“My initial perusal indicates that this another highly slanted, misleading, CNSC defence of the practice of releasing very large amounts of tritium near Canadian nuclear power facilities. It is perhaps revealing that the report (Figs 5 and 6) shows high tritium levels very near the SRB facility at Pembroke, but remains silent about the high tritium intakes by people near nuclear power facilities. 

The report takes a hesitant one step forward in actually mentioning the ACES and ODWAC reports (for the first time by CNSC). But two steps backward in refraining from discussing the concerns about tritium which led to the reports. 

The report has many defects and omissions but the main deficiency is that it ignores the mounting scientific evidence from radiation biology that tritium is a serious health hazard.”

CNSC staff recommends that the Commission grant SRB a licence to discharge tritium in amounts up to 448 trillion becquerels per year through its stacks and 200 billion becquerels per year into the municipal sewer system.

At a one-day public hearing on May 19th intervenors included Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County, The First Six Years, the International Institute of Concern for Public Health, Prevent Cancer Now,  and the Council of Canadians. Many concerns and problems were highlighted, for example: serious groundwater pollution, proximity to residential neighbourhoods, radioactive waste disposal issues and funding for decommissioning.

If CNSC follows its usual pattern, a decision to approve this license application will be announced in the late afternoon on June 30th, the day that SRB’s current licence expires, and the day before the Canada Day holiday.

Recent amendments to the Nuclear Substances and Radiation Devices Regulations eliminated the requirement for a recall procedure for expired tritium lights that are, of course, still radioactive. There is now no requirement that tritium light manufacturers accept the return of discarded tritium lights of their own manufacture unless this requirement is now incorporated directly in a CNSC licence. In addition to relieving manufacturers of the financial burden of receiving waste lights as radioactive materials, this change to the Regulations increases the likelihood that purchasers of tritium lights will abandon these radioactive devices in ordinary landfills, even in jurisdictions such as the United States where this practice is not permitted.

For further details see letter to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission from the Canadian Environmental Law Association on behalf of Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County.

TAP asks “How do these changes enhance the protection of the health and safety of the Canadian public? How do these changes enhance the protection of the environment? If they do not enhance either, then why were these changes made?”

Speaking at a meeting of the New England Coalition, David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer who at one time was a member of the Vermont Public Oversight Panel, said

“Virtually every nuclear plant in the U.S. has reported leaks and many have reported many leaks, and no one knows how many leaks have not yet been found.”

Lochbaum credited citizen action groups, such as the New England Coalition, for raising the public awareness and putting pressure on government and federal regulators to pay attention to the radioactive tritium leak at the Vermonk Yankee nuclear plant which was shut down by the Vermont Senate in February of this year.

For the full article, please see the Rutland Herald article here.

Open letter to Dr. Michael Binder, President of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

CNSC staff recently produced a series of research studies on tritium called the Tritium Studies Project. Six of the reports are completed and available on the CNSC website (CNSC Open House: Tritium Studies Project April 28, 2010).

I have a special interest in these reports. Tritium in the community of Pembroke (my home town) began increasing in 1990 following the arrival of a facility that manufactures and recycles tritium filled exit signs and gun-sights. From a review of the CNSC reports I see that Pembroke now has the dubious distinction of being the “Tritium Capital of Canada.”

Tritium an isotope of hydrogen, is rare, making up less than 1 quadrillionth of a percent of all naturally occurring hydrogen; but it’s certainly not rare in Pembroke.

 We are home to some of the most abundant tritium concentrations in Canada – in groundwater, soil, garden produce and air (Tritium Releases and Dose Consequences CNSC, 2009 and Evaluation of Facilities Handling Tritium, CNSC 2010). So much so, in fact, that our community was the subject of a special CNSC investigation (Tritium Activity in Garden Produce from Pembroke in 2007 and Dose to the Public, CNSC 2010).

 There’s even a communiqué on the CNSC website addressed specifically to us: “Pembroke: Topics of Interest” which states:

“The CNSC wishes to reassure members of the public that current tritium levels in drinking water do not pose a risk to their health.  Tritium levels found in the municipal drinking water of communities near nuclear facilities are well below national and international standards, and below the 20 Bq/L limit proposed by the Ontario Drinking Water Advisory Council”

 It is true, that levels of tritium in municipal drinking water, in general, fall below the proposed Ontario drinking water standard, even in Pembroke. It is misleading, however, Dr. Binder, for the CNSC to reference municipal values when you and I are both aware of the presence of at least seven residential and business wells within Pembroke and the neighbouring community of Laurentian Valley with tritium concentrations exceeding the 20 becquerel limit, with levels as high as 3,900 bequerels per litre.

Tritium levels in some Pembroke and area wells levels are not only above the proposed Ontario drinking water standard but higher than residential wells found elsewhere in Canada – including those in the vicinity of other, larger nuclear facilities such as Pickering A, Bruce A, Gentilly, Point Lepreau, Darlington, and Chalk River (Tritium Releases and Dose Consequences, CNSC, 2009).

I am glad that the CNSC is providing the public an opportunity to respond in writing to these reports. I am disappointed however, that such a narrow window has been provided in which to accomplish this. Submissions are due June 8^th, hardly adequate time for a thorough review. The Pembroke study, one of the last to be released, was only made public April 27th of this year.

The Ontario Drinking Water Advisory Council recently recommended a substantial lowering of the provincial standard for tritium in drinking water (from 7000 to 20 bequerels per litre) following extensive and extended public consultation.

Given the perceived importance of the CNSC reports in determining federal public health related policy, we hope the Commission will consider extending the deadline.

Sincerely,

Kelly O’Grady

Pembroke, ON

References

Residential and business wells within a 1 km radius of Pembroke identified with tritium levels in excess of Ontario proposed drinking water standard of 20 bequerels per litre (Reports on groundwater contamination can be downloaded from SRB Technologies website – http://www.betalight.com Follow the links to Canada – Public Information Program – Annual Compliance Reports ).

1. Boundary Rd. (business well)

Range 238 to 307 Bq/L

2. Boundary Rd (residential well)

Range: 20 to 583 Bq/L

3. Boundary Rd (business well)

Range 979 to 1404 Bq/L

4. Boundary Rd. (truck wash well)

Range 1849 to 3939 Bq/L

5. Boundary Rd. (residential well)

Range 423 to1506 Bq/L

6. Mud Lake Rd (residential well)

Range 186 to 358 Bq/L

7. Mud Lake Rd. (residential well)

Range 199 to 336 Bq/L

CNSC Communique: “Pembroke: Topics of Interest,

http://www.nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/mycommunity/facilities/pembroke/pembroke_topics.cfm

Ontario Drinking Water Advisory Council Report and Advice on the Ontario Drinking Water Quality Standard for Tritium (May 21, 2009)

http://www.odwac.gov.on.ca/reports/052109_ODWAC_Tritium_Report.pdf

We welcome  your questions and comments.

A copy of the report is available for downloading in the documents section of this website and at the Sierra Club of Canada site.