United States Minnesota Nuclear Plant leaks radioactive water 400,000 Gallons total and it was apparently covered up.

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Bought to you by the man who knows all things nuclear.

Yeah, apparently Minnesota had a huge leak of radiactive material months ago and we are only just now finding out both the government and company state none of it has leaked into the water table but in light of recent events involving the Ohio Derailment I won't take their word immediately.
 
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Flintsteel

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Eh, tritium has a fairly short half-life (~12.3 years) and is beta-decay. Not as benign as alpha-decay (which can be stopped with a piece of paper, air, and even your own skin - just don't eat it), but it's no gamma emitter.

And honestly, not immediately notifying makes sense. The general public is panicky and has no understanding of nuclear physics or the dangers. They hear "radiation" and think of green glowing death, not understanding that there are different types and each pose different risk profiles and mitigations.

They certainly have monitoring wells around the plant. If it starts moving, they'll know. They can either do a pump-and-treat, of just let it decay naturally.
 

bintananth

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Eh, tritium has a fairly short half-life (~12.3 years) and is beta-decay. Not as benign as alpha-decay (which can be stopped with a piece of paper, air, and even your own skin - just don't eat it), but it's no gamma emitter.

And honestly, not immediately notifying makes sense. The general public is panicky and has no understanding of nuclear physics or the dangers. They hear "radiation" and think of green glowing death, not understanding that there are different types and each pose different risk profiles and mitigations.

They certainly have monitoring wells around the plant. If it starts moving, they'll know. They can either do a pump-and-treat, of just let it decay naturally.
Beta radiation is also pretty benign. It's just electrons and stoppable by stuff like a wooden door, a sheet of drywall, or a few mm of aluminium or steel.

It's gamma radiation that sucks. If you've ever been inside a hospital LinAcc room used for cancer treatment - which I have, for fieldwork survey - you're in a lead-lined concerete vault that's comparable in thickness to what nuclear reactors get. 3ft of concrete and 1in of lead for the parts which the beam and high-energy recoil won't be pointed at is not a joke.
 

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