Radiation in Water – A Real Risk

The question when introducing US Nuclear Corp’s real-time continuous water monitors to municipal water utilities is, ‘why do we need an instrument like this?  We don’t have radiation in our drinking water or waste water.’

Our question is how do you know if you don’t monitor the water.  Typical monitoring is 4 times a year per EPA’s Clean Water Act.  A water sample is pulled and sent to a lab for testing. Not a very timely or cost-effective method.

Naturally occurring radiation is continuously leaking into our groundwater.  Whether water supplies are from surface water, rivers, reservoirs and lakes or groundwater, risk of radiation contamination, either deliberately or by accident, and the subsequent contamination of the population and of the infrastructure is very real today and increases as our technology advances.

And what about Wastewater? With radioactive material being used so prolifically in today’s manufacturing, products and health practices the inadvertent or deliberate improper disposal of waste effluent can easily contaminate our water facilities.  Proper disposal of radioactive waste from manufacturing the incredibly diverse products, now in everyday use, is expensive and if cost saving corners are risked in disposal, water is the first to be contaminated.

The list below is just a portion of the products produced and utilized today that involve radioactive components:

Rare earth oxides (REOs), minerals and Rare earth elements (REEs) contain naturally occurring radiation and are used in diverse technologies including mobile phones, hard drives, fiber optic cables, surgical lasers, cruise missiles, catalytic converters, hybrid fuel cells, solar panels, and wind turbine magnets.  The process for extracting these elements for manufacture of these products creates significant quantities of radioactive waste.

Tritium is created and used in several industries: bombs / weapons, gunsights, watches, tracer material, automobile headlights, analytical chemistry and as a tritiated water tracer to study sewage and liquid waste.

Nuclear medicine is now common in most hospitals and imaging centers.  Creating the radioactive elements for nuclear medicine, diagnostics and treatment and radio imaging is achieved in radiopharmacies, nuclear laboratories, cyclotrons and nuclear reactor generators.

Phosphate based fertilizer production uses acid and water creating waste among which is radioactive waste material.  There is a caution against using the waste in agriculture because radioactive nuclides might accumulate in the environment.  The result are towers of accumulated waste at these fertilizer production facilities that aerate radiation into the atmosphere as they dry out or seep into the water table over time.

Oil and gas production create radioactive waste as a result of naturally occurring radionuclides called NORM.  The current extraction practices, such as fracking, are now generating what is termed Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM). The drilling process often uses a water blend of chemicals, particularly in fracking, and as such generates vast quantities of contaminated water.  Underground injection of this contaminated water is a typical disposal practice. This technique of disposal poses a significant risk to aquifers and wells.

Nucleonic gauges for measurement purposes are used in a diverse variety of industries including steel and coal.  Instruments to perform non-destructive testing utilize radioactive elements. The radionuclide zinc-65 is used to predict the heavy metal component behavior in mining wastewater.

National laboratories and university laboratories typically utilize radionuclides in their research.

Common items utilizing or produced with radiation include smoke detectors, irradiated gemstones, improved resistance in wire and cable, vulcanizing rubber for tires and other uses, food irradiation, in the production of tampons disposable diapers, and other absorbable materials, and air freshener elements.  Radioactive tracers are used in a wide variety of industries to determine wear and tear on machinery, engines, and blast furnace linings. Camera light sensors and plasma displays, beta-voltaic batteries also utilize radioactive elements in their production and use.

As you can see by this comprehensive, yet far from complete, list of manufacturing and products utilizing radiation the risk of contamination in our water is great. Real-time continuous water monitoring for radiation is really the only way to know if contamination has occurred in our water.

With two models to determine radiation contamination in water the opportunity to provide critical infrastructure security is available.  Use them in tandem at the beginning of the water filtration process and at the end prior to release of water into the outflow or just at the intake to determine the quality of water entering the treatment process.

• Utilizing the RAWA-GP at the water intake pipe of the water filtration system provides automatic and continuous monitoring of water 24/7 for any BETA/GAMMA radioactive contamination. Monitor for contamination in silt and particulates of ground or surface RAW WATER.
• Installing the NexGen-SSS at the end of your water treatment process provides vital information on the efficiency of your treatment system for BETA/GAMMA radioactive contamination.

HYDROFRACKING & WATER:

What is the cost in contaminating our water?

By Penelope Randall, Environmental Specialist, US Nuclear Corp

Hydrofracking demands for water use is up 770 percent since 2011 according to a 2018 peer reviewed study out of Duke University. The use of millions of gallons of water and sand infused with up to 1,000 different toxic chemicals is used to fracture shale rock and release the trapped gas or oil.

