While searching for articles about environmental hazards in Wayne county, my home county, I remembered the nuclear power plant located just one town away from my home. I thought to myself, this is not a perfect match for the assignment - it isn't organophosphate poisoning, or Farmer's lung - but it was always a very real potential hazard for the residents nearby. I remember when I was growing up, there were always emergency drills preparing for the day when something would go wrong with the power plant. The residents were issued iodine tablets which may help in minimizing damage from nuclear radiation. The schools would do drills every couple of years, which usually entailed a few hours worth of herding students onto busses, driving them to the designated fallout location and then returning to school. So I thought to myself, this was a very real hazard that I faced in Wayne county, and it continues to be a potential hazard. I started looking into the Ginna Nuclear Power Plant and found an article entitled, "The World's 10 Oldest Operating Nuclear Power Reactors." This was fairly concerning for me to read. However, I cannot say whether the power plant being old is a good or a bad thing, because we all know things used to be made much sturdier than they are now. The article states that Ginna opened in 1970 and has been running largely without incident ever since. However, in 1982 there was a break in a tube that leaked radioactive water, resulting in a temporary shutdown for the plant. Despite the fact that no one was hurt or evacuated, Ginna remains a potential hazard in Wayne county.
Now my curiosity is sparked to understand more about this power plant. I found that it is a pressurized water reactor that is monitored through the Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program. This program samples local water sources, food, air, and milk for detectable radiological activity. The results of the 2011 monitoring program indicate that there was no significant radiological impact from the operations at Ginna. So, this blog project may help me sleep at night knowing that so far, Ginna has not posed a huge threat to my home community. However, I still believe it has the potential to be a worrisome environmental hazard for Wayne county. Let's hope it never lives up to that dangerous potential.
Now my curiosity is sparked to understand more about this power plant. I found that it is a pressurized water reactor that is monitored through the Radiological Environmental Monitoring Program. This program samples local water sources, food, air, and milk for detectable radiological activity. The results of the 2011 monitoring program indicate that there was no significant radiological impact from the operations at Ginna. So, this blog project may help me sleep at night knowing that so far, Ginna has not posed a huge threat to my home community. However, I still believe it has the potential to be a worrisome environmental hazard for Wayne county. Let's hope it never lives up to that dangerous potential.
