Today is the 20th anniversary of Chernoblyl- that awful nuclear accident that killed hundreds of people in Ukraine in 1986. However, before you read all of the tragic stories about people effected by the explosion and consequently decide that nuclear power plants are not the answer, there are a few things to note:
According to Dr. Albert Driedger, a professor of diagnostic radiology and nuclear medicine at the University of Western Ontario, whose field of expertise includes nuclear industry safety,
Although its important to not forget the tragedy that happened 20 years ago at Chernobyl. We must move forward.
In an essay published Sunday in The Washington Post, ex-Greenpeacenik Patrick Moore acknowledges that in the 1970s he “believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust.” Over the years, however, he has come to view it as “the energy source that can save our planet.”
He even acknowledges what reasonable scientists have asserted for decades: that nuclear energy is safe. The United States has only had one serious nuclear accident — at Three Mile Island in 1979 — and no one at that plant or surrounding neighborhoods was killed or even injured.
“Three Mile Island was in fact a success story,” Mr. Moore writes. “The concrete containment structure did just what it was designed to do — prevent radiation from escaping into the environment.”
MYTH: THERE IS NO PROOF THAT SUPPOSEDLY NEW AND IMPROVED DISPOSAL TECHNOLOGIES WILL WORK THE WAY THAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO WORK.
REALITY: WHAT SOME ARE CALLING “NEW” TECHNOLOGY IS NOT ALL THAT NEW. THE EXPERIENCE OF ELEVEN COUNTRIES OVER THREE DECADES SHOWS THAT ADVANCED DISPOSAL TECHNOLOGIES CAN COMPLETELY ISOLATE LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE FROM THE ENVIRONMENT - AND FROM PEOPLE!
Today, the technology involves barrier after barrier of protective materials. We use common materials with well-known properties - concrete, steel, super-durable plastic, clay, gravel and highly compacted fill and ground cover. To some, this is overkill because today’s low-level waste is solid - and solids tend to stay exactly where put. But the extra barriers ensure that the waste will never reach the environment.
Worldwide experience confirms the saftey of our different approaches to isolate waste. Sixteen countries - including the U.S. , South Africa, Argentina, Belgium, China, Japan, France, Finland, Sweden, Great Britain, Taiwan, Germany, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and Canada - safely dispose of their low-level waste. Operators of facilities in Finland and Great Britain are successfully using technology that U.S. planners have selected for their own disposal facilities. According to the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management “Scientists from around the world agree that an underground repository is a feasible and safe method for disposing of nuclear waste.”
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DID YOU KNOW…
Millions of nuclear medicine procedures are performed in the United Sates every year, saving or prolonging thousands of lives. Today, approximately half of all cancer patients in the U.S. - and 5 million cancer patients worldwide - receive radiation treatment at some point in their therapy. Radioisotopes and X-rays are also used to diagnose and treat scores of other diseases.
For many serious health problems, radioactive materials offer the best means of prevention, detection and cure. Without these materials, life threatening diseases will go undetected. Hospital stays will drag on. Costs will increase. Patients will suffer needless pain. And cancer patients could die, since physicians have no alternatives to radioactive materials when treating some forms of cancer.
Without radioactive materials, physicians will lose the best, most effective means to treat or diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, AIDS, thyroid disease, epilepsy, gall stones - and many more.
Here is the difference radioactive materials can make:
Medical facilities must dispose of the waste they generate through these procedures. So do the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture the radioactive materials doctors use. “Delay in building permanent disposal facilities leads to increased costs for patients, and a possible curtailment of lifesaving nuclear medicine procedures,” explains Dr. Conrad Nagle of the American College of Nuclear Physicians.
MYTH: Past disposal practices were unsafe. Four of the disposal sites that were built in the Sixties were forced to close and even the two that are still operating have leaked radioactivity.
