's energy needs: nuclear, wind, petroleum, solar, coal, geothermal, natural gas, biomass, oil shale, ethanol, tar sands, etc.
ralphralph 8 years, 4 months ago
Overblown and irrational anti-nuke hype rises again.
somedude20 8 years, 4 months ago
Nuclear power is no worse than that evil K-2
gphawk89 8 years, 4 months ago
Tritium has a half-life of about 10 years, if I remember right. Compare that to, what, several billion years for U238. My watch has tritium in it. 2 or 3 of my gun sights have tritium in them. While I agree that it's not something that you want a lot of inside your body, I can think of a lot worse things that could potentially leak out of a nuclear reactor than tritium.
Buffers 8 years, 4 months ago
And any kind of factory can leak, blow up, burn. There is danger in everything. Your greatest risk, driving a car. Most likely to die in a car wreck, more than any other danger.
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