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
Prairie Island Routinely Emits Radioactivity into the Environment
Even if steam generator tubes didn't leak and threaten catastrophe, nuclear plants still endanger our health. During normal reactor operations, radioactive substances are routinely produced and released to the environment. These releases are significant.
Prior to 1940, less than 40 curies of radioactive material had been isolated on earth. Now Prairie Island relases over 500 curies of tritium into the Mississippi River every year.
It releases an additional 200 curies per year of airborne radioactivity. These radioactive particles are out there in our environment where they can be ingested and inhaled.
But radiation monitoring is not designed to detect this radioactivity. Public officials have no idea where radioactive emissions go, or where they concentrate. And, when the area surrounding the reactors floods, longer-lived radioactive material deposited on soil since previous flooding gets flushed into the river where it causes more harm.