Nuclear Waste through FL?

Childhood Cancer in South Florida Study Finds Cause in Nuclear Plant Radiation Emissions

- Drinking Water Most Likely Source

Miami, Florida - A South Florida Baby Teeth and Cancer Case Study, that was officially released today, finds that infants and children are especially vulnerable to cancer caused by federally-permitted radiation releases from nuclear reactors, such as the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear power plants, located in southeast Florida.

The five-year baby teeth study, also known as the "Tooth Fairy Project," found a 37% rise in the average levels of radioactive Strontium-90 (Sr-90) in southeast Florida baby teeth from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. When compared with baby teeth collected from 18 Florida counties, the highest levels of Sr-90 were found in the six southeast Florida counties closest to the Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear reactors: Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River.

The current rise of radiation levels in baby teeth in Florida and in the U.S. as a whole reverses a long-term downward trend in Sr-90 levels since the 1960s, after President Kennedy banned aboveground testing of nuclear weapons 1963, due to concerns about increasing childhood cancer and leukemia rates from fallout.

Radioactive Sr-90 is a known carcinogen, which is only produced by fission reactions in nuclear weapons or reactors. It enters the body along with chemically similar calcium, and is stored in bone and teeth, where it can be measured years later using well-established laboratory techniques.

Significantly, the study documented that the average levels of Sr-90 found in the teeth of children diagnosed with cancer were nearly twice as high as those found in the teeth of children without cancer.

Dr. Ernest Sternglass, Professor Emeritus of Radiation Physics at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School and co-author of the study said that "although radioactive emissions can enter the air, soil and diet, the most significant source of Sr-90 in southeast Florida children's teeth is groundwater, the primary source of southeast Florida's public drinking supply. This is due to the area's high rainfall and shallow aquifer."

The study found the highest levels of radioactivity in samples of drinking water found within 20 miles of the Turkey Point (located south of Miami) and St. Lucie (located north of West Palm Beach) nuclear power plants, while levels of radioactivity were significantly lower in water samples further away from the reactors.

The rise in Sr-90 levels in both drinking water and baby teeth parallels a 32.5% rise in cancer rates in children under 10 in the southeast Florida counties, which are closest to the nuclear power plants. This compares with a average 10.8% rise in national childhood cancer rates from the early 1980s to the late 1990s.

The baby teeth study conclusions are consistent with the recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency admission that children age 2 and younger are 10 times more susceptible than adults to the cancer causing effects of toxic chemicals and radioactivity. According to the National Cancer Institute's SEER Cancer Statistics Review, from early 1970s to late 1990s, U.S. childhood cancer overall has increased by 26%, brain cancer by 50%, leukemia by 45% and bone cancer by 40%.

"There is now substantial evidence that exposure to federally-permitted radiation releases from nuclear reactors is a significant cause of increasing childhood cancer rates in southeast Florida, as well as a risk factor for cancer in Americans of all ages," said Dr. Jerry Brown, the study's co-author and Founding Professor, Florida International University in Miami.

Dr. Brown noted that, "the recent 2003 Recommendations of the European Committee on Radiation Risk found that the world-wide health effects of very low levels of radioactivity have been vastly underestimated."

In a Statement on Baby Teeth Study, Samuel Epstein, M.D., wrote, "Given prior evidence of the relationship between childhood cancer and radioactive emissions from 103 aging nuclear power plants in the U.S., and the well established biological risks of radioactive Strontium-90, it is now critical to recognize that radioactive emissions from commercial nuclear power plants pose a grave threat to public health in southeast Florida and throughout the nation." Dr. Epstein is Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health, and Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition.

The study was conducted by the Radiation and Public Health Project (RPHP) and funded by the Health Foundation of South Florida. The Radiation and Pubic Health Project is an independent not-for-profit research organization, established by scientists and physicians to investigate the links between environmental radiation, cancer and public health.

The Health Foundation of South Florida, a not-for-profit grantmaking foundation, is dedicated to expanding access to affordable, quality health care and providing funding that directly benefits the health and well being of underserved individuals in Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. Since its inception in 1993, the Foundation has awarded more than $42 million in grants and direct program support.

Available for Interview at Press Conference

- Dr. Ernest Sternglass, Chief Scientist, RPHP; Professor Emeritus, Radiation Physics, University of Pittsburgh Medical School; co-Principal Investigator of the Report.

- Dr. Jerry Brown, Research Associate, RPHP; Founding Professor, Florida International University; co-Principal Investigator of the Report. (English and Spanish)

- Lilyana and Bill Sager (Lilly), Miami, Florida, daughter diagnosed with cancer submitted tooth to study. Ms. Sanger will discuss why she supports the baby teeth study, her reactions to findings, and her concerns over increasing cancer in the Cutler Ridge area of South Miami-Dade County (English and Spanish)

- Lee Klein, CEO, Children's Cancer Caring Center, founder of organization that provides free medical care to needy families of children with cancer in South Florida and throughout Latin America.