The wastewater, brine, and sludge are then returned to the surface and in need of disposal. Unfortunately, there is not yet a clear and safe method of disposal or storage. In many places this wastewater is reinjected into deep underground wastewater wells. There is mounting evidence that this method of disposal may be responsible for earthquakes and pollution of groundwater in some locations. The exponential growth of the hydrofracking industry and its practices constitutes a growing problem.

Among these chemicals are radioactive isotopes which wastewater treatment plants are not equipped to either detect or clean up. The rush to establish hydrofracking and in turn cashing in on the enormous profits to be made has collided with a distinct lack of regulation in protecting industry workers, the public, and the environment. The oil and gas industry were exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act in 2004 and from the Energy Policy Act of 2005. It explicitly excluded hydraulic fracturing from the SafeDrinking Water Act’s regulations of underground injection wells.

Some steps are now being undertaken to close these loopholes, currently it is left up to the individualstate’s discretion of what is a regulated or acceptable. In 2015 the Congressional Research Service (CRS) submitted ‘The rapid growth in the use of fracturing has raised concerns over its potential impacts on groundwater and drinking water resources and has led to calls for more state and/or federal oversight of this activity.’ House Bill 3604, titled ‘To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to require testing of underground sources of drinking water in connection with hydraulic fracturing operations, and for other purposes’ was introduced June 28, 2019 and referred to the House Energy and Commerce committee.

Among the radioactive materials mobilized by hydrofracking are uranium, radium, barium, and thorium. These are naturally occurring in the earth’s rock formations. Fracking disturbs and activates movement of these metals by breaking up the rocks containing these radioactive metals. The metals dissolve into the water and fracking fluid. Fracking the rock is like shaking a carbonated beverage. When shaking the drink, the carbonated gas forms bubbles expanding and rising to the surface of the liquid.

Rocks containing Radium slowly release Radon gas naturally over a long period of time. When Radium 224 and -226 with a half-life of 1,600 years decays in this way it forms the gas Radon-222. Fracking rapidly accelerates this natural process by breaking them and shaking them up releasing radon gas to the surface. This means shale gas transported to homes via pipelines contain the radioactive gas Radon-222 exposing people to a known carcinogen. The maximum of 5 picocuries of Radium per liter of drinking water is allowed by the EPA. Produced water (hydrofracking wastewater) has been found to contain Radium levels as high as 9,000 picocuries per liter.

The oil and gas industries are not regulated regarding radionuclides as are nuclear power plants. Drinking water is infrequently monitored for radioactive contamination and as such discovery of such a public health threat may go unnoticed for an undetermined period of time. Disposal issues are becoming more of a problem as hydrofracking escalates. Transporting wastewater, sludge, and brine for storage and disposal poses a significant health issue. Pollution of surface water and air is already being noted in locations where hydrofracking is going full speed ahead.

One disposal solution the hydrofracking oil and gas industry favors is injecting these tens of millions ofgallons of contaminated water into ‘injection wells’, meaning holes in the earth. 20 million tons of waste is currently produced annually. At this time neither Ohio nor Pennsylvania measure radiation levels in fracking wastewater. A USGS report found that millions of gallons of wastewater from unconventional wells in Pennsylvania and conventional wells in New York to be 2,609 time more radioactive than the federal limit for drinking water and 300 times the limit determined for industrial discharge by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

A current potential solution considered in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania is to send it by barge to waste treatment plants. The Coast Guard is currently considering the pros and cons of such a method of transportation of tens of thousands of gallons of toxic waste. The industry feels it will be safer and less expensive than using trucks for transport to waste treatment. The Coast Guard is seriously considering the level of risk to workers due to the build up, known as bathtub ring, of radioactive contaminants in barge holds.

The carcinogenic chemicals linked with hydrofracking wastewater, brine, flowback, and sludge are becoming increasingly well documented and as such awareness with the general public is expanding. However, understanding of the radioactive elements generated by hydrofracking; contaminating the environment and in turn the public remains elusive and appears to be suppressed critical information.

About Technical Associates, a division of US Nuclear Corp: For 67 years Technical Associates (TA) has developed and provided radiation measurement and monitoring instrumentation to diverse industries utilizing radiation/nuclear technology.

Description: Hydrofracking demands the use of millions of gallons of water, precious drinking water, and sand infused with up to 1,000 different toxic chemicals to fracture the shale rock and release the trapped gas or oil. The process releases trapped radiation as well.

Tags: Fracking, hydrofracking, drinking water, radiation, toxic chemicals, pollution, environment, EPA, Safe Drinking Act, Energy Policy Act, radioactive, uranium, radium, radon