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Study Assessing Risk of Nuclear Plants in US State of Illinois

   Kane Farabaugh | Chicago  April 20, 2011
   An Environmental Protection Agency RadNet (radiation network) monitor
   is shown on the roof of the Bay Area Air Quality Management building in
   San Francisco, March 28, 2011

Photo: AP

   An Environmental Protection Agency RadNet (radiation network) monitor
   is shown on the roof of the Bay Area Air Quality Management building in
   San Francisco, March 28, 2011

   The Midwest state of Illinois, with six nuclear power plants, is home
   to the largest network of nuclear facilities in the United States. The
   U.S. Department of Energy says Illinois' nuclear-generation capacity is
   greater than that of any other state, and of most nations in the world.
   A current study by the National Academies of Sciences is assessing the
   risk those nuclear facilities pose to the people who live near them.
   The Braidwood Generating Station began operations in Illinois in 1988.
   The facility can produce enough electricity to power two million homes.
   Almost five million people live within 80 kilometers of the plant,
   including Maureen Heddington. "I think that there is a level of
   mistrust that runs so deeply," she said.

   IFRAME: [1]http://www.youtube.com/embed/oLnQ6_hizIk

   Some of that mistrust stems from radioactive tritium leaks. In 2007,
   residents and local governments near the plant sued Exelon, the company
   that runs Braidwood. They claimed the tritium leaks had contaminated
   drinking wells. In 2010, Exelon settled the suit by providing money for
   environmental cleanup projects in the affected communities.
   But the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, which oversees
   facilities in the United States, said the tritium leaks fell below the
   federal safety limits. "Every nuclear power plant has radioactive
   material - effluents - very small amounts released that are under the
   federal regulatory limits, said Viktoria Mitlyng, a Public Affairs
   Officer for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
   She said much of the information the NRC relies on to determine
   regulatory limits, and how releases might impact health, is several
   decades old. "The last study was done about twenty years ago. Some of
   the methodologies were outdated. And so we thought it was time to
   really get a closer look at the information available today and we
   asked the National Academies of Sciences to conduct the study as a
   neutral scientific body," she said.
   John Burris is the chair of the National Academy of Sciences' cancer
   risk study, sponsored by the NRC. "This meeting is part of five
   meetings that we're using to gather information to help us write a
   report that will look at the cancer risk assessment of individuals
   living near nuclear facilities," he said.
   The study group's latest meeting in suburban Chicago comes in the wake
   of the tsunami in Japan, which damaged the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear
   plant, resulting in dangerous radiation leaks. The crisis, which
   continues to unfold, has raised global awareness of the perils of
   nuclear energy.
   But Burris says the committee, which includes scientists, doctors and
   radiation experts from around the world, is not necessarily focused on
   catastrophic releases of radiation. "We're talking about the normal
   day-to-day activities of nuclear power plants and the people that live
   near them. Certainly, incidents like Fukushima and Chernobyl alert the
   public, but those will probably provide very limited input into this
   particular study," he said.
   What Burris says will not be limited in the study is input from the
   public. Members of nearby communities in the shadow of one of Illinois'
   six nuclear plants - like Braidwood - were invited to attend the
   meeting and express their concerns.
   Viktoria Mitlyng says she hopes public access to the meetings will help
   repair some of the mistrust that exists. "The mere fact that we are
   commissioning this study, (and that it) should be conducted by an
   independent, highly esteemed, scientific body should say something
   about where our priorities are," she said.
   The Committee will hold similar meetings in Atlanta and Los Angeles
   later this year. They hope to conclude the study and issue a final
   report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of the year.

References

   1. http://www.youtube.com/embed/oLnQ6_hizIk