Highly increased radioactivity in the Gundremmingen NPP

Highly increased radioactivity at annual revision in the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant

11/14/2011

At the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant between Ulm and Augsburg, significantly more radioactive noble gases were released into the environment as part of the annual audit than in normal power operation. This was reported by the atomic-critical physicians' organization IPPNW on Friday, citing the mean values ​​that were not available for the first time.

The experts of the medical organization IPPNW (International Doctors for the Prevention of Nuclear War / Physicians in Social Responsibility e.V.) explained that in September with the start of the annual audit at the nuclear power plant Gundremmingen the emission levels of radioactive noble gases „abruptly in an extreme way“ have risen. According to the IPPNW data, peak loads were reached in the short term which were almost 500 times higher than in normal operation. While the atomic-critical medical organization ago „probable health consequences of such emission peaks“ warns, the operator of the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant pointed out that the applicable limits were respected despite the increased release of radioactive noble gases.

Radioactivity 500 times higher than in normal operation
IPPNW reported that the nuclear power station's emission concentration before the annual audit was approximately three kilo-becquerels per cubic meter and increased to more than 700 kilo-becquerels per cubic meter in the late afternoon and evening of September 22, with the start of the overhaul. In the meantime, according to the IPPNW, a maximum value of 1470 kilo-becquerels per cubic meter has been reached, and during the following days between 23 and 29 September, the load averaging 106 kilo becquerels per cubic meter was about 30 times higher than in normal power operation , The reason for the increased release of radioactive substances, the atomic-critical physicians organization said that in a revision with fuel assembly, the lid of the reactor pressure vessel is opened and so next to „radioactive carbon other radionuclides such as tritium, iodine-131, cesium-137 and radioactive noble gases“ can escape. The information on the released radioactive particles and the radioactive noble gases were previously available only as averaged values. Due to a request of the IPPNW and the Greens in the Bavarian state parliament, however, the unmediated values ​​were published for the first time. The scientific evaluation of these values ​​by the IPPNW and the Nürnberger scientist Dr. med. Alfred Körblein illustrated the massive increase in emissions at the beginning of the annual audit in Gundremmingen. Like Dr. Körblein emphasized reached the concentration of radioactive noble gases „maximum 500 times the normal value.“

Health risk from released radioactivity - especially for children
The enormous emission peaks at the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant were another reason for the IPPNW experts to warn of possible health effects caused by the radioactive contamination. According to IPPNW board member, Reinhold Thiel, in particular „unborn children in the womb“ endangered, there „pregnant women in the operating phases with open reactor pressure vessel with the respiration to take up more radioactive nuclides than usual.“ These pass through the maternal bloodstream and the placenta to the unborn child, which in the worst case, the occurrence of certain diseases in children could promote, said Thiel. As an example, the expert called the increased leukemia risk of children living near nuclear power plants, which by „the results of the 2007 published child cancer study of the Mainz Children's Cancer Registry“ be explained plausibly.

Operator refers to compliance with the daily limit values
The operators of the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant - the Gundremmingen GmbH nuclear power plant, which owns 75 percent of RWE Power AG and 25 percent of E.ON Kernkraft GmbH - excluded health risks from the increased emissions during the annual audit. A spokesman for the nuclear power plant Gundremmingen GmbH explained that at the annual audit all limits for the emission of radioactive substances were met and the controlled activity discharge was well below the approved limits. According to the power plant operators, so far only the so-called daily limit, which reflects the sum of all discharges within 24 hours including the peak value, is relevant for the estimation of possible health risks. Short-term outliers, such as the 500-fold increase in emission levels, are negligible, since even on the days with the highest emissions of the daily limit was exceeded by about 85 percent, said the spokesman for the operating company.

Unconditional half-hourly values ​​required for the delivery of radioactive substances
However, the IPPNW experts see this differently and criticized the previous approach, in which the corresponding measured values ​​are published by the supervisory authorities and power plant operators only as a leveled average. „For a reasonable scientific evaluation of the protection of unborn children, we now need from all nuclear power plants unspent half-hourly values ​​of all radioactivity“, emphasized Reinhold Thiel. These values ​​are in the past „treated by the supervisory authorities and the nuclear power plant operators as company property and provided, despite repeated inquiries only in averaged form“ has been criticized by the atomic-critical organization of physicians. For the assessment of the health risk caused by the released radiation, the IPPNW believes that the values ​​must be provided in the near future without any leveling over a longer period of time. (Fp)

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Picture: Angela Parszyk