Stop the Hogs!

Dr. Edwards’ Interview-Stop Dumping Radioactive Water in the Ottawa River

From: Gordon Edwards <ccnr@web.ca>
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:24:04 -0500
Subject: News Release: Stop Dumping Radioactive Water in the Ottawa River

Hello Everyone:

After assuring the Canadian House of Commons and the public that "no radioactivity has been LEAKED into the Ottawa River", the nuclear establishment (AECL-CNSC) is now planning to DUMP the radioactive heavy water (containing radioactive tritium) into the Ottawa River DELIBERATELY.

So they can say "Nothing has leaked" because in fact, it has been DUMPED! They are of course conveniently ignoring the fact that 10 percent of the tritium-laden heavy water that leaked from the reactor on December 5 was discharged into the atmosphere, whence it would find its way into the river and the soil through normal condensation and precipitation.

At no time (so far) has AECL or CNSC quantified the amount of radioactivity involved, despite repeated requests to do so.

Interview on Radio Canada International on Feb. 4, regarding the Chalk River spills of December 5 2008 (hushed up until February 2009).

LISTEN: http://activistmagazine.com/index.php?o ... Itemid=143

Gordon.
-----------------------

Gordon Edwards speaks about Chalk River Nuclear Leak

Written by Chris Davenport

Friday, 06 February 2009

On 23 January 2009, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) issued a media release in response to recent media reports of two separate leaks at the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) National Research Universal reactor (NRU) in Ottawa.

According to the CNSC release:

"On Friday evening, December 5, 2008, AECL discovered a very small heavy water leak that was confined to the NRU. AECL reported the event to the CNSC on Saturday, December 6, 2008."

"Any water resulting from the leak was placed in storage tanks before being sent to the Waste Treatment Centre at the Chalk River Laboratories. This leak has stopped and has not reoccurred. There was evaporation of some heavy water resulting in a small release of tritium through normal ventilation which was well below regulatory limits."

Nearly two months after the incident, numbers measuring the quantity of the leak have not been released to the public. The terms "small release" and "normal ventilation" that are within "regulatory limits" are not very reassuring if you live in Ottawa and must drink the local water and breathe the local air.

On 4 February 2009, Radio Canada International interviewed Gordon Edwards of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR):

LISTEN: http://activistmagazine.com/index.php?o ... Itemid=143

Mr. Edwards discussed the situation in Chalk River; unknown dangers about medical isotopes; medical and non-nuclear alternatives to medical isotopes; and problems with the regulatory system for nuclear power in Canada.

The introduction to the interview echoed previous media proclamations that NRU produces 70% of the world's medical isotopes. It is this rationalization that led to federal legislation to keep NRU operational. On 12 December 2007, Canadian parliament passed bill C-38. The bill empowered AECL "to resume and continue the operation of NRU at Chalk River in Ontario for a period of 120 days … despite any condition of its license," and justified its production-first risks with claims that the regulated shutdown of NRU "has created a serious shortage of medical isotopes in Canada and the world." But as The ACTivist previously published, the main source of this information is based on World Nuclear Association estimates of the relatively large dollar value of NRU isotope production compared with other sources (Nuclear Engineering International in July 2008, pp 27-29 published such WNA medical diagnostic isotope market comparisons).

The AECL has been asked to provide an update to the CNSC at its previously scheduled public meeting on 19 February 2009.

CCNR is a not-for-profit organization, federally incorporated in 1978. It is dedicated to education and research on all issues related to nuclear energy, whether civilian or military -- including non-nuclear alternatives -- especially those pertaining to Canada.

