Radiation & Indian Point
1) No Safe Threshold to Exposure to Radiation. It is scientifically established that every exposure to radiation increases the risk of damage to tissues, cells, DNA and other vital molecules. Each exposure potentially can cause programmed cell death, genetic mutations, cancers, leukemia, birth defects, and reproductive, immune and endocrine system disorders.
2) Permissible Does Not Mean Safe. Government regulations allow radioactive water to be released from Indian Point nuclear power plant to the environment containing “permissible” levels of contamination. However, since there is no safe threshold to exposure to radiation, permissible does not mean safe.
3) Radioactive Releases Occur Routinely. It doesn’t take an accident at the Indian Point nuclear power plant to release radioactivity into our air, water, and soil. As a matter of regular operation, radiation is released from Indian Point in the form of liquid, gaseous, and solid radioactive wastes. Solid radioactive wastes include laundry (considered low-level waste) and irradiated spent fuel (considered high-level waste.)
• Each reactor routinely emits relatively low-dose amounts of airborne and liquid radioactivity. This radioactivity represents over 100 different isotopes only produced in reactors and atomic bombs, including Strontium-89, Strontium-90, Cesium-137, and Iodine-131. Humans ingest them either by inhalation, or through the food chain (after airborne radioactivity returns these chemicals to earth).
• Each of these chemicals has a special biochemical action; iodine seeks out the thyroid gland, strontium clumps to the bone and teeth (like calcium), and cesium is distributed throughout the soft tissues. All are carcinogenic. Each decays at varying rates; for example, iodine-131 has a half-life of eight days, and remains in the body only a few weeks. Strontium-90 has a half-life of 28.7 years, and thus remains in bone and teeth for many years.
• These chemicals are different from “background” radiation found in nature in cosmic rays and the earth’s surface. Background radiation, while still harmful, contains no chemicals that specifically attack the thyroid gland, bones, or other organs.
4) Indian Point Emissions Rank High. Indian Point ranks among the top emitters with respect to radioactive releases over the years it has operated.
5) Accidents Happen. Radioactive releases result from plant accidents. On February 15, 2000, IP-2 suffered a ruptured steam generator tube that released 20,000 gallons of radioactive coolant into the plant. The incident was the result of poor plant maintenance by the plant operator and lax oversight by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The accident, a stage 2 event, triggered a radioactive release to the atmosphere. The NRC gave the plant its worst rating because of the previous plant operator’s failure to detect flaws in a steam generator tube before the February 2000 leak. It was later revealed that a week after the accident, 200 gallons of radioactive water was accidentally released into the Hudson River.
Since at least August 2005, radioactive toxins such as tritium and strontium-90 have been leaking from at least two spent fuel pools at Indian Point into the groundwater and the Hudson River. In January 2007 it was reported that strontium-90 was detected in four out of twelve Hudson River fish tested.
6) Plant Operators Charged With Tracking Their Own Releases. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission relies upon self-reporting and computer modeling from reactor operators to track radioactive releases and their projected dispersion. A significant portion of the environmental monitoring data is extrapolated – virtual, not real.
7) Radioactive Releases Are NOT Fully Accounted For by Plant Operator. Radioactive releases from Indian Point’s routine operation often are not fully detected or reported. Accidental releases may not be completely verified or documented.
8) Radioactive Releases occur throughout the Nuclear Fuel Cycle. Radioactive releases occur during different stages of the nuclear fuel cycle which includes uranium mining, uranium milling, chemical conversion, fuel enrichment and fabrication, the process by which electricity is generated at plant via controlled reaction, and the storage of radioactive waste, both on-site and off-site.
9) Radioactive By-Products Remain Dangerous for Long Periods. Many of the reactor’s radioactive by-products continue giving off radioactive particles and rays for enormously long periods – described in terms of “half lives.” A radioactive material gives off hazardous radiation for at least ten half-lives. One of the radioactive isotopes of iodine (iodine-129) has a half-life of 16 million years; technetium-99 has a half-life of 211,000 years; and plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years. Xenon-135, a noble gas, decays into cesium-135, an isotope with a 2.3 million year half-life.
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Indian Point has one of the largest quantities of irradiated (or “spent”) fuel in the northeast. While plant owners in other countries such as Germany are implementing more robust measures (i.e., hardening facilities) to protect the irradiated fuel onsite, there is inadequate protection for this irradiated fuel in the U.S.
