I’ve been thinking about immediacy and the nature of the term “no immediate threat,” since I’ve seen it pop about the news quite a bit lately. Here is some sampling of the hits you get from google when you search for +”Vermont Yankee” +”Immediate Threat”:
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SentinelSource.com |Douglas: Tritium is no threat
Feb 12, 2010 … Vermont Yankee will remain open during search for leak’s source … “Even finding it in drinking water would not be an immediate threat.” …
keenesentinel.com/articles/2010/02/12/news/local/…/id_390109.txt
[…]
Possible tritium leak at Vermont Yankee – NashuaTelegraph.com
Feb 6, 2010 … Vermont Yankee plant officials said they found levels of tritium in a sump pit at the … “There is no immediate threat to public health.” …
www.nashuatelegraph.com/…/possible-tritium-leak-at-vermont-yankee.html –
[…]
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant Tritium leak tied to pipe – Berkshire …
Vermont Yankee plant officials said they found levels of tritium in a sump pit at … said on its Web site, “There is no immediate threat to public health. …
www.berkshireeagle.com/northeastnews/ci_14345760
[…]
SentinelSource.com |Vermont Yankee
Feb 13, 2010 … of a radioactive substance from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. … wells and poses no immediate threat to public health or safety. …
www.sentinelsource.com/articles/2010/02/13/…/id_390245.txt – 8 hours ago –
[…]
Lawmakers frustrated with feds over Vermont Yankee …
Feb 13, 2010 … Lawmakers frustrated with feds over Vermont Yankee … drinking-water wells and poses no immediate threat to public health or safety. […]
www.burlingtonfreepress.com/…/Lawmakers-frustrated-with-feds-over-Vermont-Yankee – 11 hours ago –
[…]
012910vy_tritium
Jan 29, 2010 … There is no immediate threat to public health, but this event is of high concern … Vermont Yankee, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, …
healthvermont.gov/advisory/2010/012910vy_tritium.aspx
[…]
Why do you think the phrase “immediate” is consistently preceding the word “threat” in the contexts above?
“Immediate” is a fairly specific term. It means instantaneous. Evacuations take place immediately. High and low tides, which work over a matter of hours are not immediate. Immediate refers to floodgates opening.
To put it simply: the fact of VY’s tritium leak not being an “immediate” threat is less of a concern to me than that those defending VY seem to consistently want to emphasize the word “immediate.”
The question we need to be asking is not whether or not this is an “immediate” threat, but whether we’re willing to wait until it becomes one to stop it.
This is simple: if someone runs a nuclear power plant (or for that matter, any power plant) and discovers that the plant is leaking dangerous waste and weeks later can’t even figure out where that waste is coming from, that plant needs to be shut down until the source of the leak is contained. Not tomorrow. Not three days from now.
Now.
This isn’t something to be negotiated, politicized or teased out. It’s just human decency at the most basic level.
all this press about “no immediate threat” starts to go south on VY and Douglas. Few people find those words reassuring.
no immediate threat of leadership on this from anyone.
In all the best “B” movies, isn’t that what the self-serving bureaucrat says just before the dam bursts, the earthquake hits, and the shark swallows a boatload of sunburnt tourists?
Pointing out the weasel words. What’d you go and do that for? Now, people might figure out they’re being misled!