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 ‘Alarming’ presence of radioactivity found by Pennsylvania fracking wastewater study

 

Researchers have found high levels of radioactivity, salts, and metals in water and sediment located downstream from a treatment facility which processes fracking wastewater from oil and gas production sites in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale formation.
A Duke University team analyzed water and sediment samples from the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, finding radium levels 200 times greater than samples taken upstream from the plant and far higher than what’s allowed under the Clean Water Act.

Radium is a radioactive metal that can cause diseases like leukemia and other ill-health effects if one is exposed to large amounts over time.

The treatment facility processes flowback water - highly saline and radioactive wastewater that resurfaces from underground after being injected into rocks in the fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, process.

Fracking is the extraction of oil and gas by injecting water to break rock formations deep underground. Use of the process has increased rapidly in the US in recent years, yet scientists who have studied the practice warn of climate-damaging methane emissions and radioactive effects that come with it.

The study was published Wednesday in the Environmental Science and Technology journal. It focuses on two years of tests on wastewater flowing through Blacklick Creek from oil and gas production sites in western Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale formation.

For two years, the Duke team monitored sediment and river water above and below the treatment plant, as well as discharge coming directly from the plant, for various contaminants and levels of radioactivity. In the discharge and downstream water, researchers also found high levels of chloride, sulphate, and bromide, which can interact with chlorine and ozone - used to disinfect river water for drinking -to create a toxic byproduct.

“The treatment removes a substantial portion of the radioactivity, but it does not remove many of the other salts, including bromide,” said study co-author Avner Vengosh, a Duke professor of geochemistry, adding that traditional facilities like Brine aren’t made to remove these contaminants.

Though the Brine treatment facility strips some radium from fracking wastewater, high levels of metal still accumulate in sediment.

"The occurrence of radium is alarming - this is a radioactive constituent that is likely to increase rates of genetic mutation" and can be "a significant radioactive health hazard for humans," said William Schlesinger, a researcher and president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, who wasn't involved in the study.

Researchers believe the contaminants come from fracking sites because the Brine facility treats oil and gas wastewater which has the same chemical features as rocks in the Marcellus shale formation.

Some fracking wastewater is shipped by oil and gas companies to treatment plants like Brine to be processed and released into waterways. But most wastewater is reused for more fracking, Lisa Kasianowitz, an information specialist at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, told ClimateCentral.org.

Kasianowitz said the treatment facility is handling "conventional oil and gas wastewater in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.”

Vengosh said that the research indicates that similar contamination may be happening around other fracking locations along the Marcellus shale formation in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York.

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 Jelly fission? Jellyfish invasion leads to Swedish nuclear reactor shutdown

  weden’s biggest nuclear reactor was forced to cease operations in a queer twist which had nothing to do with earthquakes or anti-nuclear protests. A giant swarm of jellyfish invaded the area, sneaking into pipes and causing a shutdown.

Over the weekend a large number of Aurelia aurita, or moon jellyfish, plugged the cooling water intake pipes at the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant on the Baltic Sea coast, leaving the operator no choice but to disconnect the facility’s 1,400-megawatt Unit 3 from the grid.
The employees of the plant were battling the sea creatures till Tuesday, when a spokesman for the operator announced that the jellyfish had been removed and the reactor was being prepared for restart.

“We hope we’ve solved the problem regarding the jellyfish, but we aren’t sure because they can come back,” Anders Osterberg, a spokesman for Oskarshamns Kraftgrupp AB, told the New York Times.

According to Osterberg, the jellyfish got into the pipes at about 18 meters below the sea surface, where the plant collects cold water to cool its reactor and turbine systems.

There was no risk of a nuclear accident, he stressed, adding that the invaders hadn’t made it past the filter or come anywhere near the reactor.

It was the jellyfish which were at risk, as they could’ve been killed by the pressure from the filtration system, but not from contact with any boiling water.

