ML19309B926
| ML19309B926 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Crane  |
| Issue date: | 03/20/1980 |
| From: | Walters E ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY INSTITUTE |
| To: | NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8004070350 | |
| Download: ML19309B926 (2) | |
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ENVIRONMENTAL 30LICY CENTER 317 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E., Washingron, D.C. 20003 (202) 547 6500
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March 20, 1980 fo-32D Statement of Eleanor Walters, Washington Representative Presented at the Environmental Impact Statement Scoping Meeting, Baltimore, MD The Environmencal Policy Center opposes the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's proposal to release radioactive gases and water from the Three Mile Island reactor into the atmosphere and Susquehanna River.
It is our belief that entombing the radioactive wastes within the containment is an option which has not been throughly explored by the NRC. By keeping the radioactivity on-site, it will not pose a threat to the health and safety of persons living down wind or down stream.
The reasoning behind the proposal to slowly vent the krypton is that the gases must be removed before clean-up operations can begin and that this will keep health hazsrds to a minimum.
It does not matter, however,
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what the rate of venting is because the total radioactivity vented is the There is an increasing amount of scientific data which suggest the same.
amount of genetic damage in the exposed population will be maximized by slow releases over an extended period of time.
More specifically, spreading out a given total dose minimizes the short-term biological effects but actually maximizes the much more serious long-term effects which include genetic damage. This is because the immediate cause of radiation-induced disease is damage to the DNA. Reproduction of mis-information eventually results in a visible effect such as cancer. At low levels of exposure it is extremely unlikely that a cell will be so damaged that it cannot reproduce itself. At higher levels of exposure, however, cell killing is more likely. A dead cell cannot produce a cancer or future genetic defect.
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The release of the contaminated water from the reactor poses I
the same type of long-term risk to public health.
In fact, it is more of a threat to public health because the Susquehanna River provides the drinking water for southeast Pennsylvania and northeast Maryland residents.
It is a major tributary to the Chesapeake Bay -- one of the U.S.'s most fragile and productive ecosystems -- thus, further radiation contamination can result by the incorporation of long-lived radionuclides in the food chain.
Should the Chesapeake be contaminated by the TMI radioactive wastes the economic and environmental renrecussions would be devestating.
The federal government has consistently maintained that TMI radiation releases are not harmful to the public.
It has not been able to determine, however, what it causing the increased incidence of spontaneous abortions, stillbirths, and illnesses among TMI residents. Radiation may not be the only reason for this increase but it is unlikely that it has not at least contributed to it.
Because releasing the wastes will create the potential for additional health problems among a larger population and contaminate the environment, the Environmental Policy Center proposes that (1) the NRC adopt an alternative to releasing the radiation into the environment, such as entombment; (2) the Environmental Protection Agency increase its on-site and off-site monitoring capability; (3) the Pennsylvania and Maryland Health Departments monitor vegetables, fruit, and dairy products grown down stream from TMI for strontium; (4) independent monitoring systems be implemented:
(5) the NRC, EPA, state, and independent monitoring data be analyzed by independent reseachers; and (6) the cost / benefit analyses include the long-term health costs created by TMI.
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