More articles on nuclear power at Chalk River:

Lunn Cannot be Trusted
More Nuclear Industry Experts Undercut Harper and Lunn
AECL Underestimated Chalk River Reactor Risk Says Nuclear Safety Expert

Contacts:

Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
C.P. 236, Station Snowdon
Montréal, QC H3X 3T4 Canada
Fax: 1-514-489-5118
e-mail: ccnr@web.ca
http://www.ccnr.org

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Stop Dumping Radioactive Water in the Ottawa River

Sierra Club Canada News Release - Friday, February 6, 2009

Ottawa -­ Sierra Club Canada is calling for the Canadian Nuclear and Safety Commission (CNSC) to end the dumping of radioactive water into the Ottawa River, and the drinking water of millions of residents downstream from Chalk River. A recent high reading for tritium in water from the Ottawa River is a cause for concern. Recently-announced plans by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) to deliberately dump radioactive water have also increased concerns about public safety.

”Radioactive water is a threat to our health and the environment, and there is no safe level of exposure. It is easily incorporated into our DNA, and can cause birth defects and cancer. We need better drinking water standards, and we need a public investigation to see what is going on at Chalk River,” says Mike Buckthought of Sierra Club Canada.

A recent reading of 17 becquerels per litre for tritium on January 5, 2009 is a real cause for concern. It exceeds the California limit of 15 becquerels per litre, although it is less than the dangerously high 7,000 becquerels per litre level of radioactivity currently permitted in drinking water in Ontario. The high reading points to the possibility that some radioactive water was spilled into the Ottawa River in early January.

There are routine releases of radioactive water from Chalk River, and the public is not informed about the dangers.

There also has to be more timely information about nuclear accidents. “The public has the right to know about releases of radioactive water into the Ottawa River and our drinking water supply. After the December 5 incidents at Chalk River, it took weeks before the public was notified. The cities of Ottawa, Petawawa and Pembroke were not notified either,” says Buckthought.

Levels of tritium found in Ottawa¹s drinking water reached as high as 30 becquerels per litre in December 2007 ­ following the restart of AECL¹s NRU reactor. This was twice the limit in California, where the standard calls for less than 15 becquerels per litre of tritium, and approximately thirty times the natural background level for tritium.

In 2007, the federal government ignored advice to shut down the reactor, and forced the restart of the reactor with special legislation. A report on the CNSC web site is blacked out, leading to questions ­ if there was a release of radioactive water into the Ottawa River, why was the public not informed?

-- 30 ­--

For more information:

Mike Buckthought, Sierra Club Canada, 613-241-4611 x235
__

Tritium is being Dumped into the Ottawa River from Chalk River

MEDIA RELEASE Tritium Awareness Project Feb. 17 2009 For Immediate Release

The Tritium Awareness Project (TAP) has learned that more than a TRILLION becquerels of radioactive tritium were vented into the atmosphere at the time of the heavy water leak at Chalk River on December 5, 2008. In addition, TENS OF TRILLIONS of becquerels of tritium in liquid form are being or have already been deliberately dumped into the Ottawa River by Chalk River authorities, with the permission of
the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

This information contradicts assurances from the Minister of Natural Resources in the House of Commons to the effect that no radioactivity from the December 5, 2008, heavy water leak had entered or was entering the Ottawa River.

Letters have been sent to Mr. Michael Binder, President of the CNSC, and Bill Pilkington, Senior Vice-President and Chief Nuclear Officer for AECL’s Research and Technology Operations, asking them to clarify the amount of tritium released into the air and into the Ottawa River, or planned to be released, as a result of the December 5 accident at the 51-year old NRU reactor.

Mr. Binder has also been asked to explain why CNSC staff are not providing accurate information on the levels of tritium contamination in the Ottawa River in their background document CMD 09-M7. That document states that “monitoring of radioactivity in the Ottawa River has indicated comparable average concentrations up and down stream of the CRL site in the Ottawa River”, whereas the actual monitoring data shows consistently and dramatically increased levels of tritium in the Ottawa River downstream from Chalk River as opposed to the upstream measurements. The increase is more than double.

