4 ms·

[flagged]

by grecy 4y ago

[flagged]

pornel 4y ago
Level of dilution is crucial here. It may be less radioactive than a banana.
- coldtea 4y ago
  Yeah, nothing to worry about, it's all safe, trust us!
  - pornel 4y ago
    You have the same "trust is" situation about safety of fracking, mining, chemical industry, water treatment plants, lead leaks from pipes, baby formula, plastic bottles, and air quality downwind from fossil power plants. Radioactivity level is actually one thing you can easily measure yourself without having to trust the big bad government. BTW: did you know coal power plants release uranium into the air? Coal is "clean" only in election ads. The real one is too expensive to filter, and burned in such massive volumes that even tiny impurities are significant.
    - coldtea 4y ago
      >did you know coal power plants release uranium into the air? Yes. A small amount, and not in concentrated form the way nuclear output or nuclear power plant waste is... I also don't have concerns with bananas
      - pornel 4y ago
        > and not in concentrated form the way nuclear output or nuclear power plant waste is So we're back to square one: it's not actually concentrated. The report says "the levels of tritium in the water are below federal thresholds". These aren't barrels of green goo like in the Simpsons.
acidburnNSA 4y ago
I do happen to have radiation detection equipment and can always check my water to see if it's even remotely above background. I know that with doses below 100 mSv (nearly 20x avg natural background for a year), there is no measurable risk of long-term cancer increase (not to mention acute radiation sickness, obviously) [1]. I'd happily drink water with trace contamination well below known hazardous levels. In fact, we all do this every day. In this case, increases of trace contamination have not been found or expected in any drinking water supply from this event. Dept of Health says [2]: > Currently, there is no health risk due to this situation. Monitoring wells are being sampled frequently to track the migration of the plume while the plant works to recover the tritiated water. Should the monitoring well results indicate protective action is necessary, it will be taken at that time. [1] https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/01/f46/doe-ionizing-radiation-dose-ranges-jan-2018.pdf https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/01/f46/doe-ioni... [2] https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/air/tritiumleak.html https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/air/t...
- enslavedrobot 4y ago
  Background radiation is very different from drinking alpha or beta emitters. Don't drink those if you can help it.
  - acidburnNSA 4y ago
    Radon is the primary component of natural background radiation. It's an alpha emitter. https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radiation-sources-and-doses https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radiation-sources-and-doses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon
    - flangola7 4y ago
      And radon kills thousands of people a year through lung cancer. Alpha particles are bad inside you
karlshea 4y ago
It didn’t reach the Mississippi or into drinking water sources, so no one is drinking it at all.
- hammock 4y ago
  According to whom? The regulators who hid this from the public for four months?
  - karlshea 4y ago
    Given some of the ridiculous takes here if I were them I would also have waited four months for a resolution and not mentioned it unless it was an emergency. And as someone who lives just downstream from this plant and would have been directly impacted from drinking the water: yes, I will continue to be trusting the Minnesota Department of Health over reactionary HN commentary.
    - hammock 4y ago
      How long did you trust the Minnesota Department of Health when it came to the PFAS discharges from the 3M plants? Decades? Do you still trust them?
      - karlshea 4y ago
        Still trust them more than random people on HN! Xcel reported it when it happened to the state—which they didn't even have to do given how low-concentration it was[0]—the NRC published that it happened on their website in November so it wasn't a "secret"[1], the levels are being monitored from wells, and the plume didn't travel far enough to affect anyone. Now they're pumping out and filtering the water to remove it. What are you trying to get at here? What is the outcome you wanted? If this is some sort of anti-nuke power plant take based on an unfortunate but basically non-event then just say so and I'll excuse myself from replying any further. [0] https://www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cleaning-up-a-radioactive-water-spill-at-monticello-plant-minnesota-tritium/600259470/ https://www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cleaning-up-a-radioactiv... [1] https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/2022/20221123en.html https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/...
dang 4y ago
Please edit out swipes, as the site guidelines ask. Your comment would be fine without that first bit. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
grecy 4y ago
EDIT COMMENT ABOVE: As per Dang's advice, I would take out the first line above if I could, but I can't edit that comment anymore. Consider it gone.

