Some people seem a little “hot” under the collar these days over this whole EnergySolutions arena deal.  Please.

Gone are the days of Jason Groenwald former Executive Director of HEAL Utah.  But there’s a new gal in town…Vanessa Pierce.  Ms. Pierce did a bit on KCPW and KSL Radio 1160 with Doug Wright this morning.  Jason’s gone, but the beat goes on! Same old junk science…same old scare tactics.  And now, they’re attacking…basketball!

Hazardous Waste Task Force

In 2004, I was assigned to fill a vacancy on the Hazardous Waste Regulation and Tax Policy Task Force.  The two-year task force had already met for a year when I started meeting with them.  Absorbing all the technical data accumulated by this group during that time was a real challenge.  Envirocare, as they were known back then, was the primary focus of this two-year inquiry.  There were a number of other entities discussed during the deliberations of this group; however, the primary focus was Envirocare.

My wife reads novels for fun—I read technical manuals and publications.  I know, I know…you, too!  One of the most fascinating books I’ve read from cover-to-cover was a publication from the National Safety Council’s Environmental Health Center, titled Understanding Radiation In Our World.  While I was serving on this task force, my wife and I took a business trip to Hawaii where I had a work project.  While laying out by the pool soaking up the Hawaiian sun (which I later found out wasn’t a good thing to do), I learned more about radiation and radiation stuff then…well…most people in Utah.

A couple of things I learned while on “the force.”

First, “The overall risk to the public from radioactive waste is lower than from other sources of radiation, such as radon and nuclear medicine.”  Understanding Radiation In Our World, p.45

Radon (Rn), is a radioactive element that is one of the heaviest gases known.  Its atomic number is 86.  It is found naturally in soil and rocks and is formed by the radioactive decay of radium.

[Note:  On average, each of us receive about 360 millirem (mrem) of radiation each year.  About 300 mrem, or 82% of the total, is natural background radiation (from radon and other natural sources).]

Here’s something truly frightening…a little exercise…go outside and look up at the majestic granite mountains of the Wasatch front rising thousands of feet above the valley floor.  It’s all decaying granite.  Decaying granite, has the highest level of Radon known to man (at least for rocks).  And, we’ve built a community around it.  Before you go back inside, look up at the sun…not directly at the sun…all along the Wasatch Front…47…that’s right…47 millirem dosage (annually of course).  The food you eat for a year…40 millirem.  Live in a stone or brick home…add 7 mrem.  Had an upper GI lately (like I have)?…245 mrem.  Don’t breathe that air…200 mrem/yr!  Move up to Park City (elev. 6700 feet) from Salt Lake City…add an extra 19 millirem per year.

Public and Occupational Radiation Levels

Another thing I learned, “In enforcing Environmental Protection Agency’s exposure standards for the nuclear industry, (the) Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) limits the air and water emissions of radionuclides from nuclear reactors to levels that would expose no member of the public to more than 25 millirems of radiation per year (25 mrems/yr.).

“For occupational exposures at nuclear plants, NRC limits the sum of both internal and external doses to workers to 5,000 millirem.  The average worker dose in the US nuclear energy industry in 1995 was about 160 millirem, less than 5 percent of the NRC limit.” Understanding Radiation In Our World, p.68

Now, here’s the real kicker!  Eight.  That’s right…8.

The average annual exposure (2003) per individual radiation worker at the Clive facility of Envirocare (now part of EnergySolutions) was less than 8 mrem.

I have the DEQ report/memo right here in my hand—8 mrem.  Substantially less (58% less) than the additional annual 19 mrem a person would get by moving from Salt Lake City to Park City.  And, less than 2% of the NRC annual occupational limit of 5,000 mrem.  [No single worker at Clive received over 270 mrem/yr.  in 2003—5.4% of NRC annual occupational exposure.]Truth be told (holding all background numbers constant)…It’s radioactively safer to live next door to the Clive facility in the West Desert than to live on the East Bench in Salt Lake City.

Here’s another thought: There are some experts who say small doses of radiation (similar to exposures in EnergySolutions’ Clive Workers) are beneficial to humans—Hormesis it’s called.

*** WARNING:  Wearing sunscreen with SPF 30 while outside searching for spotted owls in the rain forest will reduce your risk of radiation exposure. ***