Background : Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen, which is one of the basic constituents of all living things. Tritium cannot be filtered out or removed from the drinking water by any existing water treatment plants. Inside the body, tritium irradiates living cells and damages organic molecules, including DNA molecules. Such damage can manifest itself later in the form of cancers as well as defects in reproductive cells and embryonic cells.

Scientific authorities independent of the nuclear industry, including the US National Academy of Sciences, have reported that there is no reliable evidence of any safe threshold of exposure to radioactivity. They have concluded that every additional radioactive exposure is expected to increase the risk of subsequent cancers and other illnesses, especially in young children.

A becquerel is a unit of radioactivity; it corresponds to one radioactive disintegration every second. When tritium-contaminated water has been ingested, those disintegrations happen inside the body. In California, the maximum permissible level of tritium is 15 becquerels per litre of drinking water; in Canada it is 7000 becquerels per liter – 466 times more permissive.

If the California drinking water standards were used, ten trillion becquerels of tritium would be enough to render five years worth of Ottawa’s drinking water unfit for human consumption. This is an enormous amount of radioactive material.

Contacts for the Tritium Awareness Project:

Gordon Edwards, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, (514) 839 7214 (cell)

Lynn Jones, Concerned Citizens of Renfrew Country, (613) 735 4876

Mike Buckthought , Sierra Club Canada, (613) 241 4611 ext 235

Robert Del Tredici, Atomic Photographer’s Guild, (514) 884 3885 (cell)

Michel Duguay, Université Laval, (418) 656 3557

Michel Fugère, Mouvement vert Mauricie, (819) 532 2073

==========================

Tritium Awareness Project (TAP)

Michael Binder, President,
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission,
280 Slater Street, PO Box 1046 Station B,
Ottawa Ontario K1P 5S9

February 16 2009

Dear Mr. Binder:

The public and the House of Commons have been given assurances by the Minister of Natural Resources that no radioactivity has leaked into the Ottawa River as a result of the heavy water spill at Chalk River’s NRU reactor on December 5 2008.

Our information suggests that trillions of becquerels of tritium had already been released into the atmosphere when these assurances were given, some of which would surely find its way into the Ottawa River, and tens of trillions of becquerels of tritium in liquid form are being released (or have already been released) into the Ottawa River by Chalk River authorities, with the permission of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, as a direct result of the heavy water spill at the NRU reactor on December 5, 2008.

We believe that the public has the right to know the amount of tritium that has been released into the environment as a result of this accidental spill and subsequent management decisions by AECL and CNSC authorities.

Please provide the correct figures for the total amount of tritium (in becquerels) released into the atmosphere and the total amount of tritium (in becquerels) released or planned to be released into the Ottawa River as a result of the December 5 incident.

We also believe that CNSC Commissioners are being misled by CNSC staff when they are told (in CMD 09-M7) that " monitoring of radioactivity in the Ottawa River has indicated comparable average concentrations up and down stream of the CRL site in the Ottawa River."

Our information is that concentrations of tritium in the Ottawa River just downstream from CRL (at the site boundary) are at least 30 times greater than they are at the upstream CRL site boundary, and that tritium levels further downstream (from Harrington Bay to Pembroke and beyond) are at least twice the levels of tritium upstream from CRL. Why is CNSC staff not communicating accurate information to the Commissioners?

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

Yours very truly,

Gordon Edwards, Ph.D.,
53 Dufferin Road, Hampstead QC, H3X 2X8
e-mail: ccnr@web.ca phone: (514) 489 5118
For the Tritium Awareness Project

cc. Minister of Natural Resources
Mayors of Ottawa, Pembroke, and Petawawa

===========================================

Tritium Awareness Project (TAP)

Bill Pilkington, Senior Vice-President,
Chief Nuclear Officer for AECL’s Research and Technology Operations,
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited,
Chalk River Ontario K0J 1J0

February 16 2009

Dear Mr. Pilkington:

The public and the House of Commons have been given assurances by the Minister of Natural Resources that no radioactivity has leaked into the Ottawa River as a result of the heavy water spill at Chalk River’s NRU reactor on December 5 2008.

