We greatly appreciate the Harvard School of Public Health research team for their rigorous work examining cancer risks associated with the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. Their findings confirm what impacted communities have long understood: radioactive emissions from Pilgrim have harmed public health, with higher cancer rates observed among those who live and work closer to Pilgrim.
These dangerous radioactive emissions continue today and must be stopped now. Holtec attempts to obfuscate the facts by dismissing legitimate public health concerns with the claim that we live in a “radioactive world” and therefore should not be concerned. While it is true that natural background radiation exists, the Harvard study examined the health impacts of man-made ionizing radionuclides produced by nuclear power production and decommissioning. These substances such as Cesium-137 and Cobolt-60 do not occur naturally in our environment and are among the most dangerous materials known to humankind.
Unlike natural background radiation, the production and release of these radionuclides is a human choice. We have the ability—and the responsibility—to stop creating them.
Yet, much like the tobacco industry once urged the public to “go have a smoke – it’s good for you,” Holtec and the nuclear industry continue to minimize and obscure the well-documented harms of radionuclides in order to protect profits, while knowingly contaminating our environment with carcinogens.
Public opposition to the current evaporation of radioactive wastewater is clear and widespread. This spring, the Town of Plymouth voted to halt Holtec’s evaporation of radioactive wastewater by more than 90 percent, joined by 15 towns on Cape Cod. State legislators are also working to stop this practice.
The science, the public will, and the precautionary principle all point in the same direction—continued radioactive releases into our environment are unacceptable. We are grateful to the Harvard School of Public Health research team for producing a study that validates community concerns and underscores the urgent need to end these ongoing radioactive emissions today.
– Diane Turco
Turco is director of the Cape Downwinders group and the Save Our Bay MA Coalition.