Radiation Exposure and Risk
Ionizing radiation damages living things and contaminates the environment, sometimes permanently. Studies have shown increases in cancer around nuclear facilities and uranium mines. Radiation mutates genes which can cause genetic damage across generations.
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Russia’s Phobos-Grunt space probe, with 22 pounds of radioactive Cobalt-57 on board, fell to Earth Sunday. The probe was launched in November to go to Phobos, a moon of Mars, but its rocket system failed to fire it onward from low Earth orbit.
There is some confusion as to where pieces of the 14.9-ton probe fell. Read Karl Grossman's article in Common Dreams
Metal tissue holders contaminated with low levels of radioactive material may have been distributed to Bed, Bath & Beyond stores in more than 20 states including New York, federal regulators said Thursday. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman David McIntyre said the home products company had pulled the tissue holder from its stores.
Bed, Bath & Beyond Inc. said in a statement Thursday that its Dual Ridge Metal boutique tissue holder has been carried in about 200 of its stores since July. It said it was recalling all of the tissue holdersand asking any customers who bought them to return them for a full refund. Associated Press.
A major epidemiological study just published in the January 2012 edition of The International Journal of Cancer indicates there is “a possible excess risk” of acute leukemia among children living in close vicinity to French nuclear power plants (NPP). The study called for an “investigation for potential risk factors related to the vicinity of NPP, and collaborative analysis of multisite studies conducted in various countries.”
The study found a doubling of occurrence of childhood leukemia between the years of 2002-2007 among children under 5 years living within 5 km of nuclear plants – similar to the findings of the German 2008 study by the Cancer Registry in Mainz which found an association between the nearness of residence to nuclear power plants and the risk of childhood leukemia.
The epidemiological study was conducted by a team from the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, the Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN) and the National Register of hematological diseases of children in Villejuif. The results marked a surprising and encouraging change at IRSN which had endeavored to discredit earlier French epidemiological studies that had shown an impact of nuclear facilities on health.
Erin Brockovich, shown here, was portrayed by Julia Roberts in a box office hitCNN interviewed famous environmentalist Erin Brockovich (pictured, left) about her new novel, Hot Water, on the health risks of radioactivity leaks into the environment from nuclear power plants across the U.S. Brockovich warns that radioactivity ingestion by children, as evidenced through such projects as the "Tooth Fairy," could begin to explain cancer epidemics in certain locales nationwide. Beyond Nuclear has long warned that it is not just accidental ("unmonitored, uncontrolled") leaks of hazardous radioactivity, but also "routine releases" (supposedly "controlled and monitored") allowed and permitted by government regulators as a daily part of atomic reactors' operations, that need to be stopped. Children are significantly more vulnerable to radiation's hazards, as revealed by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research's "Healthy from the Start" campaign.
The Star has reported that 1,769 Canadian health care workers suffered radiation doses 25 to 40% worse than they were told four years ago, due to an error in a computer program administered by Health Canada. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission regulates Health Canada on such matters, but both federal agencies missed the error for 4 years. Some health care workers were exposed to above permissible doses, once the error was caught. CNSC also regulates Canadian atomic reactors, and other nuclear facilities and activities. The article closed by quoting Mark Mattson of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper:
"Mark Mattson of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, who has opposed construction of new nuclear units at Darlington, said the incident raises question about the nuclear regulator – which also oversees nuclear power stations.
'The shocking thing here is that no one noticed the mistake for four years,' he said.
'Waterkeeper is very interested to see who is held accountable for this mistake. In recent years, we have become increasingly concerned that the CNSC is lax when it comes to enforcing the rules.' "
January 17, 2012