Our information suggests that trillions of becquerels of tritium had already been released into the atmosphere when these assurances were given, some of which would surely find their way into the Ottawa River, and tens of trillions of becquerels of tritium in liquid form are being released (or have already been released) into the Ottawa River by Chalk River authorities, with the permission of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, as a direct result of the heavy water spill at the NRU reactor on December 5, 2008.

We believe that the public has the right to know the amount of tritium that has been released into the environment as a result of this accidental spill and subsequent decisions made by AECL and CNSC authorities. Please provide the correct figures for the total amount of tritium (in becquerels) released into the atmosphere and the total amount of tritium (in becquerels) released or planned to be released into the Ottawa River as a result of the December 5 incident.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Yours very truly,

Gordon Edwards, Ph.D.,
53 Dufferin Road, Hampstead QC, H3X 2X8
e-mail: ccnr@web.ca phone: (514) 489 5118
For the Tritium Awareness Project

cc. Minister of Natural Resources
Mayors of Ottawa, Pembroke, and Petawawa

Where is Linda Keene when Canada and the world needs her?


From: ernstj@telusplanet.net
To: SK Premier Wall ; Sask Environmental Society ; QC Tour.Min. Bachard ; QC Health Min. Couillard ; QC Envir.Min. Beauchamp ; QC Dep.Min./ Premier Charest ; ON Energy Min. Phillips ; ON Envir.Min.Gerretsen ; ON Nat.Res. Min. Cansfield ; ON Health Min. Smitherman ; ON Premier McGuinty ; Moulden, A. - CAP ; May, E. GPC ; Layton, J. NDP ; Ignatieff M. - Lib. ; Duceppe, G. Bloc ; SK Party Caucus ; SK NDP Caucus ; Harper.S@parl.gc.ca ; lunn.g@parl.gc.ca ; Kevin Sorenson ; Sorenson, Kevin - M.P. ; Honourable Ed Stelmach Premier

Cc: Elaine Hughes ; New International ; The Ecologist Magazine ; Greenpeace Canada ; GlobalResearch.ca ; Duncan.L@parl.gc.ca ; David Swann

Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 10:45 AM

Subject: Re: Tritium is being Dumped into the Ottawa River from Chalk River


Jessica Ernst
Box 753 Rosebud AB T0J 2T0
1-403-677-2074

Dear Elected Officials,

Where is Linda Keene when Canada and the world needs her?

. . . Oh, I remember, the Harper government stupidly fired her.

----------------------------------------

Ottawa fires nuclear safety commission head

<>http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourview/2008/01/
ottawa_fires_nuclear_safety_co.html

Wednesday, January 16, 2008 | 08:58 AM ET

The federal government has fired the head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, days after she publicly accused Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn of interfering with the independence of the arm's-length watchdog.

-----SNIP----

-------------------------------------------------

I request that the reasonable and valid concerns and questions listed below are completely addressed with honesty, integrity, ethics and accountability instead of the typical arrogant and cowardly Tory proroguing dismissal and disrespect.

Sincerely,

Jessica Ernst
Rosebud, AB

Expert Panel Recommends a Radical Reduction in Permissible Levels of Tritium in Drinking Water

Gordon Edwards, June 12, 2009.

Proposed New Standard

At the request of the Ontario Minister of the Environment, an expert panel has concluded a 25-month study of the health dangers of radioactive tritium in drinking water. It has concluded that the current "permissible levels" in Ontario are hundreds of times too high – 350 times too high, in fact.

The final report of the Ontario Drinking Water Advisory Council (ODWAC), is entitled Report and Advice on the Ontario Drinking Water Quality Standard for Tritium. It recommends that the current permissible limit of 7,000 becquerels per litre be reduced to 20 becquerels per litre. This is regarded as a compromise between the needs of the Ontario nuclear industry -- since man-made tritium is a byproduct of nuclear reactors -- and the need to protect human health.

