#201: Nuclear Fallout From Saddam Hussein.

=======================Electronic Edition========================

RACHEL'S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #201
---October 3, 1990---
News and resources for environmental justice.
------
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org ==========
RACHEL-4CM = DIOXIN FOCUSED DIRECTORY Remote Access Chemical Hazards Electronic Library. Dioxinnz.com
========================Original Source========================

[Continuing our review of MULTIPLE EXPOSURES BY CATHERINE CAUFIELD. Page numbers given in our text, below, refer to Ms. Caufield's book.]

The NEW YORK TIMES recently called for greater U.S. reliance on nuclear power plants to generate electricity. The nuclear industry has seized upon Saddam Hussein as an excuse to peddle its wares more aggressively, and the TIMES is helping out. The TIMES says America should go nuclear in a big way because we need to get off the oil binge and because the problem of catastrophic nuclear accidents has been solved by new plant designs. In older nuclear power plants, catastrophic releases of radioactivity could occur when the nuclear fuel got too hot and melted, burning a hole in the outermost protective shell of the plant, or perhaps allowing an explosion to occur. Radiation releases at Three Mile Island and at Chernobyl both resulted from core meltdown (though at Three Mile Island the outermost protective shield remained intact).

The TIMES says the core melt problem has been solved in a new generation of nuclear plants--plants that the nuclear industry calls "inherently safe." The TIMES seems to like this phrase and repeats it often.

Even if this optimistic view of modern nuclear plants were correct, which is by no means assured (see RHWN #145), there would still be good reason to discourage the spread of nuclear power.

Catastrophic releases of radiation are not the only problems that make nuclear power plants dangerous; an even larger danger is the routine, small doses of radiation that occur to workers and to the public alike as a nuclear plant goes about its business of generating steam and electricity. Even if nuclear power plants never released large amounts of radioactivity at one time, the cumulative radiation exposures they entail would make them much more dangerous than the available alternatives (biomass, wind, and solar).

The nuclear "fuel cycle" begins when human beings mine uranium from a mile or so below the surface of the ground; the uranium is then crushed ("milled") into sand. The sand is chemically processed to extract uranium, which is then sent to a factory where it is turned into fuel pellets, which are then packaged into rods, which are bundled together and inserted into the core of a reactor. The rods are allowed to "go critical"--which is to say, they are encouraged to undergo the same reactions that occur inside an atomic bomb, though inside a power plant everything is closely controlled to avoid an explosion. The uranium fuel undergoes nuclear fission, heats up, boils water which makes steam, which turns a turbine to make electricity. Meanwhile, the fuel rods are "fissioning," and making not only heat but also many new radioactive elements that weren't there to begin with, like strontium-90 and cesium-137 and plutonium239. These useless, highly dangerous, and unwanted byproducts are "radioactive waste" and they must be put somewhere for the duration of the hazard, which in some cases is several hundred thousand years.

Another kind of radioactive waste, which many people (including the editors of the TIMES) tend to forget is the uranium mine and mill wastes that remain heaped on the desert because there isn't anyplace else to put them. (They are mined as rock, then crushed into sand and after they are crushed their volume is so large that they don't fit back in the same hole they originally came out of, besides which putting them back into the ground would be expensive and would obstruct further underground digging, so there is no place to put them except in a big pile on the desert where they blow around with the wind, wash away with the rain, and exude radioactive radon gas for thousands of years into the future, causing deadly exposures all the while. There are already 191 million tons of radioactive uranium wastes heaped on the desert in the southwestern U.S., literally blowing on the wind; they contain little uranium but much radium (about 100 times the amount of radium found in average rock). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the people living near these piles have a one-in-a-thousand chance of fatal lung cancer--a risk 1000 times greater than the risks EPA usually calls "acceptable." (Pgs. 75-88, 202-207.)

The people who mine uranium have been treated as a disposable commodity. The U.S. Public Health Service says the death rate from lung cancer is five times greater among uranium miners than among the population as a whole. The average age of uranium miners who die of lung cancer is 46. (Pg. 78.)

