Yesterday I posted on the politics of the permissible dose for radiation here
Today, I am going to post more of Capt. Clyde Stagner's research on the presence and effects of radioactive tritium in Maricopa County due to Palo Verde Nuclear Plant Emissions:
Jan
21, 2013
Director,
Maricopa County Dept. of Public Health
4041
N. Central Ave.
Phoenix,
Az. 85102
Subject:
Tritium in Phoenix & People of Phoenix
Dear
Dr. Bob England, MD
Tritium
has caused leukemia and congenital aberrations which resulted in the 2000
closing of an AMERSHAM PLANT in Cardiff, Wales (Ref: Figure 3,”Hidden Tritium”.
Down’s syndrome was found to increase by 80% in Pickering and 46% in Ajax
because of tritium releases from the Pickering Nuclear Station in Canada between
1978 and 1985.
The US Dept. of Labor, in 2008, paid a one billion dollar
settlement to former nuclear workers of the Neutron Devices Plant located near
Pinellas Park, Fla. More workers at the Dept. of Energy Savannah River Site
died from pleural cancer and leukemia than would be expected in the general
population. The higher the radiation
dose of tritium, the higher chance of fatal leukemia (Ref: Center for Disease
Control and Prevention).
Damage
by tritium to humans occurs by the inhalation and/or dermal adsorption of
tritium oxide: when the environmental and exposure medium are the same, the
intake for both inhalation and dermal intake is the same. Gaseous tritium is
exhaled by humans without effective absorption (Ref:lbl.gov/ehs/esg/tritium).
Within one to two hours after intake, tritium will be evenly distributed
throughout the body’s fluids (Ref: Physics Dept., Idaho State Univ.) which
includes those of a fetus, if present.
From
1985 through 2010, the Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency (ARRA), in
conjunction with the EPA, monitored Phoenix’s precipitation for tritium. The
collection occurred at ARRA’s facilities at 4814 South 40th St.,
Phoenix, Az. 85040. The results were
published by the EPA in its Envirofacts Database. No results were known to be
published by ARRA.
The
NRC Radioactive Effluent and Environmental Reports for Palo Verde Units 1, 2, and
3 in 2011 cite total tritium emissions of 2,024 curies released as gaseous
effluent in Maricopa County. A release of 3,000 curies of tritium annually was
considered acceptable.
Looking
at a map of Maricopa County, the gaseous tritium is released to ground level at
variable times where the westerly winds, prevailing eleven months of each year,
carry the tritium gas plume eastward. As the plume expands to the north and
south, tritium gas converts to tritium oxide (water) with lesser concentrations
as the distance from the tritium source increases.
A
singular monitoring site, such as ARRA’s Phoenix, collects tritium in
precipitation at one spot in the tritium plume. The precipitation, depositing
tritium at ARRA’s Phoenix, is also depositing tritium in a multitude of,
possibly continuous, spots within the entire zip code 85040 and others
elsewhere.
In
2005, ARRA started monitoring at its Phoenix/956, west of its Phoenix site by
approximately thirteen miles. Comparison of identical radioactive isotope
measurements, from both sites, revealed that the Phoenix site concentration
results were 82.5 % of those measured at the Phoenix/956 site.
The
average incident of Down syndrome in Arizona between 1995 and 2007 was 12.87.
The
Incident rate of Down syndrome from 1995 to 2007 fluctuated among native
Indians who had an average rate of 14.32 13.33 for African Americans.
The
average for white and Hispanic were relatively constant with 11.9 and 13.67,
respectively.
However,
peaks exist in 1998 27 for native Americans (Fig.2), 14 for white, non Hispanic
(Fig 4) and 25 for African Americans (Fig 3) (Ref: Birth Defects Monitoring
Program, Facts about Down Syndrome, 1995-2007).
The
Down syndrome Incident Rate from 1995-2007 dropped from 12 to 10 with increase
from 12.5 in 1997 to 16 in 1998.
During
this period, there were also peaks in the tritium concentration being deposited
upon Phoenix. The concentration for 1997 was 2845.2 pCi/L, 414 0.8 pCi/L for
1998, 5065.2 pCi/L for 1999, and 7957.8 pCi/L for 2000.
A community Approach to address fetal and
infant death in Maricopa County which included Maryville and South Phoenix was
assessed in 2004 by the Maricopa County department of
Public Health.