[flagged]

by grecy 4y ago

[flagged]

pornel 4y ago

Level of dilution is crucial here. It may be less radioactive than a banana.

coldtea 4y ago
Yeah, nothing to worry about, it's all safe, trust us!
- pornel 4y ago
  You have the same "trust is" situation about safety of fracking, mining, chemical industry, water treatment plants, lead leaks from pipes, baby formula, plastic bottles, and air quality downwind from fossil power plants. Radioactivity level is actually one thing you can easily measure yourself without having to trust the big bad government. BTW: did you know coal power plants release uranium into the air? Coal is "clean" only in election ads. The real one is too expensive to filter, and burned in such massive volumes that even tiny impurities are significant.
  - coldtea 4y ago
    >did you know coal power plants release uranium into the air? Yes. A small amount, and not in concentrated form the way nuclear output or nuclear power plant waste is... I also don't have concerns with bananas
    - pornel 4y ago
      > and not in concentrated form the way nuclear output or nuclear power plant waste is So we're back to square one: it's not actually concentrated. The report says "the levels of tritium in the water are below federal thresholds". These aren't barrels of green goo like in the Simpsons.

acidburnNSA 4y ago

I do happen to have radiation detection equipment and can always check my water to see if it's even remotely above background. I know that with doses below 100 mSv (nearly 20x avg natural background for a year), there is no measurable risk of long-term cancer increase (not to mention acute radiation sickness, obviously) [1]. I'd happily drink water with trace contamination well below known hazardous levels. In fact, we all do this every day. In this case, increases of trace contamination have not been found or expected in any drinking water supply from this event. Dept of Health says [2]: > Currently, there is no health risk due to this situation. Monitoring wells are being sampled frequently to track the migration of the plume while the plant works to recover the tritiated water. Should the monitoring well results indicate protective action is necessary, it will be taken at that time. [1] https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/01/f46/doe-ionizing-radiation-dose-ranges-jan-2018.pdf https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/01/f46/doe-ioni... [2] https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/air/tritiumleak.html https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/air/t...

enslavedrobot 4y ago
Background radiation is very different from drinking alpha or beta emitters. Don't drink those if you can help it.
- acidburnNSA 4y ago
  Radon is the primary component of natural background radiation. It's an alpha emitter. https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radiation-sources-and-doses https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radiation-sources-and-doses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radon
  - flangola7 4y ago
    And radon kills thousands of people a year through lung cancer. Alpha particles are bad inside you

karlshea 4y ago

It didn’t reach the Mississippi or into drinking water sources, so no one is drinking it at all.

hammock 4y ago
According to whom? The regulators who hid this from the public for four months?
- karlshea 4y ago
  Given some of the ridiculous takes here if I were them I would also have waited four months for a resolution and not mentioned it unless it was an emergency. And as someone who lives just downstream from this plant and would have been directly impacted from drinking the water: yes, I will continue to be trusting the Minnesota Department of Health over reactionary HN commentary.
  - hammock 4y ago
    How long did you trust the Minnesota Department of Health when it came to the PFAS discharges from the 3M plants? Decades? Do you still trust them?
    - karlshea 4y ago
      Still trust them more than random people on HN! Xcel reported it when it happened to the state—which they didn't even have to do given how low-concentration it was[0]—the NRC published that it happened on their website in November so it wasn't a "secret"[1], the levels are being monitored from wells, and the plume didn't travel far enough to affect anyone. Now they're pumping out and filtering the water to remove it. What are you trying to get at here? What is the outcome you wanted? If this is some sort of anti-nuke power plant take based on an unfortunate but basically non-event then just say so and I'll excuse myself from replying any further. [0] https://www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cleaning-up-a-radioactive-water-spill-at-monticello-plant-minnesota-tritium/600259470/ https://www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cleaning-up-a-radioactiv... [1] https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/2022/20221123en.html https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/...

dang 4y ago

Please edit out swipes, as the site guidelines ask. Your comment would be fine without that first bit. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

grecy 4y ago

EDIT COMMENT ABOVE: As per Dang's advice, I would take out the first line above if I could, but I can't edit that comment anymore. Consider it gone.