There is currently no approved national repository to begin removing it from temporary spent fuel pools located onsite at Indian Point and other U.S. nuclear power plants across the country. Approximately 1500 tons of spent fuel is currently stored in densely packed pools at Indian Point. No containment structures exist over the spent fuel pools; the pools are vulnerable to a loss-of-coolant scenario; mock attack drills reveal accessibility to and vulnerability of spent fuel buildings; and two of the spent fuel pools at Indian Point have been leaking radioactive materials.
Since at least August 2005, radioactive contaminants such as tritium and strontium-90 have been leaking from Indian Point’s spent fuel pools into the groundwater and the Hudson River. As of January 2007, Entergy and the NRC have not been able to identify the source of the leaks, determine the extent of the leaks, or develop a realistic plan to stop the leaks. In January 2007, the NRC announced it would continue heightened oversight at Indian Point due to the leaks and Entergy’s delays in installing new emergency sirens.
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A nuclear reactor core contains a number of fuel assemblies, bundles of thin tubes containing pellets of enriched uranium. These tubes are usually referred to as fuel rods. Over time, the build-up of neutron-absorbing poisons resulting from the chain reaction reduces the ability of the fuel to sustain an efficient chain reaction, and the rods become irradiated or “spent” and must be replaced. The federal government classifies irradiated fuel as high level radioactive waste.
Over 1500 tons of irradiated fuel is currently stored onsite in high-density pools housed within buildings that were not designed to repel a terrorist attack. Running out of space in these pools, Indian Point’s owner, Entergy, has proposed to move some of the older irradiated fuel in these pools into a dry cask system. But the cask model is fraught with design flaws and the manner in which the casks will be stored leaves them vulnerable to terrorism.
Mostly motivated by the fact that Indian Point’s pools are running out of space, the Entergy Corporation notified the NRC in 2003 of their intent to store irradiated nuclear fuel in dry casks on the site in what the industry refers to as an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation. Entergy has run into many problems with the construction of the dry cask storage system.
The dry cask system, which Entergy intends to use is plagued with problems. Most obvious is that the system, Holtec International’s HI-STORM 100 model, is not robustly designed to repel post-9/11 acts of terrorism. The casks are not as fortified as other models and Entergy’s proposal to store them above ground on an open concrete pad surrounded by a fence is not comforting. The NRC requires no additional protections.
Entergy and the NRC argue that it would be difficult to fly a plane into a cask. That may be true for a single cask. However, if the current proposal is implemented, Entergy would ultimately have over 50 casks situated together — fully exposed — on a concrete pad, and up to 75 if the NRC grants Entergy’s request for a 20-year license renewal. With the casks stored in such a vulnerable manner, a terrorist attack involving a plane crash could destroy several casks and release radioactive material.
In addition to security problems, some government officials, industry whistleblowers and nuclear safety watchdogs have raised concerns about welding and other design flaws with Holtec’s dry cask models and about the company’s inadequate quality assurance program. This is of particular concern, given the high number of casks they plan to fill in such a short time frame.
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Strontium-90 (Sr-90) is the latest of several radioactive isotopes, including tritium, cobalt, and cesium, to be discovered in groundwater wells or soil samples since a leak from the Indian Point 2 spent fuel pool was discovered in August 2005. Sr-90, one of the most toxic byproducts of nuclear power generation, is produced as a fission byproduct of uranium and plutonium.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the isotope can enter the food chain when released into the environment. Human ingestion of strontium-90 – either by drinking water or eating contaminated food products – is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and concentrates in bone mass.
Exposure to strontium-90 increases the risk of numerous diseases including bone cancer, leukemia, and soft tissue cancer. According to scholars at Northern Arizona University, “Radioisotopes such as strontium-90, which behaves like calcium, is accumulated by organisms and passed along a food chain magnifying with each link in the food chain. Consequently, top carnivores can accumulate very high concentrations of this radioactive isotope, even if only very low concentrations are released to the environment.”
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On January 16, 2007 the Journal News reported that four of twelve fish samples taken from the Hudson by Entergy showed detectable levels of strontium-90 in their flesh, raising new concerns as to the level of environmental damage caused by the leak of radioactive water containing strontium-90 from the Indian Point 1 spent fuel pool. Of the four showing higher levels, one was collected near Indian Point, and the other three near the Newburgh-Beacon bridge, about fifteen miles north of the plant.