REALITY: Although no one was ever harmed, some practices of 30 years ago would rate no better than a C+ by today’s standards. Today’s clean-up efforts will fix earlier problems - and experience tells us what we must and must not do to make new disposal sites safe.
With the wisdom of 20/20 hind-site, there are a number of things about our original low-level waste programs that we would do differently - and better. As with any technology - whether the result be automobiles, airplanes or waste facilities - engineers have learned much through years of experience. Without exception, all of the plans for new facilities capitalize on this knowledge and experience. In addition, existing regulations and licensing requirements reflect the lessons we have learned.
There has indeed been migration of radioactivity into areas around the disposal trenches at some of the older sites. In every case, however, the levels of radioactivity from such leaks were not enough to exceed safety standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, and certainly not enough to threaten health and public safety.
In an recent article from MSNBC.com, “The biggest known tritium leak was at Exelon’s nuclear reactor at Braidwood, where 3 million gallons of tainted water spilled in 1998 and 2000. Late last year, tests indicated tritium in the well of a nearby homeowner, indicating that the leak had spread. HOWEVER, the NRC said that the tritium levels were just 10% of what the EPA allows in drinking water…” !!!
Today’s operators and regulators alike consider leaks of any sort to be unacceptable, and studies for better understanding and remediation techniques are constantly taking place.
Radioactive materials are used everywhere!!! You probably don’t know it, but radioactive materials are used in…
So… if you think we should stop using radioactive materials to produce goods then you should stop using smoke detectors, paper, thin plastic, scrap metal, etc…
The answer is to support the effort to dispose of the radioactive waste in the safest way possible!
or to just stop using all these goods??!!
Americium -241: Used in many smoke detectors for homes and business…to measure levels of toxic lead in dried paint samples…to ensure uniform thickness in rolling processes like steel and paper production…and to help determine where oil wells should be drilled.
Cadmium -109: Used to analyze metal alloys for checking stock, sorting scrap.
CHECK BACK WITH US TO SEE MORE WAYS IN WHICH RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS IMPROVE OUR LIVES- (THE LIST GOES ON AND ON!)
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MYTH: Radioactive wastes from medicine, research, and industrial uses are different - and much less dangerous - than radioactive nuclear power plant wastes.
REALITY: Low-level waste si low-level waste, whether it is a by-product of AIDS research, a hospital’s cancer treatment program, or power production.
Only a small fraction of low-level waste (less than 1%), hits the upper end of the scale in terms of levels of radioactivity and length of time required for decay. Certain nuclear plant parts and filters fall within this catagory - but so do aircraft exit signs that were manufactured with radioactive tritium!
· At least 80 percent of prescription drugs are tested with radioactive materials.
· Radioactive materials are used to sterilize hospital instruments and bandages to prevent the spread of infection.
· Ten out of the last 15 Nobel prizes in medicine and physiology involved research using radioactive materials.
MYTH: Low-level radioactive waste is “green ooze,” capable of leaking into water supplies — or is liquid / gas capable of spreading to the atmosphere.
REALITY: Low-level radioactive waste is dry, solid material consisting of trash from nuclear power plants (contaminated machinery parts, protective clothing or gloves worn by workers, filters and other materials), university research facilities (test tubes, clothing, and animals used for research), medical facilities (linens, paper products and protective clothing ), and industrial facilities.
The reputation of both kinds of waste suffer from science fiction imagery. Many people think of it as “green ooze,” or as liquid or gas, both easily spread to the environment. Different polls, by Cambridge Reports and others, show that nuclear waste is viewed as an evil entity that is out of control. Therefore it is important to paint an accurate and concrete picture what radioactive waste is, and to dispel fears that my be grounded in ignorance of the issue.
Many people think of radioactive waste as an afterthought. Americans need to be reminded that radioactive waste is a necessary by-product of beneficial uses of radioactive materials. If people wish to enjoy the benefits derived from the use of radioactive materials, thy must also realize that such materials create waste and must be disposed of in a safe, permanent manner.