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Sierra Club Canada is urging Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) to refrain from dumping radioactive water into the Ottawa River, following another leak of tritium from the NRU reactor at Chalk River.
“If it follows past practice, AECL will collect some of the radioactive water, and dump it into the Ottawa River after filtering it for impurities. This means that Ottawa’s drinking water will be contaminated with elevated levels of tritium. Filtering water from reactors does not remove tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen that can cause cancer and birth defects,” said Mike Buckthought of Sierra Club Canada.
The NRU reactor was shut down following a power failure on May 14. According to AECL, the reactor is now leaking heavy water at a rate of 5 kilograms per hour, and releasing radioactive tritium into the air. AECL has not disclosed details about how much tritium is being released into the atmosphere and the Ottawa River. However, it has revealed that the tritium releases exceeded action levels.
“AECL routinely dumps radioactive water into the Ottawa River, the source of drinking water for many communities downstream from Chalk River. Radioactive pollution from nuclear reactors poses a serious threat to our health. The routine dumping of tritium must stop now,” said Buckthought.Sierra Club Canada is calling for full disclosure of information about the quantities of radioactive tritium released into the atmosphere and the Ottawa River. AECL and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) have failed to disclose full details about large releases of tritium following recent incidents at Chalk River.
Canada’s nuclear reactors routinely release radioactive tritium into the atmosphere and nearby lakes and rivers. All radiation releases increase risks of birth defects and cancer. Tritium is particularly dangerous because it can move readily as water to any cell in the body and accumulate in DNA, where it does its damage from close range.