Blog Post
Citizens Initiative Gaining Steam
- By Natalie Treat
- •
- 31 Oct, 2019
State leaders, locals folks, working to make community-based radiological monitoring a reality in New Hampshire
Why is it that the host state of the Seabrook nuclear plant hasn't invested in real-time radiological monitoring "beyond the fence?" While the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has contracted with C-10 to provide this important service since 1993, the issue has been an ongoing and uphill fight for the people of New Hampshire's seacoast region.
Portsmouth State Rep. Peter Somssich (center) and former radiogical specialist Howie Gonia of Seabrook (left) are among those working on the Citizens Initiative to Expand Radiological Monitoring in New Hampshire. Recently, they visited C-10's office and spoke with System Administrator Mike Mansir (right) to see our Central Station in action.
Rep. Somssich, a Ph.D. physicist by training, wants to see less state investment in passive data collection such as the device known as a "TLD" that is hanging on the bulletin board in the photo above. These thermo-luminescent dosimeters are placed on utility poles in the towns surrounding Seabrook station and taken down approximately quarterly. Both plant owner NextEra Energy and the state of New Hampshire have their own devises, which record cumulative gamma radiation over a three to four month period and have to be manually taken down and sent to a lab for processing. Somssich would like to see more real-time data collection, which he believes would be much more useful in understanding airborne radiation levels at a given time.
Read more about C-10's monitoring network here, and check out this article featuring Rep. Somssich and Rye Senator Tom Sherman's efforts in this article on Seacoastonline.com. To contribute to the Citizens initiative, click here.
Portsmouth State Rep. Peter Somssich (center) and former radiogical specialist Howie Gonia of Seabrook (left) are among those working on the Citizens Initiative to Expand Radiological Monitoring in New Hampshire. Recently, they visited C-10's office and spoke with System Administrator Mike Mansir (right) to see our Central Station in action.
Rep. Somssich, a Ph.D. physicist by training, wants to see less state investment in passive data collection such as the device known as a "TLD" that is hanging on the bulletin board in the photo above. These thermo-luminescent dosimeters are placed on utility poles in the towns surrounding Seabrook station and taken down approximately quarterly. Both plant owner NextEra Energy and the state of New Hampshire have their own devises, which record cumulative gamma radiation over a three to four month period and have to be manually taken down and sent to a lab for processing. Somssich would like to see more real-time data collection, which he believes would be much more useful in understanding airborne radiation levels at a given time.
Read more about C-10's monitoring network here, and check out this article featuring Rep. Somssich and Rye Senator Tom Sherman's efforts in this article on Seacoastonline.com. To contribute to the Citizens initiative, click here.
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Tritium is a radioactive byproduct of nuclear fission, found in abundance in nuclear wastewater. The Cape Cod community wants to be safe from it, corporate industry and regulators want to dump into the air and water and forget it ever existed.
C-10 does not agree with the NRC's assertion that "everything is fine, nothing to see here" when it comes to Seabrook Station repeatedly failing inspections.
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