Riverkeeper immediately called on state and federal regulators to broaden their sampling program, so that a better picture of the extent of contamination could be ascertained. This toxic radionuclide, known as a “bone seeker” because it mimics calcium and concentrates in bone, can cause leukemia and bone cancer if ingested in high amounts.
Despite Entergy’s claim to the contrary, Indian Point is known to be at least one source of strontium-90 in the Hudson, and the only one currently known to be discharging this toxic substance into the river. Low levels of strontium-90 remain in the global environment from nuclear weapons testing during the 1950s and 60s, and the Knolls Atomic Laboratory dumped radioactive waste into the Mohawk River near Schenectady during the same time period. The Mohawk is a tributary of the Hudson. Stay tuned for a more detailed update in the upcoming spring 2007 issue of Riverkeeper magazine.
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On March 30, 2007 Potassium Iodide (KI) distributed by the Federal government in 2002 expired. The Feds failed to notify states in a timely manner, so many Americans are still waiting for replacement pills. New York State and local agencies have announced new distribution dates for Indian Point.
Westchester County
Check if you are in the 10-mile EPZ
Westchester County Department of Emergency Services
4 Dana Road, Valhalla.
(914) 864-5450
Village of Briarcliff Manor
Municipal Bldg.
1111 Pleasantville Rd, Briarcliff Manor
Village of Buchanan
Not Participating
Town of Cortlandt
Not Participating
Village Croton-on-Hudson
Municipal Bldg.
2nd Floor, Main Office
1 VanWyck Street, Croton
Town of New Castle
Town Clerk’s Office
Town Hall
200 S Greeley Avenue, Chappaqua
Town/Village of Ossining
Community Center
95 Broadway, Ossining
Peekskill
Office of Emergency Management
or call 862-1020
Town of Somers
Supervisor’s Office
Town Hall
335 Route 202, Somers
Town of Yorktown
John C. Hart Memorial Library,
1130 Main Street, Shrub Oak
& Town of Yorktown Municipal Bldg.
363 Underhill Ave, Yorktown Heights
Rockland County
All residents of Rockland County are eligible to receive Potassium Iodide. Residents may pick up one free pill per person in their household. KI is available five days a week at the Rockland County Office of Fire and Emergency Services, located at the Fire Training Center, 35 Firemen’s Memorial Drive off Route 45 in Pomona. Additional information can be obtained by calling 1-800-942-1450. While the New York State Department of Health recommends distribution of KI to residents living within a 10-mile radius of a nuclear power plant, Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef directed that all Rockland residents may obtain free KI pills if they choose.
To have information on Potassium Iodide faxed to you please call 845-364-8990
Orange County
All residents of Orange County are eligible to receive one free pill per person. On June 2, 2007 from 9am to 1pm, Potassium Iodide pills will be distributed at Cornwall Central Middle School, 122 Main St., Cornwall. For more information regarding Potassium Iodide distribution, please contact the Division of Emergency Management at 1-800-942-7136. For further information, please contact Richard Mayfield in the County Executive’s at 845-291-2721.
Putnam County
On April 23, 2007 Putnam County announced its KI distribution dates for May 2007. Click on the document to the right to view dates and locations.
About Potassium Iodide (KI)
The American Thyroid Association endorses Potassium Iodide for radiation emergencies.
Taking either Potassium Iodide (KI) or Potassium Iodate (KIO3) before exposure will saturate (fill up) a person’s thyroid gland with safe stable iodine so that there is no room for the uptake of radioactive iodine. Once the thyroid is saturated, any additional iodine (radioactive or stable) that is later inhaled or ingested is quickly eliminated via the kidneys.
In sum, the American Thyroid Association recommends that:
-Potassium Iodide should be part of an emergency plan that includes evacuation, sheltering, and avoiding contaminated food, milk, and water.
-Highest priority for Potassium Iodide use and all other emergency measures should be given to babies, children up to 18 years of age, and pregnant women.
-Potassium Iodide should be made available to populations living within 200 miles of a nuclear power plant.
-Potassium Iodide should be “predistributed” to households within 50 miles of a plant.
-Potassium Iodide should be used only under regulatory guidance.