The report, dated May 21, 2009, was made public on June 9. It can now be downloaded:
http://www.odwac.gov.on.ca/reports/0521 ... Report.pdf

ODWAC's proposed numerical standard of 20 becquerels per litre is identical with a recommendation made 15 years ago by another Ontario expert group, the Advisory Committee on Environmental Standards (ACES). Back then, in 1994, the Government of Ontario did not accept the ACES recommendation, and there is no assurance that the present Ontario Government will accept ODWAC's recommendation either. Political considerations now become paramount.

What is a becquerel?

A "becquerel" is a unit of radioactivity. One becquerel indicates that there is one radioactive disintegration happening every second. Thus a standard of 7,000 becquerels per litre means that in one litre of drinking water, it is permissible to have 7,000 radioactive disintegrations happening every second, or 420,000 disintegrations each minute, or 25.2 million disintegrations each hour, all within that single litre of water. If someone drinks from that litre of water, the disintegrations will continue to take place inside his or her body.

How does radioactivity cause cancer?

Like all radioactive materials, tritium is a cancer-causing agent. When a tritium atom disintegrates, it gives off a tiny electrically charged particle called a beta particle, moving at an enormous speed. Inside the body, the beta particle will damage any organic molecules in its path, including DNA molecules, killing and/or crippling one or more cells in the vicinity. Some of these crippled cells can develop into cancers many years later. There is no absolutely safe dose of atomic radiation since a single radioactive disintegration can cause the kind of damage that ultimately results in a cancer.

What is tritium?

Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It is an essential ingredient in all organic molecules. About half of the atoms in the human body are hydrogen atoms. Every water molecule is made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.

An atom of tritium is three times heavier than a normal hydrogen atom, and it is unstable -- a tritium atom will spontaneously and suddenly disintegrate, giving off a high-velocity beta particle. Beta radiation (as it is called) is dangerous to living things because of the damage it can do at the cellular level.

When tritium atoms are combined with oxygen, the resulting water molecules are radioactive. This radioactive water (also called "tritiated water") is indistinguishable from ordinary water except for the fact that it is radioactive. The tritium cannot be filtered out or otherwise removed from drinking water by any available technology --you can't filter water from water!

What is the "natural background" of tritium?

Cosmic radiation from outer space bombards nitrogen atoms in the upper atmosphere and produces radioactive tritium as a byproduct. As a result, there exists a "natural background" of tritium in lakes and rivers around the world; the background level is between one and two becquerels per litre of water. (ODWAC, page 12)

What is "fallout tritium" from nuclear explosions?

When nuclear weapons are exploded, radioactive materials -- including tritium -- are released. Following the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, global levels of tritium in surface waters increased dramatically to about 25 bequerels per litre; however, since the atmospheric test ban treaty (ATBT), levels of this "fallout tritium" have dropped to about one becquerel per litre. (ODWAC, page 12)

Where else does tritium come from?

The combination of "natural tritium" and "fallout tritium" has resulted in a tritium level of about 2 to 3 becquerels of tritium per litre of surface water in the northern hemisphere. "Any levels above this range imply [other] man-made sources." (ODWAC, page 3)

The only other major source of tritium is nuclear reactors. Every nuclear power plant produces large amounts of tritium and releases some of it into the environment. Since tritium has a 12 year half-life, it builds up in the environment year after year. Most of the tritium released from reactors is in the form of radioactive water -- water molecules that incorporate radioactive tritium atoms instead of ordinary non-radioactive hydrogen atoms. This radioactive water is also called "tritiated water".

