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timberwolf0122 t1_iv28d4d wrote

Reply to comment by Kixeliz in New England may not have enough natural gas to last the winter by mycophdstudent

Was that actually a significant problem? I’m being serious.

Tritium has a half life of 12.3 years, which is relatively short.

According to what I found on atomic insights VT YANKEE was leaking 100gal(320L)/day of water containing 2.5million picocuries/liter.

That’s 0.35 curies/ year of radiation diluted in 138,000 liters of water.

If you drank all that water yourself you’d get a dose or ~30 rem, which is around the max yearly dose for a us radiation worker. Realistically you’d end up consuming a such a small fraction of that water it would not impact you.

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Kixeliz t1_iv29fdq wrote

here's the Dept. of Health's recap. While tritium alone may not be harmful in small doses, that it was leaking radioactive matieral was an issue.

https://www.healthvermont.gov/response/environmental/tritium-contamination-vt-yankee-2010-12

> On February 14, the major source of the leak was found. A pair of stream pipes in the PDF icon Advance Off-Gas (AOG) pipe tunnel were found to be badly corroded and leaking nuclear steam. The floor drain of this concrete tunnel was found to be clogged with construction debris and mud, which caused condensate from the steam pipes to pool inside the tunnel and leak out at a failed joint.

Seems a tad problematic, no?

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timberwolf0122 t1_iv34os1 wrote

Again, not great but also not terrible.

The plant was clearly aging, I just wish we could have built a new modern reactor on the site so it could stay running while the old reactors are decommissioned

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Twombls t1_iv5w2vm wrote

"Not great not terrible" is exactly what you want to hear in terms of a nuclear plant lmao.

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timberwolf0122 t1_iv6um60 wrote

I’m quoting a line from HBO’s Chernobyl, it was a little tongue in cheek

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Loudergood t1_iv5qyhu wrote

Can't do that in the US these days. It'd make universal healthcare look cheap.

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landodk t1_iv29a83 wrote

Not that in particular. But it doesn’t speak well to their maintenance. Nor was a water tower collapsing. No risk of contamination, but not a vote of confidence

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timberwolf0122 t1_iv34ioc wrote

Not great, not terrible.

We do need to build new modern reactors though, it’s the safest path to carbon reduction

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