A problem affecting even more people is the radiation exposure that accompanies the routine operations of a nuclear power plant and its associated "fuel cycle." The public is exposed somewhat; workers are exposed somewhat more. As radioactive fuel and wastes are created and handled and transported and stored, many people are exposed a little. Inside the plant itself, a broken pipe spills a puddle of radioactive water, which someone mops up. Then the pipe is fixed or replaced. Each operation exposes workers a little more and creates a little more radioactive waste, which must be packaged and shipped somewhere by someone. 

Exposures add up.

The unit of measurement for radioactivity is the rem. One person exposed to one rem of radiation creates an exposure of one person-rem. The size of a nuclear power plant is measured by the plant's capacity to produce electricity. A large plant is rated at 2 billion watts, or 2 gigawatts, meaning it could light 20 million 100-watt light bulbs continuously. Such a plant operating for one year will produce 2 gigawatt-years of electricity.

The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) estimates that one gigawatt-year of nuclear electricity produces 467,500 person-rem of dose-commitment; this means that running a 2-gigawatt nuclear plant creates conditions that will eventually lead to 467,500 x 2 = 935,000 person-rems of exposure each year it remains in operation (pgs. 163, 202). According to the International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP), which is the most prestigious standards-setting group for the nuclear industry--this will cause fatal cancers in 116 people per year and will cause 75 serious genetic defects per year (pgs. 163, 202). If this typical nuclear plant operated for 25 years, it would thus kill a total of 25 x 116 = 2900 people and would cause 25 x 75 = 1875 serious genetic defects. For every fatal cancer, there will also be 1.5 to 2 non-fatal cancers caused; so, conservatively, we can estimate that 25 years of operation of a 2-gigawatt nuclear power plant will cause 1.5 x 2900 = 4350 non-fatal cancers (skin cancers and thyroid cancers, for example); these costs of operating a nuclear power plant will accrue far into the future (pgs. 163, 183).

These are rock-bottom estimates, straight from the heart of a standards-setting agency of the nuclear industry, the ICRP. Another international organization, established to track the health of humans who survived the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (called the Radiation Effects Research Foundation), during the 1980s published a series of reports indicating that the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been exposed to about 10 times less radiation than was previously thought; since current estimates about radiation danger to humans are largely based on the experiences of these Japanese people, this means that current estimates of the hazards of radiation are roughly 10 times too low (pg. 164). If this is the case (and there is now a great deal of evidence that it is), this means that operating a 2-gigawatt nuclear power plant for 25 years will kill 29,000 people, not 2,900 people, and will cause an additional 43,500 non-fatal cancers, not 4,350 non-fatal cancers. If the genetic damage increases proportionately with the cancer risk (very likely a good assumption), 18,750 serious genetic defects will be caused by operating a nuclear power plant for 25 years, not merely 1,875 serious genetic defects.

We must not let Saddam Hussein stampede us, or the TIMES lead us, down this dark, dangerous path.

Get: Catherine Caufield, MULTIPLE EXPOSURES, CHRONICLES OF THE RADIATION AGE (NY: Harper & Row, 1989). Another good book (despite its age), filled with useful information, is: The Union of Concerned Scientists, THE NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE [Revised edition] (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1975).

--Peter Montague, Ph.D.

Descriptor terms: catherine caufield; NEW YORK TIMES; nuclear power plants; three mile island; chernobyl; meltdown; radiation; occupational safety and health; uranium; radioactive waste; radium; radon; lung cancer; mortality; exposure; unscear; un scientific committee on the effects of atomic radiation; radiation effects research foundation; hiroshima; nagasaki; nuclear weapons;

#202: Trial And Error: A Costly Way To Learn.

=======================Electronic Edition========================

RACHEL'S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #202
---October 10, 1990---
News and resources for environmental justice.
------
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org ==========
RACHEL-4CM = DIOXIN FOCUSED DIRECTORY Remote Access Chemical Hazards Electronic Library. Dioxinnz.com
========================Original Source========================

[Continuing our review of Catherine Caufield's stunning, fact-filled book, MULTIPLE EXPOSURES, CHRONICLES OF THE RADIATION AGE now available in paperback. Page numbers in our text refer to pages in the 1989 hardback edition from Harper & Row.]

