tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post1580923704860431949..comments2023-04-07T05:19:44.951-04:00Comments on Yes Vermont Yankee: The Truth About Tritium: A Guest Post By Thomas CurpheyMeredith Angwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-47484070705998429362011-01-28T20:14:49.341-05:002011-01-28T20:14:49.341-05:00Mike. I don't think you made gibberish of anyt...Mike. I don't think you made gibberish of anything. Limits on tritium in drinking water are set by the national EPA, and California has more stringent limits. You can see how California set its limits by following the link in this post. The limits are set by health effects, not the amount released or not-released by any source.Meredith Angwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-50542703523325981952011-01-28T10:17:21.074-05:002011-01-28T10:17:21.074-05:00My question is, say you put a pipe into the ground...My question is, say you put a pipe into the ground and pumped tritium down say 30 feet at the VY site at whatever it takes. Say you had 2 years. Through environmental dose models and typical pathways, how much tritium would it take to exceed the first NRC public dose limits without taking any action what so ever? Estimate how much tritium pumped into the ground it would take for the first off site person to get his legal limit exceeded. <br /><br />I just made gibberish out of the NRC dose limits for nuclear plants... <br /><br />My guess it would be gigantic...Mike Mulliganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06503388974475495672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-21747610025681758932011-01-26T18:04:13.164-05:002011-01-26T18:04:13.164-05:00Anonymous
You are correct that the exit signs con...Anonymous<br /><br />You are correct that the exit signs contain gaseous tritium. So you would breathe it in rather than drink it.<br /><br />On the other hand, tritium in the groundwater is not the equivalent of "a few butts." It is the equivalent of eating a small portion of a banana. Or some kale. These foods contain a form of potassium which is also a beta-emitter. And no detectable tritium has ever been found off-site. <br /><br />Your statement of the pipes "having cancer" is a very poor analogy. Pipes can be replaced when they wear out. Jeff Schmidt had an excellent guest post on misleading analogies on this blog.<br /><br />http://yesvy.blogspot.com/2010/12/flawed-analogies-guest-post-by-jeff.html<br /><br />I live in a house built in 1883. The house is almost 130 years old. The plumbing works quite well. Pipes in power plants can also be replaced and upgraded. I encourage you to read Jeff's post.Meredith Angwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-34192905269940816592011-01-26T10:31:28.083-05:002011-01-26T10:31:28.083-05:00Meredith:
You are correct in that Tritium in not ...Meredith:<br /><br />You are correct in that Tritium in not much worse than smoking a few butts a day. The real problem with VY is that the buried pipes have severe cancer and continue to rot away. <br />Chemically, the tritium in and exit sigh is quite different from that found in the groundwater at VY. The exit signs, I believe are a gaseous form of tritium but I could be wrong.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-57172383578514497292011-01-26T09:36:49.319-05:002011-01-26T09:36:49.319-05:00Finrod. Going to Montpelier today and was in Bra...Finrod. Going to Montpelier today and was in Brattleboro yesterday. It gets a little difficult keeping up. Thank you for telling me about this and thank you for challenging the endless junk about tritium! Wow, what a great comment thread on that post! Thank you for telling me about it. Can't do anything about it for a few hours.Meredith Angwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-83444067122694081772011-01-26T09:02:27.909-05:002011-01-26T09:02:27.909-05:00Off Topic:
Meredith, I've fallen into a debat...Off Topic:<br /><br />Meredith, I've fallen into a debate with an anti-VY activist on the following site, but I believe your familiarity with the issue would go down better than my fleeting forays into the issue.<br /><br />http://environment.change.org/blog/view/decrepit_nuclear_power_plant_still_for_saledespite_another_radioactive_discoveryFinrodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02447747229391757964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-45390853748906307492011-01-25T21:06:16.513-05:002011-01-25T21:06:16.513-05:00Joffan. You are right. They have pumped thousand...Joffan. You are right. They have pumped thousands of gallons of water for disposal. If you put all that water together, it would contain 1 curie of tritium. Howard Shaffer ordered and received an exit sign on Amazon. A small one, containing 7 curies of tritium. It's an amazing show-and-tell device: Here it is folks! 7 trillion picocuries of tritium! I'm holding it in my hand!Meredith Angwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02737538041807740424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3033288879708780106.post-64410626014353058292011-01-25T16:54:17.462-05:002011-01-25T16:54:17.462-05:00The other important point is that the total amount...The other important point is that the total amount of tritium released in the seep from the AOG system at Vermont Yankee would not qualify as "large amounts" even if collected together. It simply wasn't a significant incident, and was only ever an on-site monitoring and maintenance issue.<br /><br />Still, BOO, radiation! Ha ha, scared you. Can I be governor now?Joffannoreply@blogger.com