Letter: We all live in a radioactive soup in Tri-Cities

I agree with Dr. Antone L. Brooks’ perspective on the radioactive soup we all live in today (TCH letters, Feb. 3). I also studied radiation biology as my minor in both my master’s of science and Ph.D. in radioecology. And I worked at Hanford for 28 years and three years as a B Reactor tour guide.

I want to add perspective on Iodine-131 releases from Hanford production reactors.

During routine plutonium production, spent fuel elements were shoved out the back of reactors into a 20-foot-deep fuel pool, where it decayed for 100 days, thus eliminating all I-131 (eight-day half life). Fuel elements were then transported to the 200 areas for reprocessing and collection of plutonium.

Russians processed “green fuel,” thus releasing significant quantities of I-131 into the atmosphere. Our government measured these releases and duplicated this process to compare iodine releases to establish Russian production rates. Therefore, Hanford conducted limited “green runs” in the early years and did release I-131 to the environment. We collected and measured I-131 in cattle thyroids, milk and air filters in a wide area surrounding Hanford to estimate the dose to humans from these releases. No statistically significant health effects were predicted.

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Letter: We all live in a radioactive soup in Tri-Cities."