I often wonder what motivates people to write letters to the editor so I often look them up. I read a letter by Jefferson P. Knight in yesterday’s Miami Herald. He is on the Advisory Council of the Republican National Lawyers Association. He was the Chair of the Florida Chapter of the Republican National Lawyers Association 2004-2006 and he gave $500 to the Republican Party of Miami Dade County in 2008. So I assume he is a Republican. Is it relevant? No, but it does help me understand where he is coming from like he trying to project where Clean Water Action is coming from.
His letter takes Clean Water Action to task regarding their stance on salt-water intrusion if there is expansion at Turkey Point (mostly from digging rock pits to get fill to build the plant to the proper elevation). The 2 new reactors are to be built in a low elevation area that I believe has be be raised 15 feet. Jefferson says that the group: Clean Water Action, is actually against nuclear power, insinuating they are disingenuous to focus on the salt water intrusion issue instead of the broader issue.
My reply to Mr. Knight: So what if the group is against nuclear power and would rather promote renewal sources of energy? They can also zero in on specific problems at this particular site. And, Corporate Lawyer Knight: You might think about living near 4 Reactors....Palmetto Bay is a hop skip and a jump to them! The Miami Herald reported that "Tritium, has been detected at 10 to 30 times expected background levels in at least one well a mile west of Turkey Point." Open your mind to all the negatives, as well at the positive, before you decide you want two NEW reactors in your backyard - the most at any one site in the United States. I thank Clean Water for educating me as the licensing process continue. You also might read this if you have children:
Miami, Florida - A South Florida Baby Teeth and Cancer Case Study, that was officially released today, April 9th 2003, finds that infants and children are especially vulnerable to cancer caused by federally-permitted radiation releases from nuclear reactors, such as the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear power plants, located in southeast Florida.
The five-year baby teeth study, also known as the "Tooth Fairy Project," found a 37% rise in the average levels of radioactive Strontium-90 (Sr-90) in southeast Florida baby teeth from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. When compared with baby teeth collected from 18 Florida counties, the highest levels of Sr-90 were found in the six southeast Florida counties closest to the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear reactors: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River.
The current rise of radiation levels in baby teeth in Florida and in the U.S. as a whole reverses a long-term downward trend in Sr-90 levels since the 1960s, after President Kennedy banned aboveground testing of nuclear weapons 1963, due to concerns about increasing childhood cancer and leukemia rates from fallout.
Radioactive Sr-90 is a known carcinogen, which is only produced by fission reactions in nuclear weapons or reactors. It enters the body along with chemically similar calcium, and is stored in bone and teeth, where it can be measured years later using well-established laboratory techniques.
Significantly, the study documented that the average levels of Sr-90 found in the teeth of children diagnosed with cancer were nearly twice as high as those found in the teeth of children without cancer.
Dr. Ernest Sternglass, Professor Emeritus of Radiation Physics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and co-author of the study said that "although radioactive emissions can enter the air, soil and diet, the most significant source of Sr-90 in southeast Florida children's teeth is groundwater, the primary source of southeast Florida's public drinking supply. This is due to the area's high rainfall and shallow aquifer."
The study found the highest levels of radioactivity in samples of drinking water found within 20 miles of the Turkey Point (located south of Miami) and St. Lucie (located north of West Palm Beach) nuclear power plants, while levels of radioactivity were significantly lower in water samples further away from the reactors. The rise in Sr-90 levels in both drinking water and baby teeth parallels a 32.5% rise in cancer rates in children under 10 in the southeast Florida counties, which are closest to the nuclear power plants. This compares with a average 10.8% rise in national childhood cancer rates from the early 1980s to the late 1990s. http://www.radiation.org/spotlight/florida.html
8 comments:
Do Miami Dade Water and Sewer treatment facilities test for radioactive isotopes? Does their treatment take the radioactive isotopes out? What are the levels, in which wellfields?
What makes you think that this republican official cares one iota about you are your babies. His only care is greed. He gets paid by the people who also do not care and are too greedy to find another way to do what needs to be done.
He isn't an official. He is a citizen like the rest of us. He happens to be an active Republican. I just mentioned it because in my search that is what came up.
Sublime post. I'd move farther away from the reactors but I can't get a cent for my house what with all the overdevelopment on top of wetlands. I guess its a good thing for the public health that the majority of those same houses stand empty. Before any new reactors are built and more money collected from customers it just may be time for a study of direct and indirect impacts to the 20 mile radius environment and locals!
YOU CAN HAVE TEETH TESTED: Dr. Robert Drimmie of the U. of Waterloo is a radiochemist. He can test teeth for about $100 per tooth. 519-888-4567 x 84732. Please share this information with anyone within a 25 mile radius of the plant and invite them to publicize their reports here on the blog and other places. Let's see how well FPL is doing these days, and let's get it out in the open. What do you say?
So true. I find it amusing that so many lawyers attempt to make legitimate points on the Herald's letters page, yet that page is consumed with lunatic ravings of various sorts that apparently somehow passed the editor's cut.
Tritium gas is a radioactive form of hydrogen. The health effects of tritium
exposure continue to be a hot topic of debate. It's not strong enough to
penetrate the skin, and in low quantities regulators and industry groups
say tritium is safe. But when inhaled or ingested it can cause permanent
changes to cells and has been linked to genetic abnormalities, developmental
and reproductive problems and other health issues such as cancer.
"The problem is that because it's hydrogen it can actually become part of your
body," says Shawn-Patrick Stensil of Greenpeace Canada. "The radiation doesn't
emit far, but when it actually becomes part of your cell it's right next
to your DNA. So for a pregnant woman, for example, it can be really dangerous."
South of the border, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission appears more concerned with tritium contamination of landfills
and the threat of leaching into drinking water. The agency regulates the
use of tritium devices, requiring the reporting of lost, stolen or broken
property and proper cleanup and disposal.
source: http://energy.probeinternational.org/nuclear-power/nuclear-safety/wal-marts-glow-the-dark-mystery
Wait...what's the problem again? A "water" focused organization who doesn't like nuclear can't also be concerned about "water"? This guy is ridiculous.
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