-------------------------- Basal Cell Carcinoma of the cheek ---------->
-------- $$$$$ TVA's Bellefonte Dream, $18,000,000,000 $$$$$ >
The following is a copy of a letter from Mr. Joseph Mangano, Executive Director, Radiation and Public Health Project to Judge Paul Bollwerk, NRC's Administrative Law Judge and Chief Hearing Officer for TVA's Bellefonte License Application.
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Note the Jackson County Alabama Cancer Rate increase ranking of 44th in 1983 to 10th in 2005.
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To: paul.bollwerk@nrc.gov, hearingdocket@nrc.govSent: 8/12/2008 11:41:03 A.M. Eastern Daylight TimeSubj: Comments on Bellefonte
Re: Limited Appearance
Bellefonte Nuclear Plants Units 3 and 4
Docket No. 520-14-COL and 52-15-COL
By email paul.bollwerk@nrc.gov, hearingdocket@nrc.gov
716 Simpson Avenue
Ocean City NJ 08226
August 12, 2008
Dear Sir/Madam:
Please accept the following comments on the plan to build and operate two new nuclear reactors at the Bellefonte plant near Scottsboro AL.
I am a public health researcher, and thus my comments will thus be focused on the potential health risks of new Bellefonte reactors. The high levels of radioactivity found in the core and waste pools of a nuclear reactor after several years of operation are equivalent to hundreds of times that released after the Hiroshima bomb, and several times that of releases from the Chernobyl accident.
A meltdown from mechanical failure or terrorist attack would release large amounts of radioactivity to the local population, and have devastating consequences. The 1982 report Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences, prepared by the Sandia National Laboratories, estimated that an accident at a single Bellefonte reactor would cause
- 3,600 deaths from acute radiation poisoning within 20 miles
- 7,700 non-fatal cases of acute radiation poisoning within 20 miles
- 4,500 cancer deaths within 50 miles
Because of the population increases since 1982, and because the geographic area considered is limited (radioactivity would spread well beyond 20 miles), these figures should be considered minimal if a meltdown were to occur in the future.
New reactors at Bellefonte would also routinely emit a portion of the radioactivity produced in the core into local air and water, where it would enter human bodies through breathing and the food chain. Once in the body, radioactivity kills and injures cells, and is particularly harmful to infants and children.
The added radioactivity would increase risk of cancer. Jackson County, where Bellefonte is located, already suffers from disproportionately high cancer rates. The table below shows that from 1979-1983, the county's cancer death rate jumped from 9.4% below the U.S. to 13.9% above the U.S. in 1999-2005. Its ranking among the 67 Alabama counties also rose, from 44th highest to 10th highest. The increase has a high degree of statistical significance (p<.0001). Cancer death rate, whites, Jackson County vs. U.S. Jackson County U.S. Rate/ Years of Death Deaths Rate/100,000 100,000 % +/- U.S. 1979-1983 373 187.21 (#44 in AL) 206.60 - 9.4 1999-2005 888 222.56 (#10 in AL) 195.47 +13.9 p<.0001 Notes: Data from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://wonder.cdc.gov/. Rates adjusted to 2000 U.S. standard population. Uses ICD-9 codes 140.0-239.9 for cancer (1979-1983) and ICD-10 codes for cancer (1999-2005). Whites make up over 95% of Jackson County population.
The current (1999-2005) cancer death rate among Jackson County children and adolescents is more than double that of the U.S. Even though only eight deaths from cancer occurred in these seven years, and the difference falls somewhat short of statistical significance (p<.19 when p<.05 is significant), the findings should be taken seriously. Cancer death rate, age 0-24, whites, Jackson County vs. U.S., 1999-2005 Jackson County U.S. Rate/ Years of Death Deaths Rate/100,000 100,000 % +/- U.S. 1999-2005 8 7.25 3.51 +106.6 p<.19 Notes: Data from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://wonder.cdc.gov/ Uses ICD-9 codes ICD-10 codes for cancer (1999-2005). Whites make up over 95% of Jackson County population.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Jackson County's 54,000 residents are already at risk for health problems due to demographic factors. Its poverty rate exceeds the U.S. (15.3% to 12.7% in 2004), and its educational levels fall below that of the nation (67.0% age over 25 graduated from high school, vs. 80.4% nationally in 2000).