“There will be no dinner of boiled jellyfish,” spokesman said.

Osterberg recalled a similar incident in 2005 when the Oskarshamn’s unit 1 was shut down.

Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Oskarshamn, Sweden (Reuters / Mikael Fritzon)

Jellyfish clogs are recurring problem for nuclear power plants around the world, which are often placed next to large bodies of water. In October 2008, the Diablo Canyon 2 reactor in California had to be shut down after jellyfish bottled the circulating water screens and caused a problem with water pressure, according to US Nuclear Regulatory Commission data.
Another invasion by of Aurelia aurita into a cooling canal at the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant in Florida caused a massive fish kill in August 2011, clogging the intake pipes with five tons of dead fish in the canal and triggering an unplanned shutdown.

Jellyfish shutdowns were also reported at nuclear facilities in Scotland, Israel and Japan, the Power magazine notes.

According to National Geographic, the incidents may be one of the consequences of what the marine scientists warn is an ominous surge in the global jellyfish population.

The gelatinous creatures have fewer natural predators due to overfishing, while, unlike other aquatic species, they’re also able to withstand increasing levels of acidity in the oceans. 

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HISANOHAMA, June 3 — Dozens of crabs, three small sharks and scores of fish thump on the slippery deck of the fishing boat True Prosperity as captain Shohei Yaoita lands his latest haul, another catch headed not for the dinner table but for radioactive testing.

Japan’s government banned commercial fishing in this area, some 200km (125 miles) northeast of Tokyo, after a devastating 2011 tsunami and the reactor meltdowns and explosions that followed at the nearby Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. 

The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, or Tepco, has battled since then to keep radioactive water used to cool the crippled reactor from leaking into the ground and the sea.

The walls of a once-bustling fish market that sold Yaoita’s catch of flounder, rockfish, greenling and other sealife in the port of Hisanohama, about 20km (12 miles) south of the ruined plant, remain in ruins. 

The fishermen of Hisanohama, forced out of work by the disaster, have had no choice but to take the only job available — checking contamination levels in fish just offshore from the destroyed nuclear reactor buildings.

"We used to be so proud of our fish. They were famous across Japan and we made a decent living out of them," said 80-year-old Yaoita, who survived the tsunami by taking on the waves and sailing the six-person True Prosperity out to sea. 

"Now the only thing for us is sampling."

Shoulders stooped from years of hard work, Yaoita is happy to be back pulling fish out of a 300-metre (330 yards) net. Like many younger fishermen, he’s unsure how long he can stay at it.

The fishermen and Tepco are in dispute over the utility’s plans to dump 100 tonnes of groundwater a day from the devastated plant into the sea. The complicated clean-up plan for Fukushima could take 30 years or more. 

Tepco’s challenge is what to do with the contaminated water that has been pooling at the plant at a rate of 400 tonnes a day — enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool in a week.

So far it has been racing to build tanks to store the contaminated water on the grounds of the plant, in which all the water is kept at the moment.

It has also asked fishermen to support a plan to build a "by-pass" that would dump groundwater into the sea before it becomes contaminated by flowing under the reactor’s wreckage.

"We are staunchly against it," said Tatsuo Niitsuma, 71, who fishes with Yaoita.

MORE CONTAMINATION, LESS HOPE

Representatives from fishing cooperatives met Tepco officials on Thursday to discuss the proposal, with Trade Minister Toshimitsu Motegi to instruct Tepco on what to do, although no final plans were announced.

In addition to the "by-pass" Motegi, who also holds the energy portfolio, told Tepco to create "protective walls" in the ground by freezing the soil around the reactors to create an underground barrier to stop groundwater from flowing in and mixing with contaminated water inside the reactor building. 

The fishermen, however, worry the "by-pass" plan risks more contamination and delays, possibly ending any hope for the only job they know.

Tepco officials have said it may take as long as four years to fix the problem, but have said they do not need outside help.

