Word: aec
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...Equally pressing is the problem of permanent storage for lethal radioactive wastes contained in spent reactor fuel elements. The practice now is to dissolve the fuel rods in nitric acid, then store the liquid in vats underground. Already the AEC has more than 80 million gallons of this lethal liquid (which includes wastes from weapons production) In tanks that must be constantly cooled and scrupulously maintained for hundreds of years before the radioactivity is spent. The AEC is now perfecting ways to solidify the wastes to permit storage in underground caverns. Even so, the growth of nuclear power could make...
...genetic effects of radiation, there is still controversy over what constitutes safe exposure to radiation. Most scientists agree that there is a 50% chance that adults exposed to 450 rems* of radiation will die. Below about 50 rems, no visible damage has been measured. With little empirical evidence, the AEC has adopted 500 millirems (one millirem is one-thousandth of a rem) as the maximum radiation that the general public can be safely exposed to in one year. That is a very small amount. By comparison, the sun and other natural radiation sources expose the average individual to about...
...Edward P. Radford Jr., a specialist in the biological effects of radiation: "Until a year ago, I was one of those who felt that any problems associated with nuclear power could be solved." Now Radford is not so sure. He is not alone. Last month two scientists at the AEC's Livermore Radiation Laboratory reported that current radiation standards may be responsible for as many as 16,000 additional cases of cancer a year in the U.S. and urged that exposures be cut tenfold. Though AEC officials rebut that finding, other federal radiation experts feel that standards should...
...Deaths. Apart from the hazards of low-level radiation, there is the danger that a major reactor accident could release lethal amounts of radiation into the air. To prevent this, the AEC continually upgrades its stringent operating standards, and reactors have a far better safety record than any other major U.S. industry. Most experts agree that the chance of a major accident is exceedingly remote. But accidents do happen, as the Northeast power failure vividly demonstrated...
...radioactive material contained in the Fermi plant were blown into the air during a thermal inversion, 67,000 people could die of radiation poisoning. Even if only 1% of the radiation were released, there would be 210 fatalities. In 1957, when reactors used less fuel, an AEC study also considered the worst that might happen. In that case, it was assumed that a small unshielded reactor situated 30 miles outside a city of 1,000,000 people had suffered an accident that released half of its radioactivity. Though such an accident is improbable, the findings were not comforting...