Where the reactors are - U.S., Midwest
About the Prairie Island reactors
How a pressurized water nuclear reactor works - part I
How a pressurized water nuclear reactor works - part II
Northern States Power sues Westinghouse over faulty tubes
Problems with Steam Generator Tubes (Part I)
Problems with Steam Generator Tubes (Part II)
A nightmare confirmed: steam tube degradation is increasingly likely to cause a nuclear meltdown (Part I)
A nightmare confirmed: steam tube degradation is increasingly likely to cause a nuclear meltdown (Part II)
Chernobyl to Prairie Island - We are all in the zone (Part I)
Chernobyl to Prairie Island - We are all in the zone (Part II)
Prairie Island routinely emits radioactivity into the environment
A little lesson on radioactivity: how it affects the human body
The difference between high-level and low-level radiation exposure
The effects of low-level radiation exposure
The waste fuel pools are filling up
Dry cask storage: problems guaranteed, and problems unknown
Yucca Mountain, Nevada: not a good place for nuclear waste
Transporting the waste: how safe can 45,000 shipments be?
Most mining and milling of uranium occurs on Indian lands
People of color are also targeted for other uranium processing facilities
Nuclear waste dumps - guess where they want to put them
Anything is cheap if you don't pay the cost
Nuclear power can be phased out
An interview with two of the neighbors
REFERENCES
Routine Nuclear Emissions
The Difference Between High-Level and Low-Level Radiation Exposure
Radiation creates positive and negative ions (red and blue, respectively) as it passes through matter. These ions kill living tissue.
The electrical charge of an ion breaks the bond that holds together the molecules that form cell walls. As cell walls dissolve, tissues die and the door is opened for cancers, mutations and other diseases.
High level radiation bursts, such as X-ray dosages, create many positive and negative ions. These opposite charges all tend to attract and neutralize each other, thereby becoming non-toxic. Ions that are not neutralized do their damage, but then the radiation burst is over, and the body's repair mechanisms begin the healing process.
Low level radiation, however, creates relatively few ions. Few opposite charges are available to attract each other, so there is little neutralization. Each ion therefore passes from one molecule to the next. As it goes, it continues breaking bonds that hold cell walls together.