The Canadian-designed CANDU reactors produce and release far more tritium than other designs of nuclear reactors, because of it uses large volumes of "heavy water". Heavy water is not radioactive, but the hydrogen atoms in the water molecules are twice as heavy as ordinary hydrogen atoms. When the reactor is running, these heavy hydrogen atoms are gradually transmuted into radioactive tritium atoms. Year after year, more and more tritium is created in this way, and it is notoriously difficult to contain, so a lot of it ends up in the effluent water or in the atmospheric emissions from the nuclear reactor.

Ontario is also home to two manufacturing plants in Peterborough and Pembroke that mass-produce tritium-filled glow-in-the-dark signs. These plants release large quantities of tritium to the environment, but the tritium originates in Ontario's CANDU reactors. There is a Tritium Removal Facility at Darlington Ontario that periodically extracts tritium from the contaminated heavy water in Ontario's nuclear reactors, in order to make the working environment safer for atomic workers in those nuclear power plants. Once extracted, some of this tritium is then sent to the tritium light factories in Peterborough and Pembroke, causing extensive local contamination to occur at sites far removed from the CANDU reactors.

What is ODWAC's rationale for the proposed standard?

ODWAC's proposed standard for tritium in drinking water is based on how many extra cancers develop if people drink tritium-contaminated water for 70 years. By applying the same logic that is used for other cancer-causing substances, ODWAC reasoned that the standard for an acceptable level of tritium in drinking water should not allow more than one additional cancer per million persons exposed.

Using this cancer rate as a goal, ODWAC calculated the permissible level of tritium in drinking water seven different times, using a variety of assumptions, ending up with answers ranging from 109 becquerels per litre to 7 becquerels per litre. Any one of these figures could be correct -- but there is too much uncertainty to know which one is most accurate.
ODWAC selected the figure of 20 becquerels per litre from this range of possibilities, in part because they received indications that the nuclear industry could meet this standard as long as the figure could be averaged out over the period of a year.

Accordingly, ODWAC recommends that the proposed standard be based on annual averages.

So ODWAC concluded that if a million people are drinking water containing 20 becquerels per litre for 70 years, one would expect about one extra cancer in the population as a result. If 7 becquerels per litre is a more correct figure, then a lifetime exposure to 20 becquerels of tritium per litre would actually produce about 3 extra cancers in a population of a million.

How did the ODWAC process get started?

The ODWAC process was precipitated by a unanimous resolution from Toronto City Council asking the Province of Ontario to re-examine the standard for permissible levels of tritium in drinking water and urging the province to adopt a standard more protective of human health than the current standard of 7,000 becquerels per litre.

It made a pointed suggestion that the ACES proposal of 1994 be reconsidered.

There is a population of about 5.5 million in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The city's drinking water comes from Lake Ontario, which already has levels of tritium of about 7 becquerels per litre. Most of this tritium comes from nuclear reactors -- especially the CANDU reactors at Pickering and Darlington. So if ODWAC's lower calculation is the correct one, about 5 or 6 extra cancers in the GTA population are being caused by tritium in drinking water taken from the Lake.

Reasons for an even more stringent standard

ODWAC's proposed standard is based on limiting the number of cancers caused by drinking tritium-contaminated water. However, ODWAC lists a number of other health concerns that might be used to argue for an even more stringent standard. They are listed on pages 37 and 38:

o There is no safe dose of or level to exposure of radiation, and even the smallest doses (e.g., background) can cause cancer and other heath effects. Tritium can also promote and accelerate cancer;

o Women are more vulnerable to tritium and are affected differently than men, particularly with respect to their reproductive systems (research has shown that a woman is likely to store twice as much "organically bound tritium" in her body as a man of comparable weight);

o Rapidly growing cells such as fetal tissue and young girls’ developing breasts, genetic materials and blood forming organs are especially sensitive to tritium;

o Tritium can damage DNA, causing a mutagenic effect resulting in cancers, but also miscarriages, birth defects, sterility, and hypothyroidism, among others. The effects from exposure to tritium can harm offspring and last for generations;

o Female human infants are at risk from elevated tritium levels due to genetic damage to ova exposed to tritiated hydrogen (a woman's eggs are laid down early in infancy and stay with her throughout her life);