The history of the development of ionizing radiation (X-rays and radioactivity) reveals many of the same problems we face today: dangerous technologies are being developed via trial and error, with humans serving as the test species. For example (pg. 8), in 1896, "The first systematic practitioner of X-ray therapy was Dr. Leopold Freund in Vienna, whose first patient was a fiveyear-old girl with a hairy mole on her back. In December, 1896, she underwent two hours of X-rays every day for 16 days. After 12 days, the hair on her back began to fall out, but her whole back became horribly inflamed and took a very long time to heal. Thereafter Freund limited exposures to 10 minutes. 'This accident,' commented the girl's doctor, dryly, 'was full of instruction.'" Oops.

From its earliest days, and continuing into the present day, trial-and-error has been the basic means of development for nuclear technology. The underwater A-bomb test July 25, 1946 at Bikini atoll gave unexpected results (pgs. 94-98); it was supposed to show that a fleet of Navy ships could survive a nearby bombing and could then be boarded and sailed triumphantly home across the Pacific. Instead, "The test planners were taken aback. They had not expected such high levels of radioactivity, though there had been warnings from RadSafe [the official medical team in charge of troop safety].... The task force now faced a huge and unexpected job-decontaminating the target fleet [of 84 ships] so it could be reboarded and sailed home. Unfortunately, no one knew how to clear a ship of radioactivity. In the first days, crews simply sluiced down the decks of their ships, using radioactive lagoon water. When that didn't work, they used soap and water. That too failed, as did every other cleaning agent tried, from lye to foamite.... After many weeks, it was finally proved that the only effective decontamination technique was to remove the outer surface of each ship to a depth of almost half an inch.... Sailors were not issued proper protective clothing--a garment to cover the entire body and head, along with goggles, boots, gloves, and filter masks--while working on contaminated vessels. The first clear order to destroy severely contaminated clothing was not issued until two weeks after [the bomb] was exploded. Not until 13 August, almost three weeks after the blast, were decontamination crews ordered to board the 'change ship' to shower and change their workclothes before returning to the ships where they slept and ate.

"The target ships were not the only ones made radioactive by [the bomb]. The live fleet, the [100] ships on which most of the 42,000 participants were sleeping, showering, and eating, had also become contaminated, largely as a result of entering the lagoon prematurely.... Warren [in charge of RadSafe] recommended that all drinking water should be taken from the ocean, as far as possible away from the lagoon, but his advice was ignored. The radioactive lagoon water contaminated the evaporators used to collect it and the pipes that carried it to the showers and toilets.... Warren's private papers, which became available after his death in 1982, reveal the severity of the situation. On 13 August he reported that 'The initial contamination of surfaces was so great that reduction... of 90 percent or more still leaves large and dangerous quantities of fission [products] and alpha emitters scattered about... Contamination of personnel, clothing, hands, and even food can be demonstrated readily in every ship... in increasing amounts day by day.'

"By the time the true extent of the live fleet's contamination was acknowledged, the fleet had already dispersed.... In September, 1946 the Navy decided that every ship that had been at Bikini during or after the [Abomb] test had to undergo full-scale decontamination... But the Navy could not afford to have an entire fleet out of action for months while a way to clean it was sought. 'Consequently,' an official report stated in September, 1946, 'several APA's, Destroyer Division 72 and some auxiliaries have been cleared practically to meet operational requirements on the basis that they might continue to operate until methods of making them safe for overhaul are developed.'" Oops.

In 1953 the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC, a federal agency) set up offices in the western states of Colorado, New Mexico and Utah to promote the discovery and mining of uranium. (pg. 75) By this time the "radiation protection community" [the doctors and others who had appointed themselves to establish standards for 'safe' levels of radiation exposure] had officially adopted the position that there is no truly safe amount of radiation--a viewpoint officially adopted by the ICRP [International Commission on Radiological Protection] in 1948 (pgs. 73, 77). Their position was crystal clear: Every bit of radiation carries with it the risk of cancer and of genetic damage that can be passed on to one's children.

