Yearly Exposure in Drinking Water Equivalent to 250 Chest X-Rays a Year

That is more than 5 X-rays a week, every week.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) quietly issued proposals Monday to allow radioactive contamination in drinking water at concentrations vastly greater than allowed under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The new guidance would permit radiation exposures equivalent to 250 chest X-rays a year. Under these proposals, people would be forced to get the radiation equivalent of a chest X-ray 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year.

The EPA proposed Protective Action Guides (PAGs) would allow the general population to drink water hundreds to thousands of times more radioactive than is now legal

There are over 200 Radioactive Nuclides.

Iodide-131

For example, radioactive iodine-131 has a current limit of 3 pico-curies per liter (pCi/L), in water but the new guidance would allow 10,350 (pCi/L), 3,450 times higher.

Keep potassium iodide pills stocked

To counter act Iodine-131 with its 8 day half-life,  take potassium iodide to help prevent damaging the thyroid.  It is a salt that prevents absorption of radiological iodine-131 by the only the thyroid (not the other parts of the body) the most sensitive part of the body for this radiation. The thyroid is responsible for the growth of organs, including the brain.  The effect of radiation is worst for young people.

Do not use table salt because it has a very small amount of iodine and will not be effective. The thyroid gland does not know the difference between radioactive and non-radioactive potassium iodide, so by taking the pills the thyroid will become full and reject the incoming radiated iodine-131.  Taking a stronger dose will not be effective and will cause illness.

Cesium-137

Cesium-137 has been detected throughout the United States in both tap water and milk.

It has the second lowest melting point of all metallic elements and is in liquid form near room temperature. (83.3 F or 28.5 C).  This metal would be found at the bottom of a distilling pot, but not visible because of the very small amount.

Cesium-137 emits beta particles and has a half-life of 30 years. (This means that its rate of emitting beta particles will be reduced to one half in 30 years.)

It is a heavy metal with a very high boiling point. (1,240°F or 670.8°C)

Cs-137 is now considered safe at 270 times its previous cutoff level.

Strontium-90

The current standards for strontium-90, which causes leukemia, the current limit is 8 pCi/L; The new proposed value is 7,400 pCi/L, a 925-fold increase.  Strontium causes bone cancer and leukemia. Babies, children and females are at even greater risk than adult males.

All Radionuclides

All radionuclides can cause cancer and other health and reproductive problems; There is no completely safe level.  The EPA has reported elevated radiation in drinking water at .28 to .48 picocuries per liter in cities across the country.  The current safe level for radioactive iodine in drinking water is 3 picocuries per liter.

The current Safe Drinking Water Act limits are based on 4 millirems per year. The PAGs would allow 500 millirems per year for the general population. A single chest X-ray gives about 2 millirems.

The EPA internal analysis showed that for one radionuclide, “drinking a very small glass of water of approximately 4 ounces … would result in an exposure that corresponds to a lifetime of drinking … water … at the MCL level.”

Cesium-137, Strontium-90 and Plutonium-239, would be allowed at levels so high that in one EPA radiation scenario, exposure would lead to a 100 percent chance of getting a fatal cancer, eight times over. Food radiation limits would be loosened so much that one in fifty people could contract the terminal disease.

December 2016 – by the EPA

Rad Cities in CPM

**Normal Radiation is 5 to 20 CPM **