When the Vermont Department of Health (DOH) does the heavy lifting, Entergy’s Vermont Yankee plant doesn’t have to lift a finger.
STRONTIUM 90 FOUND IN MORE FISH according to the DOH website late Friday afternoon.
New fish samples taken from the Connecticut River on April 23 and analyzed by Vermont Yankee’s contract laboratory have tested positive for strontium-90 (Sr-90).
Concentrations of Sr-90 detected in the inedible portions of these fish are in the range of what would be expected as a result of fallout from nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s, and the Chernobyl release in 1986.
Specifically, the laboratory results for Sr-90 were 70 pCi/kg from fish taken near the plant in the Vernon Pool, and 100 pCi/kg from fish taken about 5 miles upstream, near the Route 9 bridge as it crosses the river north of Brattleboro. A New York study found background levels of Sr-90 in fish to be in the range of 120 to 360 pCi/kg
But of course, according to DOH, Strontium 90, which has not been found in fish in the CT River until recently is not due to the recent tritium and strontium leak from the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor, but is due to old 1950’s bomb testing and the 1982 Chernobyl reactor accident.
How convenient that
Vermont Yankee reported these latest test results to the Health Department on June 30.
and DOH was able to post it on their website late on the afternoon prior to one of the region’s biggest holidays… NEWS DUMP.
Want the truth about fish? Ask David Dean River Steward for the Connecticut River Watershed Council.
It has already been a tough week for Vermont Yankee and Entergy, maybe that is why DOH took care of new piece of disturbing news.
The first bad news for Entergy and Vermont Yankee was detailed by VPR’S John Dillon in Regulators Question Underwater Cables At Vermont Yankee notes that
Federal inspectors have called attention to a new potential safety problem at Vermont Yankee.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the plant has electric cables that are frequently submerged in water. That raises the possibility they could short-circuit and disable safety systems.
VPR’s John Dillon has more:
(Dillon) The NRC flagged the issue of the electric cables in a May 10 inspection report. The document says Entergy Vermont Yankee has allowed cables that control safety systems to be continually submerged in underground trenches.
The problem is the cables are not designed to be soaked in water. The NRC said this could cause the cables to degrade and fail. The report said – quote – “this finding is more than minor because if left uncorrected, the performance deficiency has the potential to lead to a more significant safety concern.”
Dillon is not just talking about reliability issues, but he is talking about the dreaded word safety concern.
The second shoe to drop for Entergy involves a submittal to the Public Service Board docket by the environmental advocacy group Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC) against the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant
claiming the facility has violated the state’s latest groundwater public trust law.
, according to the Brattleboro Reformer
In a testimony filed with the state’s Public Service Board today, the Vermont Natural Resources Council asserts the tritium leak at the Vernon-based nuclear station breaches a 2008 act approved by the Legislature declaring groundwater is a public trust resource.
“Every Vermonter owns Vermont’s groundwater,” said Jon Groveman, the VNRC water program co-director.
“If Vermont Yankee is claiming they have not violated Vermont law because the groundwater they have polluted has not spread to drinking water wells off their property, they are wrong,” he said.
Third, it was announced today that NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko may visit Vermont Yankee in July according to the Rutland Herald.
NRC spokesperson Neil Sheehan said
it is not unusual for Jaczko and other NRC commissioners to visit nuclear plants, troubled or otherwise, but it coincides with some of the more troubled months of Vermont Yankee’s history, since a radioactive leak of tritium and other radioactive isotopes was confirmed in January.
“The chairman and Commissioners visit nuclear power plants all the time. It affords them the opportunity to familiarize themselves with specific sites and, on occasion, meet with stakeholders to hear their concerns,” Sheehan said in an e-mail.
No wonder Vermont Yankee did not want to let all the press know about more contaminated fish and needed some DOH help with the NEWS DUMP. Hope folks along the Connecticut River aren’t planning any fish fries for the holiday weekend. Best to throw them back.
will the timing of these, D’Oh! Friday press releases be publicly question by our legislative watchdogs?
The watchdog media/press?
I think we should consider doing a regular Friday feature asking the question: “What’s HOT at Vermont Yankee?” With a list of past revelations and a reader poll of what’s next.
Nuclear Free Vermont by 2012, Citizens Awareness Network, and Safe and Green will be honoring the fish of the Connecticut River in Brattleboro’s July Fourth Parade Sunday.
Join us at Brattleboro UHS for the start at 1pm, or cheer us along the parade route.
Look folks, it’s simple. Do the Strontium 90 atoms say ‘property of Vermont Yankee’ on them? No? Then they could not possibly have come from VT Yankee! It’s so obvious, the VT D’OH gets it!
Now what is it with Vermont’s D’OH that they are working solely at the command of Entergy?
The strontium was only in the “inedible portions” of the fish. The good stuff is all clean. It’s like eating fugu — if prepared correctly, there’s no danger at all.
Funny how the stuff managed to hover in the upper atmosphere for decades and then swooped down on the Connecticut River just after the ENVY leakage.
Oh my god, the strontium has achieved sentience, and it’s working for ENVY opponents! And it can fly.
Again, I say, any Vermonters whose livelihoods depend upon food exports or tourism should be screaming their heads off. The sad reality of contaminated fish aside, this is our green Vermont image going down the toilet.