- Steven Marcus, President and CEO, and Peter Wood, Chief Program Officer, Health Foundation of South Florida, an independent not for profit organization benefiting community healthcare and education. The Health Foundation funded the South Florida Baby Teeth and Cancer Case Study.

- Barbara Garrett, Senior Vice President, Applica Inc., a Miami Lakes-company that has supported the national baby teeth study.


Available for interviews by phone:

- Samuel S. Epstein, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Public Health and Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition. Dr. Epstein has reviewed the Research Report and provided a written Statement on Baby Teeth Study

- Dr. Hari Sharma, President, Radiological and Environmental Measurement Systems, Waterloo, Canada. Dr. Sharma is an international expert in radiological measurements and manages the independent lab that tests the baby teeth.

- Debi Santoro, mother who's infant has nerve cancer and who has submitted tooth to study and had her water tested.

- Audra Malone-Schmidt, mother of child with cancer who submitted tooth to study.

- Dava Michaelson, mother and breast cancer survivor, who has submitted daughter's tooth to the study.


Those wishing to donate baby teeth to the Tooth Fairy Project may do so by calling 1-800-582-3716 or by visiting the RPHP website at http://www.radiation.org 

.... AO, 4/23/03

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Nuclear Waste Truck Hit By Pickup

Date: August 27, 2002
Source: www.krqenews.com
Location: Carlsbad, N.M.

A tractor-trailer truck carrying nuclear waste from Idaho to the federal waste dump near Carlsbad was hit by a pickup truck that caught on fire. Officials say no one was seriously injured and there was no leak of radioactivity.

The driver of the pickup truck -- 19-year-old Israel Alvidrez of Seminole, Texas -- was being held in the Eddy County jail on charges of drunken driving and driving without a license.

The assistant manager of the waste program for the Energy Department's Carlsbad field office is Kerry Watson. He says there was no damage to the transport containers bound for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

The accident occurred early Sunday morning on U-S 62-180 on the north side of Carlsbad. Watson says it was the first in 1,144 shipments to WIPP.
...jkeel, 9/1/02

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News Clips

Nuclear cargo
Florida's senators will soon vote on a plan that calls for hundreds of shipments of deadly nuclear waste to pass through populous areas of our state. 7/7/02

Grave Unanswered Questions About Nuclear Waste Disposal
- This week the Senate is expected to agree with the House and create a permanent storage vault for nuclear waste inside Yucca Mountain in Nevada. 7/7/02

Nuclear transport troubles park officials
BISCAYNE NATIONAL PARK — A proposal to transfer nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, Nev., has raised concerns at Biscayne National Park, which sits along one of the possible transport routes. More than 100 barges would cross the park to haul their radioactive cargo from the Turkey Point nuclear power plant to the Port of Miami, under a scenario prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy. 7/6/02

Nuke train raises fear of disaster
As a U.S. Senate vote approaches on plans for hauling spent nuclear fuel cross-country, nuclear safety concerns are drawing new attention in Northeast Florida 7/1/02

Group fights nuclear waste trek 
Beginning in eight years, Florida residents might be seeing 5,223 casks of nuclear waste like the full-size fiberglass replica displayed by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League at City Hall on Thursday. 6/28/02

June 26, 2002: Florida Public Interest Research Group releases a new report: Radioactive Roads and Rails: Hauling Nuclear Waste Through Our Neighborhoods. Download the FloridaPIRG report 

Protesters share nuclear waste transport fears  (photo)
Motorists traveling through Volusia and Flagler counties could share Interstate 95 with trucks carrying three tons of nuclear waste if the U.S. Senate allows the radioactive cargo to be transported to Nevada for disposal.-- Special interest groups alarmed by the potential dangers stopped in Daytona Beach on Tuesday on a cross-country public relations tour, urging elected officials to oppose a plan to ship the waste to Yucca Mountain, Nev. 6/26/02

Nuclear waste routes could go through Florida cities
TALLAHASSEE — A plan to bury radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear plants in a Nevada mountain would bring potentially dangerous cargo close to more than 2 million Floridians, an environmental group says. The Environmental Working Group said in a report to be released Tuesday that if the plan to ship waste to Yucca Mountain is approved by the U.S. Senate, potential truck or train routes could take radioactive waste along heavily traveled interstate highways such as I-95 and on railroads through densely populated cities.6/11/02

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TRANSPORTING NUCLEAR WASTE THROUGH FLORIDA ~ THE PUBLIC HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW

Transporting nuclear waste to Nevada does not get rid of nuclear waste in Florida. Instead, shipping high level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain adds new transportation security risks that residents of Florida will have to deal with for the next 38 years. Florida citizens have a right to know:

=> The 3 reactors in Florida will still have 1,330 metric tons of high level nuclear waste on-site when the Yucca Mountain Project is completed. => When the Yucca Mountain Project is completed there will be roughly the same amount of high level nuclear waste at power plants across the country as there is today.

=> The only reactors that will get rid of their waste completely, according to the Department of Energy, are those that are closed today.