Because of the high cancer rates and demographic factors presented here, adding a source of pollution such as nuclear reactors would further threaten the local population.
I and my colleagues at the Radiation and Public Health Project urge you to not make any decisions on the Bellefonte application unless these health data have been publicly presented and discussed.
Sincerely yours,
Joseph J. Mangano, MPH, MBA
Executive Director
Radiation and Public Health Project, email: odiejoe@aol.com
Re: Limited Appearance
Bellefonte Nuclear Plants Units 3 and 4
Docket No. 520-14-COL and 52-15-COL
By email paul.bollwerk@nrc.gov, hearingdocket@nrc.gov
716 Simpson Avenue
Ocean City NJ 08226
August 12, 2008
Dear Sir/Madam:
Please accept the following comments on the plan to build and operate two new nuclear reactors at the Bellefonte plant near Scottsboro AL.
I am a public health researcher, and thus my comments will thus be focused on the potential health risks of new Bellefonte reactors. The high levels of radioactivity found in the core and waste pools of a nuclear reactor after several years of operation are equivalent to hundreds of times that released after the Hiroshima bomb, and several times that of releases from the Chernobyl accident.
A meltdown from mechanical failure or terrorist attack would release large amounts of radioactivity to the local population, and have devastating consequences. The 1982 report Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences, prepared by the Sandia National Laboratories, estimated that an accident at a single Bellefonte reactor would cause
- 3,600 deaths from acute radiation poisoning within 20 miles
- 7,700 non-fatal cases of acute radiation poisoning within 20 miles
- 4,500 cancer deaths within 50 miles
Because of the population increases since 1982, and because the geographic area considered is limited (radioactivity would spread well beyond 20 miles), these figures should be considered minimal if a meltdown were to occur in the future.
New reactors at Bellefonte would also routinely emit a portion of the radioactivity produced in the core into local air and water, where it would enter human bodies through breathing and the food chain. Once in the body, radioactivity kills and injures cells, and is particularly harmful to infants and children.
The added radioactivity would increase risk of cancer. Jackson County, where Bellefonte is located, already suffers from disproportionately high cancer rates. The table below shows that from 1979-1983, the county's cancer death rate jumped from 9.4% below the U.S. to 13.9% above the U.S. in 1999-2005. Its ranking among the 67 Alabama counties also rose, from 44th highest to 10th highest. The increase has a high degree of statistical significance (p<.0001). Cancer death rate, whites, Jackson County vs. U.S. Jackson County U.S. Rate/ Years of Death Deaths Rate/100,000 100,000 % +/- U.S. 1979-1983 373 187.21 (#44 in AL) 206.60 - 9.4 1999-2005 888 222.56 (#10 in AL) 195.47 +13.9 p<.0001 Notes: Data from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://wonder.cdc.gov/. Rates adjusted to 2000 U.S. standard population. Uses ICD-9 codes 140.0-239.9 for cancer (1979-1983) and ICD-10 codes for cancer (1999-2005). Whites make up over 95% of Jackson County population.
The current (1999-2005) cancer death rate among Jackson County children and adolescents is more than double that of the U.S. Even though only eight deaths from cancer occurred in these seven years, and the difference falls somewhat short of statistical significance (p<.19 when p<.05 is significant), the findings should be taken seriously. Cancer death rate, age 0-24, whites, Jackson County vs. U.S., 1999-2005 Jackson County U.S. Rate/ Years of Death Deaths Rate/100,000 100,000 % +/- U.S. 1999-2005 8 7.25 3.51 +106.6 p<.19 Notes: Data from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://wonder.cdc.gov/ Uses ICD-9 codes ICD-10 codes for cancer (1999-2005). Whites make up over 95% of Jackson County population.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Jackson County's 54,000 residents are already at risk for health problems due to demographic factors. Its poverty rate exceeds the U.S. (15.3% to 12.7% in 2004), and its educational levels fall below that of the nation (67.0% age over 25 graduated from high school, vs. 80.4% nationally in 2000).
Because of the high cancer rates and demographic factors presented here, adding a source of pollution such as nuclear reactors would further threaten the local population.
I and my colleagues at the Radiation and Public Health Project urge you to not make any decisions on the Bellefonte application unless these health data have been publicly presented and discussed.
Sincerely yours,
Joseph J. Mangano, MPH, MBA
Executive Director
Radiation and Public Health Project, email: odiejoe@aol.com
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