Seeing the Cesium with the Department of Health

Dave Gram of the AP has the scoop on that Cesium-37 found at Vermont Yankee in February, which Entergy had tried to fob off on background radiation from 1950s nuclear tests, or Chernobyl, or anything other than that oh-so-reliable plant on the banks of the CT River (enphasis mine). Well, all I can say is “Surprise, surprise, surprise!”:

The Health Department statement on Tuesday said the cesium-137 found in the Vermont Yankee soil samples was three to 12 times as high as the background levels attributed to the other causes, meaning it “appears likely the Cs-137 comes from Vermont Yankee reactor related sources.”

Vermont Yankee spokesman Larry Smith said he was not surprised by the finding, and that plant officials believe the cesium can be cleaned up as part of their already planned effort to remove some of the soil around plant buildings and ship it off for treatment as low-level radioactive waste.

Anyone else surprised at this latest chapter from the Purveyors of TruthinessTM. It seems, some days, that Yankee’s owners ought to consider a new motto: perhaps something along the lines of “more spin, less honesty”….

3 thoughts on “Seeing the Cesium with the Department of Health

  1. And just where will that royal dirt go? And how much is “some of the soil”?

    Truckloads of radioactive dirt coming your way…

  2. I’m thinking of something with black and yellow triangles arranged in a circle. Underneath it maybe a cow lying on its back with its legs in the air.

    If I were either a farmer or a food processor in Vermont I would be on the phone to the governor and my representatives, as well as the attorney general, calling for a perp walk of Entergy officials, a shut down of VY, and a seriously fast cleanup.

    Sure, some Cesium 137 in the soil of Vernon doesn’t actually risk the milk from a farm in St Albans, but it is a symbolic nightmare. Vermont has cultivated an image of food purity and quality for decades. The last thing we need is for Vernon to become linked in people’s minds with Three Mile Island.

    Soon to be overheard in a grocery store somewhere in America:

    “Look, cheese from Vermont!”

    “Oh yeah, Vermont – they have that leaky nuclear power plant.”

    “Oh, right. That cheese from Wisconsin looks good.”  

  3. Give me a little more of that sunless glow.  How about a commercial from VY families about that?

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