New York Publishes Report On Strontium In Hudson River Fish
Written by NucNet
Friday, 05 February 2010
There are “no significant differences” between radioactive strontium 90 (Sr-90) levels in fish caught near the Indian Point nuclear power plant compared to fish caught further upstream in the Hudson River, a new report shows.
The 31-page report from New York state’s Department of Environmental Conservation agrees with a previous determination by state health officials that there is no public health concern, relative to Sr-90, connected to eating fish caught in the Hudson River.
It concludes that the levels of radionuclides – including Sr-90 – were “two to five orders of magnitude lower” than criteria established for the protection of freshwater ecosystems.
The report also concludes there were no differences in concentrations of Sr-90 and naturally occuring radium 224 in resident fish from the three locations sampled in the lower Hudson River. The locations were near Indian Point, Roseton (about 40 km upstream) and Catskill (about 120 km upstream).
The DEC analysed fish flesh and bones caught in June 2007 near the nuclear plant and from the two areas further upstream.
There are three reactors at the Indian Point plant. Unit 1 was permanently shut down in 1974 and units 2 and 3, both pressurised water reactors, are still in operation.
Story Background:
In 2005, Indian Point’s owner Entergy discovered a spent fuel pool water leak to groundwater while installing a new crane to facilitate transfer of unit 2 spent fuel to dry cask storage. This leak was determined to have generated a groundwater plume of tritium (H-3). During efforts to track the H+3 plume, Sr-90 was discovered in a portion of the plume and traced back to a leak in the unit 1 spent fuel pool.