=> Yucca Mountain means thousands of nuclear waste shipments through Florida. Shipping 77,000 metric tons of high level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain means thousands of nuclear waste shipments through Florida, many from out of state. The proposed routes move potentially lethal nuclear waste through Florida's major population centers. In Florida, there would be:

By truck

=> 5,223 truck shipments over 38 years or an average of 145 truck shipments a year. (See Appendix J-4).  

=> 31 percent of the shipments (1,622) will come from outside of Florida.

By rail

=> 348 train shipments over 38 years or an average of 10 train shipments a year. (See Appendix J-4).  

 => Millions of Florida residents are at risk of exposure to deadly nuclear radiation is if there is an accident or terrorist attack.

In Florida:

=> 2,176,380 people live within 1 mile of the Department of Energy's proposed high level nuclear waste transportation routes. 6,235,461 people live within 5 miles.  

=> 1,035 schools are within 1 mile of the Department of Energy's proposed high level nuclear waste transportation routes. 2,204 schools are within 5 miles.  

=> 57 hospitals are within 1 mile of the Department of Energy's proposed high level nuclear waste transportation routes. 99 hospitals are within 5 miles.   Nuclear power plant waste is extremely hazardous

=> Each nuclear waste container could expose Florida communities to 240-times the long-lived radiation released by the Hiroshima bomb.

=> A person standing three feet away from unshielded nuclear waste will receive a lethal dose of radiation in about 2 minutes.

=> The state of Nevada estimates as many as 18,000 of deaths within one year of a serious radiation leak from a single rail cask. Accidents Happen

=> There are 60,000 tractor-trailer wrecks on interstates each year, 3,300 of these involve rollovers.

=> In Florida there were 1,690 fatal semi-truck wrecks from 1994 through 2001, 358 occurred on interstates.

=> There were 1,880 train wrecks in Florida from 1990 through 2001 including 427 derailments and 86 collisions. First responders face life-threatening risks

=> In the event of an accident where radiation is leaking, first responders, local police, fire and hazardous materials response teams could easily be exposed to lethal does of radiation. Independent analysis of the health and economic impacts of an attack with common military demolition devices could cause 300 to 1,800 latent cancer deaths and cleanup and recovery costs of $10 billion or more.

=> Three-quarters of all firefighters in the United States are volunteers. These men and women are being offered voluntary radiation training, but it is extremely unlikely that the nations' 2 million first responders will be properly trained and equipped to respond to a serious leak of high level radiation from a transportation wreck or a terrorist incident.

NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW in FLA.!

From Monday June 24th through Friday June 28th the NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW will be traveling the highways of Florida, warning the public about the many dangers inherent in the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage plan Congress is now in the process of approving.

The Florida Nuclear Waste Roadshow will feature events that will include press conferences, media programs, public rallies and forums. Sponsored by the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice (FCPJ), the Florida Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), local organizations across the state, and the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, the Florida Nuclear Waste Roadshow features a full-size replica of a high-level nuclear waste highway transport cask.

[See the cask at http://www.BREDL.org  and check out the Environmental Working Group for more information:  http://ewg.org  ]

The truck hauling the mock nuclear waste cask is tracing the actual routes that will be used to transport nuke waste from nuclear power plants to a proposed dumpsite in Nevada.  The mock nuclear waste cask measures 20 feet long and 10 feet high; when fully loaded with irradiated fuel, this cask would weigh 26 tons. 

The itinerary:

June 24 Jacksonville -  Press conference at Riverside Park at the intersection of I-95 and I-10 off Park Ave at 12:00 pm. 

June 24 - Daytona Beach  -  Community meeting at 6:30 pm at UCF Higher Ed Center, Building 140, Room 144.  

June 25 - Daytona Beach - Press Conference at 10:00 am at City Island Library parking lot.     

June 26 - Miami  -  Press conference at Temple Israel of Greater Miami at 11:00 am

June 27 - Gainesville  -  Press conference at City Hall at 11:00 am and rally on the corner of 13th street and University Ave.    

June 28 - Tallahassee  -  Press conference at the Capitol at 12:00 pm and visit to Jeb's mansion 

Schedule is subject to change.

The Conference of Mayors, at their meeting in Madison, Wisconsin last week, overwhelmingly passed a resolution on nuclear waste transportation by voice vote.  While this is a watered down version of the resolution that Salt Lake City's Mayor originally introduced, it points out many of the problems with nuclear waste transportation.

Please bring this resolution to the attention of your city and county officials and ask what their position is on high-level nuclear waste transport. These press conferences will be a marvelous opportunity to make public statements in oppostion to the DOE's "Mobile Chernobyl" scheme!  

See whether your local officials have taken a position, and make sure they read the Florida fact sheet below. Let us know if you have a public official who is interested in speaking out on this issue.  Keep up the phone calls and letters to Nelson and Graham - they are no longer denying that they are hearing constituent opposition.  Please continue to keep the pressure on for the home stretch.  The Congressional switchboard is 202-224-2131. 

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