http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/1020-02.htm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 19, 2003
7:35 PM
CONTACT: The RadioActivist
Campaign
Norm Buske 360.275.1351
Tom Carpenter 206.292.2850
http://www.radioactivist.org/
Radiation Peril
In Columbia River Increasing
BELFAIR, WA - October
19 - A new study, "Trouble in the Columbia
Riverbed: increasing radioactivity under the Hanford Reach,"
posted at www.radioactivist.org, reports that radioactive
radium-225 contaminates the Columbia Riverbed. That radioactivity
is steadily increasing and might account for recent reports of
chromosomal damage to spawning salmon.
In 2002 - 2003, The
RadioActivist Campaign (TRAC) analyzed water
samples derived from sediments collected from the Hanford Reach
riverbed. TRAC's analyses found artificial radium-225 at up to
40 picocuries per liter. Radium-225 is a byproduct of uranium-233,
which Hanford produced during the Cold War for battlefield nuclear
weapons. Radioactive radium-225 mimics calcium, a natural element
that is essential for regulating bodily functions.
Eighty percent of the
Columbia River salmon spawn in the Hanford
Reach. TRAC's Director, Norm Buske, a physicist and oceanographer,
says "These new results highlight the need for an independent,
comprehensive study of Hanford's radioactivity in the Hanford
Reach riverbed."
In 2000, university
scientists reported pronounced chromosomal
anomalies in four out of five female salmon that spawned in
the Hanford Reach. The Spokesman-Review reported today that
according to Washington State University geneticist, Gary
Thorgaard, "It's still a mystery what's going on."
According to Buske,
radium-225 in the riverbed is increasing
2 - 4% per year. That radioactivity will continue to increase
unless remedial actions are taken.
The Washington State's
Division of Radiation Protection and
Hanford scientists dispute TRAC's findings. However the agencies
plan to carefully examine the Hanford shoreline over the next
decade.
TRAC, based in Belfair,
Washington, studies radioactivity around
nuclear facilities to promote public safety and site accountability.
Buske has measured radioactivity around American and Russian
nuclear facilities since 1983.
This study was conducted
under contract for the Government
Accountability Project and supported by a grant from the Citizens'
Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund.
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