Fwd: [S-A] Rense: Radioactive Element Found In Rio Grande, Study Says

[Guest guest]

" Misty L. Trepke "

Wed, 29 Oct 2003 02:28:35 -0000

[s-A] Rense: Radioactive Element Found In Rio Grande, Study Says

 

Living here in New Mexico myself, I have wondered if we weren't all

glowing to some degree...

Comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

Radioactive element found in Rio Grande, study says

 

Susan Montoya Bryan

Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE -- A low level of radioactivity is finding its way

through the groundwater from a nuclear weapons laboratory in

northern New Mexico into the Rio Grande, according to a study by two

public interest groups.

 

Concern Citizens for Nuclear Safety and the RadioActivist Campaign

say the detection of cesium-137 in soil, plants and water collected

from a tributary of the river should serve as an early warning.

 

" This independent study reveals contaminated groundwater from LANL

is seeping into the Rio Grande, " says Concerned Citizens executive

director Joni Arends. " Despite its monitoring programs and public

assurances, LANL has failed to report this growing problem. "

 

Los Alamos lab -- the birthplace of the atomic bomb and one of the

nation's premier weapons labs -- disagrees with the study. It argues

that research shows cesium does not move into groundwater and that

it's not readily taken up by plant roots.

 

" The assumption that Cs-137 has moved great distances to the

environs of the Rio Grande by way of a groundwater pathway is highly

suspect and calls into question the validity of the entire report, "

says lab spokesman James Rickman.

 

The study says researchers analyzed samples from several points

along the banks of the river in October 2002 and again in spring

2003. They found the highest levels of cesium in moss and sediment

from Pajarito Stream and a nearby spring. The levels ranged from

0.01 to 6 picocuries per kilogram.

 

Cesium-137 is produced during nuclear testing and atomic power plant

operation. The Environmental Protection Agency says the largest

source of cesium is fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests

in the 1950s and 1960s, which disbursed the radioactive element

worldwide.

 

The lab says decades of sampling throughout northern New Mexico has

shown that background concentrations of cesium from fallout range

from 0.6 to 1.7 picocuries per gram -- much higher than the levels

reported in the study.

 

 

 

 

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