This
evaluation shall only include fetal mortality (a fetal death is anytime during
pregnancy) and the environmental presence of radioactive tritium. The South
Phoenix Neighborhood was defined by zip
codes,85003, 85004, 85007, 85009, 850343, 85041, 85042, 85043, 85339, and 85040 which
includes ARRA’s Phoenix monitoring station for collecting precipitation
containing tritium. This area is contained in a rectangle bordered by I10, 40th
St., Dobblas Road, and 91st Ave.
South Phoenix during 1996-2000 had an
F-IMR (Fetus-Infant Mortality Rate) of 10.6 deaths which was higher than the
country’s. In 1996-2000, the reference group consisted of Maricopa County non
Hispanic white women, at least 20 years of age, who had a total F-IMR of 5.8
deaths per 1000 live births and fetal deaths. Subtracting the reference groups
F-IMR (5.8) from the South Phoenix F-IMR (10.6) yields an excess mortality rate
of 4.8 which suggests 45% of the deaths were potentially preventable.
If the South Phoenix F-IMR were similar
to the reference groups F-IMR, there would have been 111 fewer fetal deaths. Of the 111 excess fetal
deaths, 41 occurrences were in “maternal health” and 32 in the “maternal care”
category of which both categories are subject to tritium fetus damage. These
deaths occurred during the Phoenix environmental tritium spikes of 1997, 1998,
and 1999.
Maryville was defined by five zip codes; 85017,
85019, 85031, 85033, and 85035 which border those of South Phoenix on the west.
ARRA monitoring site Phoenix/956 is a thirteen miles west and slightly north
east of the Phoenix site and also slightly above the eastern zip code of
Maryville. Previous results in which Phoenix site was 82.5% of Phoenix/956 gives
tritium peaks of 3448.7 pCi/L for1997,5019.2 pCi/L for1998,6132 pCi/L for1999,
and 9645.8 pCi/l for 2000.
Maryville’s overall F-IMR during 1996-2000
was similar to the whole country’s F-IMR of 8.8 deaths per 1000 live births, and
fetal deaths. Within Maryville, F-IMR differed between subgroups. During
1996-2000, the F-IMR was 8.8 deaths and the excess was 3 deaths. In Maricopa
County, 32% of the current fetal infant mortality is potentially preventable; the
proportion is 34% for Maryville ad 45% for South Phoenix.
Fetus eggs can be exposed to tritium’s
radiation for decades after initial exposure (Ref: Review of Risks from
Tritium, UK, Nov 2007). Radioactive isotopes incorporated within a woman’s body
pose an in-utero risk 4-5 times greater than air external exposure would pose
to her developing fetus (Ref: Environmental Health, Vol 8.43,2009)
Tritium covers Phoenix in varying
concentrations depending on distances from the source. Tritium entering a
woman’s body rapidly spreads to all locations including a fetus, if present. Tritium
radioactivity can damage, or destroy a fetus and/or cause other physical damage
including cancer.
The amount of tritium in Phoenix shall increase with time
under current release criteria. Monitoring tritium is essential for the future
health of its population. The only method for controlling tritium is
containment. From the EPA Tritium radiation measured in Phoenix and the
findings of Dept. of Public Health for cases of Down’s Syndrome and fetus
deaths in conjunction with tritium radiation peaks in Phoenix, the conclusion
necessitates the containment of tritium being blanketed on Phoenix.
For
the children and people of Phoenix
Clyde H. Stagner
PREVIOUS POSTS ON CAPT STAGNER'S WORK
Jul 17, 2012
Clyde
Stagner, Retired. He spent much of his professional life monitoring
radiation readings for government agencies. I will post links to his
book, Hidden Trituim and my previous discussions of his work at the
bottom of this ...
EPA Censorship and a Failure of Transparency in Government
Hidden Tritium
Environmental Activism
Phoenix Radiation Increases
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES ON TRITIUM
Bridges, B. A. (2008). Effectiveness of tritium beta particles. Journal of Radiological Protection, 28, 1-3.
Fairlie, I. (2007) RBE and wg values for Auger emitters and low range
beta emitters with particular reference to tritium. Journal of
Radiological Protection, 27, 157-168.
Harrison, J. D. Khursheed, A., & Lambert, B. (2002). Uncertainties
in dose coefficients for intakes of tritiated water and organically
bound forms of tritium by members of the public. Radiation Protection
Dosim. 98, 299-311.
Straume, T. (1993) Tritium Risk Assessment. Health Physics, 65, 673-682.
What is the source of the tritium falling on Phoenix? It doesn't say. Is there an NPP nearby?
ReplyDeletePalo Verde Nuclear Power Plant
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Verde_Nuclear_Generating_Station