[Greenbuilding] Radioactive Compost

Carmine Vasile gfx-ch at msn.com
Thu Nov 3 15:32:11 CDT 2011


Erin: Your response is frightening. Would you know if rats can also survive? This would explain why there's so much Thallium and radiation in LI Groundwater near BNL and LI Compost/Great Gardens. See recent engineering reports Parts I & II linked to  www.brookhavencc.org/Radioactivity___News.html  They use an incorrect MCL for Gross Beta of 50 pCi/L. It should be 4 mrem/yr for combined Beta/Gamma radiation.CarmineP.S. Are you the same Erin that wrote the following informative comment @ http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/node/2897Submitted by Erin (not verified) on Fri, 2011-04-15 09:17.

   The
EPA MCL standard is based on a 70 year lifetime. Please notice that the EPA has
issued two standards under the Clean Water Act: the MCLG (zero) and the MCL (4
mrem).
http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/radionuclides.cfm.

   The
1974 Safe Drinking Water Act requires EPA to determine 2 different standards
for contaminants (including radiological substances). The first, called the
MCLG (“maximum contaminant level goals”), is “the level of contaminants in
drinking water at which no adverse health effects are likely to occur.” This
health goal is “based solely on possible health risks and exposure over a
lifetime with an adequate margin of safety.” It is non-enforceable. For
radionuclides, EPA has determined that this level is ZERO. Id.

   Then,
EPA sets an enforceable regulation, called a maximum contaminant level (MCL),
“as close to the health goals (the MCLG) as possible, considering cost,
benefits and the ability of public water systems to detect and remove
contaminants using suitable treatment technologies.” That’s the MCL – in this
case, the gross MCL for beta particles. The standard is 4 millirems/year (or
700 pCi). This would be 49,000 pCi in a lifetime.

   The
EPA has clearly stated that the only “safe” level of radionuclides in drinking
water is *zero*.
http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/radionuclides.cfm.
That is its MCGL standard. Its MCL standard (4 mrem/yr dose or no more than 700
pCi/year exposure) is not purely based on human health; it takes into account a
“cost, benefits and the ability of public water systems to detect and remove
contaminants using suitable treatment technologies,” while, however, attempting
to get “as close to the health goals (the MCLG) as possible.” The “safe” level
is zero. Zero times 70 years is still zero.

   In the
media and on many website you may have seen some people (including, bizarrely,
the EPA), cite to FDA guidelines called DILs to tell you that the releases we
are seeing are "safe" or not a threat to human health. This is wrong.
The FDA has stated that its DILs are NOT safety standards. http://www.fda.gov/newsevents/publichealthfocus/ucm247403.htm.
The FDA DILs allow 1 person in 4400 to get a lethal cancer before the FDA will
intervene to stop the sale of a food. They allow 33,000 pCi of radioactive
cesium and 4,700 pCi of radioactive iodine per kilogram of food (or liter of
milk) - with no consumption limit.   Just 1 1/2 Liters of contaminated milk under the FDA DIL would exceed the EPA’s lifetime limit for drinking water - which of course is simply the best effort to get to the "safe" level of zero exposure which EPA has determined under the MCLG. Please do not make the mistake of thinking that comparisons to the FDA's DIL guidelines will give you an idea of what exposure is safe.



From: erin at trmiles.com
To: greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2011 09:53:06 -0700
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Radioactive Compost

I think it's likely that the bugs survive.  Near the old Hanford nuclear facility in Washington, they've found that the radioactivity of the soil had declined, but there are marked hot spots where burrowing wasps live. The wasps and their nests are more radioactive than the surrounding area, often many times more radioactive, and they still appear to be functioning normally. Erin From: greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org [mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Carmine Vasile
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2011 2:41 PM
To: GB Forum
Subject: [Greenbuilding] Radioactive Compost Would anyone know if Radioactive Compost kills garden pests faster than consumers? American & Japanese health officials must, e.g.:      "Will someone explain how enclosing a radioactive compost facility will remove radioactive groundwater plumes and prevent further contamination? Recall, "Investigators looking into puzzlingly high radioactivity levels in groundwater near a Yaphank compost facility will embark on a new round of tests this week, officials said." (See "Further tests for Yaphank composting site", June 13, 2011 by JENNIFER SMITH, NEWSDAY)      Have puzzled officials measured the Cs-137 levels in LI Compost sold at Home Depot as was done in Japan?       NOTE: "A resident in Akita Prefecture alerted the authorities when the bag of leaf compost that he purchased from a local garden/home center measured high in radiation with his portable survey meter. The authorities tested the content of the bag, and it had 11,000 becquerels/kg of cesium. At the garden/home center (2 locations) the air radiation 1 meter from the pile of the leaf compost bags measured as high as 0.48 microsievert/hr.” (From "Japan: Radioactive Compost Has Already Spread Wide" http://www.infiniteunknown.net/2011/07/28/japan-radioactive-compost-has-already-spread-wide/) [Online Comment Re: “Limits imposed on Great Gardens composting”, October 26, 2011 by SOPHIA CHANG, Newsday] Best regards,Dr. Carmine F. Vasilegfxtechnology.com 		 	   		  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.bioenergylists.org/pipermail/greenbuilding_lists.bioenergylists.org/attachments/20111103/44bad5e3/attachment.html>


More information about the Greenbuilding mailing list