o Certain groups are especially vulnerable to environmental carcinogens, such as women (especially when pregnant), the unborn, and the elderly, those with compromised immune systems, children, teenagers and Aboriginal people;

o How risk and dose measurements are calculated, particularly in that the current models use the “standard man”, which may not reflect dosages experienced by women and children;

o Exposure studies based on animal testing are not accurate because of the lower body fat levels found in animals;

o Many of the non-lethal cancer effects of tritium are not currently considered in the model upon which the current (7000 becquerels per litre) standard is based. These effects include non-fatal cancers, miscarriages, still births, birth defects, sterility, hypothyroidism, genetic mutation, respiratory failure, kidney failure, nervous system disorders, cardiovascular disease, among others;

o The current standard does not consider organically-bound tritium (tritium atoms that are incorporated into organic molecules within the body), thus under-estimating the true dose;

o Cumulative exposure and combined effects are not being considered;
o The current standard considers 340 excess fatal cancers per million as an “acceptable risk”, which is equivalent to 1 in 3,000;

o Anthropogenic emissions of tritium directly impact the drinking water supplies of approximately one-quarter of the Canadian population, thereby resulting in a large population being exposed involuntarily;

o Levels of tritium are 2 to 5 times higher in Lake Ontario than in other water bodies in the Great Lakes and across Canada, and Lake Ontario is a major source of drinking water for Ontarians;

o It was felt that the precautionary approach is not being applied with respect to tritium in drinking water and that because there is still uncertainty over the impacts of tritium (such as synergistic effects with other substances), the precautionary principle should be applied and the standard should be lowered.

Conclusion

Progress on health and environmental matters often depends upon a well-informed and politically active citizenry. Leadership on such issues generally comes from the bottom up, rather than from the top down.
When Irene Koch alerted the citizens of Pickering to the fact that their drinking water was a dumping ground for the tritium from Ontario Hydro's nearby reactors, the standard for permissible levels of tritium in drinking water was 40,000 becquerels per litre. Her courageous leadership and persistence led to an Ontario Environmental Assessment Panel recommending to the Government of Ontario that the tritium standard for drinking water be re-examined. By the time the ACES report was submitted, the tritium standard had already been tightened to 7,000 becquerels per litre.

Fifteen years later, a small group of citizen advocates worked with the Toronto Public Health Department to get the tritium issue onto the city council agenda. This led to the ODWAC investigation. It is now the job of citizens in Ontario and throughout Canada to carry this fight to their provincial legislatures and get the permissible levels for tritium in drinking water tightened across Canada.

Change happens where the political will exists to make it happen. Collective awareness is the beginning; it must be followed by collective will to bring about real change.

I believe that the permissible level for any known carcinogen should be zero. This was the formal conclusion of a task force report entitled "Poisons and Policies" published in the 1980's by the Science Council of Canada. I was a consultant to this task force, which was chaired by David Bates, M.D., then Chairman of the McGill Medical School and one of Canada's foremost experts on lung diseases.

If we must accept some degree of tritium pollution, I believe that no more man-made tritium should be allowed into drinking water than what nature already provides: that is, 1-2 becquerels per litre in addition to the background levels already there. This would bring the standard down to about 3-5 becquerels per litre -- a level already surpassed by the waters in Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, and the Ottawa River as a result of activities from the Canadian nuclear industry.

The Sequel: Tritium in Air

Once the drinking water standard has been accepted and implemented, it will be time to concentrate on reducing atmospheric emissions of tritium.

There is no standard for tritium in air, and the release limits are exceedingly permissive. Yet more tritium is given off by our nuclear reactors as radioactive steam, than as liquid radioactive water. This steam comes back to earth as rain, snow, and dew, depositing tritium fallout over a wide area. It is readily incorporated into fruits, vegetables, fish, and animals, including humans.