But a 1951 pamphlet published by the AEC makes no mention of radiation in connection with uranium mining; instead it says, "the radioactivity contained in rocks is not dangerous to humans unless the rocks are held in close contact with the skin for very long periods of time." (pg. 81)

Navajo uranium miner Phillip Harrison says, "And when I went to work [in 1969], I was never told anything inside the mine would be hazardous to my health later. It really surprised us to find out after so many years that it would turn out like this, that it would kill a lot of people. They said nothing about radiation or safety, things like that. We had no idea at all." He describes his father's death from lung cancer: "My father, the last year of his life he had greatly suffered; he had really suffered daily. We gave him pain pills, but the pain just started mounting and pretty soon the pain pills weren't enough. They started shooting him with needles, and the needles didn't stop the pain. I think they die mostly from pain." (pg. 79)

Some 30,000 to 40,000 men mined uranium from the 1950s through the 1970s (pgs. 84, 86). The current estimate is that somewhere between 3000 and 8000 of these men will die from lung cancer as a result of their exposure to radiation, and thousands more will die of emphysema, fibrosis and other lung ailments. Oops. The "developed" nations tested about 500 atomic bombs in the atmosphere, starting in 1946. Each bomb created massive amounts of fallout containing strontium90 a highly radioactive element not found in nature. The human body reacts to strontium-90 as if it were calcium and stores it in the bones, where calcium is normally stored, and in many other body tissues. As late as 1953 the AEC's official position on dangers from strontium-90 was that "the only potential hazard to humans would be the ingestion of bone splinters [from ground beef made from cows fed fallout-contaminated grass]...." (pg. 126) What the AEC's scientists overlooked was that milk from cows would provide a direct pathway into millions of humans--especially children--even if those humans never ate any bone splinters whatsoever. Oops.

When a University of Pittsburgh scientist calculated in 1969 that atomic fallout had killed 400,000 American children, the AEC asked its own scientists to evaluate the data (pg. 155). The AEC's scientists concluded that "only" 4,000 American children had been killed by atomic fallout. Oops.

The AEC did not like this answer. AEC officials tried (unsuccessfully) to prevent their own scientists from presenting these conclusions at a meeting of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science. Two weeks after he presented his data, AEC scientist Arthur Tamplin found his staff cut from 11 to four; within six months, he had only one assistant remaining and his major responsibilities had been transferred to other scientists. He had no choice but to quit the agency and seek work elsewhere (pg. 157).

The history of nuclear development, thoroughly and dispassionately documented in this book, is a chronicle of errors and misjudgments, of disregard for scientific evidence and common sense, and, often, of contempt for common decency itself. Now this industry and its friends in government plan to experiment on you, to learn what will happen when "low level" radioactive waste has the name "radioactive" stripped off and it is renamed "below regulatory concern" (BRC) [see RHWN #183, #184, and #185]. BRC wastes can now legally be sent to your municipal dump, your municipal incinerator, and even to your local recycling program, from whence recycled radioactive metal objects can make their way back into your home. Oops.

Furthermore, this industry and its friends in government are pressing forward now with a new plan for burying more than 2000 pounds of plutonium-239 half a mile below the desert floor in southern New Mexico. By the government's own estimate, 100 micrograms of plutonium will kill a human, so the WIPP [Waste Isolation Pilot Plant] site will contain enough plutonium to kill 10 billion humans--twice earth's population. Plutonium remains radioactive for 240,000 years. Our government assures us they can seal the WIPP so it will remain secure for 250,000 years. And if they are wrong? Oops.

Get: Catherine Caufield, MULTIPLE EXPOSURES, CHRONICLES OF THE RADIATION AGE (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990). Paperback: $13.95.

--Peter Montague, Ph.D.

Descriptor terms: catherine caufield; radiation; nuclear weapons; occupational safety; aec; workers; race; native peoples; native americans; children; strontium-90; plutonium-239; wipp; waste isolation pilot plant; health;