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1. Leave the water on the site. 2. TankTruck it Out. 3.Drain it Into Hudson River.
WPCNR THE POWER STORY. By John F. Bailey February 18, 2023 updated with audio of County Executive Latimer and Dr. Gunderson 1:35 P.M EST:
Holec Inrternational, the worldwide company specializing in decommissioning nuclear and other facilities, current owner of Indian Point has applied to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation for a permit to drain the one million gallons Indian Point radioactive wastewater into the Hudson River. The DEC is now reviewing that permit.
Thursday afternoon in a zoomed webinar the Safe Energy Rights Group and a host of environmental organizations presented three nuclear and health experts to discuss “the health and safety” of removing the water from the cooling pools.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer began with thanking the sponsors and said we should “follow the science,” in determining what to do with the waste water remaining on the site because of the unknown impact the water will have on the county residents of over one million people. His tone was strongly implying the water should not be discharged into the sound.
Dr. Arnie Gunderson, Chief Engineer at Fairway Associates, a nuclear engineer who has been making the public aware it is impossible to remove tritium, the major danger to the public in radioactive wastewater, said based on the experience of the decommissioning of Vermont Yankee, there were three solutions: 1. Discharge the water into the river which he opposes, but is favored by Holec because it is the least expensive remediation; 2. Truck the water to storage facilities in another state (more expensive) and 3. (The solution he thinks is best) Leave the water in its pools on the Indian Point Site.
He advised the Tritium isotope found in the wastewater can infect the air surrounding the plant and the shores of the Hudson River (if discharged into the river.) He said it would take 50 years before half the tritium isotope pollutant would disappear from the (Hudson River) waters if the million gallons of water were discharged.
In the meantime the tritium could evaporate from the water and condense and cover grounds in Westchester County. He emphasized that an industry saying of the past, “dilution is the solution to pollution” was not true because the tritium (accumulated for years in the pools at Indian Point would take 120 years to decay
Dr. Kathleen Nolan, a pediatrician, President of Physicians for Social Responsibility of New York concentrated on the point that radiation (and tritium) is known to cause cancer in children
. She raised the spectre of possible unexpected consequences – that with PCB’s in the Hudson, the tritium may interact with them. Sne characterized the intended discharging of radioactive wastewater into the Hudson as “creating pollution” (to solve pollution).
Mary Olson characterized tritium as a “bad actor” which, because when is exposed to the human body, it throws off betas that penetrate the human body. Ms. Olson’s study in 2011 on comparing geognder cancer rates when she was a staff biologist for Nuclear Information and Resource Service, showing more women were getting cancer from radiation than men.
She encouraged more research on why biokogical sex is a factor in radiation harm. In her presentation she pointed out how tritium when it enters the body of a pregnant woman can connect with elements in the body and concentrate radiation especially in womb of a woman who is pregnant and cause developmental defects in the the fetus at its early stages of development.
No representatives from the decommissioning company, Holtec International spoke.
Two hour program ended with an exhortation by Dr.Courtney Williams, the moderator to contact representatives across the state to alert them to the issue.