 The uncertainty and stress have become problems. Many former fishermen live in temporary homes next to people they barely know after losing not only their jobs, but also family members.

 Waves as high as 40 metres wrought havoc across several hundred kilometres of Japan’s northeastern coast, damaging ports handling 7 per cent of the country’s industrial output, some 28,500 ships and 319 small fishing communities like Hisanohama.

 The total cost of damage to the fishing industry is estimated at around 1.26 trillion yen (RM37.47 billion).

 About 40 Hisanohama fishermen survived the disaster. They could make a few thousand dollars a month each with good catches, but instead get by on handouts for tsunami survivors.

 "For many middle-aged men, their work meant everything, so now they find it hard to mingle with others, cut themselves off and start drinking," said Hideo Hasegawa, who runs a support centre in a 3,000-strong temporary housing settlement.

The fishermen’s opposition to Tepco’s plans underlines deep distrust across radiation-contaminated areas towards Tepco and the government after their uncertain response to the disaster, and a lack of clear information about radiation risks since.

 "They say it’s safe, but they had always told us that the nuclear power is safe too - and just look what a mess we’ve gotten ourselves into because of that," Yaoita said.

Many fish caught in the area test below Japan’s limits on radiation, a figure of 100 Bequerels per kilogram of Caesium-137 and Caesium-134, according to the Japanese government. However, crews say fish that live near the sea-floor, such as cod, halibut or sole, often test for excessive levels of radiation.

A large crab caught by Yaoita before the disaster could fetch as much as US$30 on the Hisanohama market. A kilogram of flatfish could sell for about the same. Once he could catch dozens of both and many other fish on a single morning outing.

"The nuclear disaster destroyed our livelihoods and now we are like beggars," said Yaoita.

"Previously I never went to see the doctor. Now it feels like I down more drugs and medicine than actual food." — Reuters

Fear and stress outweigh Fukushima radiation risk

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Kids in Fukushima Prefecture are becoming increasingly overweight, as they are denied daily exercise in schoolyards due to the risk posed by exposure to nuclear radiation in the area, governments’ health report reveals.

­The report argues that an increasing number of kids are weighing 20 per cent more than their standard based on their height, reported Kyodo News.

The study was released by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Since June 2011 more than half the public institutions in Fukushima, which is just under 450 schools, have limited their outdoor activities during school hours. As of September 2012, 71 elementary and junior high schools still adhere to such restrictions, according to the prefectural education board.

Their main concern is fear of exposure to radiation released from the Fukushima Daiichi complex.

Earlier, alarming reports of children developing potentially cancerous abnormalities have been making news as early as July.

A report by Fukushima Medical University first published this April and updated in July revealed that 36 per cent of Fukushima children have unusually overgrown thyroid glands, and could be prone to cancer.

Of 38,000 children examined, 13,000 had cysts or nodules as large as five millimeters, the Health Management Survey stated, which made doctors around the globe rate Japan’s reaction to the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster as “ultimately medical irresponsibility.”

On top of that, fish caught off the coast of Japan following the Fukushima nuclear disaster are still contaminated, bringing speculation that leakage from the reactors has not been fully stopped. If true, it could threaten area marine life for decades to come.

The long-term consequences of the Fukushima disaster have yet to be estimated, and the possible radiation spread has been a subject of continuous dispute, with official and independent sources providing contrasting figures.

Since the day of the tragedy, Japan has seen many anti-nuclear demonstrations.

The Fukushima nuclear plant was hit in 2011 by a powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami, the worst-ever disaster of its kind in Japan.

The disaster triggered a strong reaction in Japan itself and from May to July Japan managed to function without nuclear power plants, but later despite widespread protests, Ōi Nuclear Power Plant was restarted.

The disaster also had an awakening effect on several nations worldwide, with some deciding to shelve the use of nuclear energy, including European powerhouse Germany.

reuters 

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