Tag: radiation limits

By Posted on Posted in Energy & Sustainability, Ethics in Government Tagged with , , , , ,

Outrageous! Under normal circumstances, the legal limit for radioactive iodine 131 in water is 3 picocuries per liter.

But in case of a nuclear accident, that standard goes out the window (or perhaps I should say, out the cooling tower), with the recent adoption by the Environmental Protection Agency of a Bush-era backdoor plan for nuclear accident response. A Forbes article about this travesty, “EPA Draft Stirs Fears of Radically Relaxed Radiation Guidelines,” sounds the alarm:

The new EPA guide refers to International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines that suggest intervention is not necessary until drinking water is contaminated with radioactive iodine 131 at a concentration of 81,000 picocuries per liter. This is 27,000 times less stringent than the EPA rule of 3 picocuries per liter.

This is one of many alarming standards relaxations in the new regs. Another, allowing for 2,000 millirems of radiation exposure over time, is expected to increase the number of cancer deaths  from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 23.
Though it’s only a draft, it has been adopted as interim policy. And there’s enough concern that Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility issued a press release harshly critical of the new regulations.
My thanks to local journalist Stephanie Kraft, whose article in the Valley Advocate alerted me to this.
This is an absolute outrage!
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