the Committee on Nuclear Power Plant Waste Disposal established during
the conference. The one—curie—per—year
level predicted for Lake Michigan
power plant discharges, or even the much higher level suggested by past per—
formance, therefore seems inconsequential, but the accumulation of radio—
nuclides in the lake could still have serious effects. At the rst conference session in Chicago, February 1, 1968, according to B. ]. Schneider, Deputy
Regional Director with the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration
(FVVPCA), now the Federal Water Quality Office: “The particular concern
for Lake Michigan arises from the fact that it has a very small discharge rate,
and any
radioactive material entering into the lake will diminish only by natural decay. This may result in signicantly increased levels of the longer-lived
radioisotopes.”
The threat may therefore be cumulative rather than immediate, since it
would occur by concentration along the food chain—the same inexorable
process
that concentrates DDT from very small quantities in the water into
much larger and more lethal quantities in higher animals. Treated radioactive
wastes will be diluted in the cooling water discharge at carefully calculated
rates to reduce radioactivity intensity below that permitted by U .8. Public
Health Service drinking water standards. But biological magnification with
respect to concentration will counteract the dilution process, making it pos—
sible for radioactivity to reach people by another route—to move up through
the aquatic life that serves as the food chain for fish to those who eat fish from
the lake. Although Mr. Kittrell stated that experience with wastes from
smaller nuclear power plants now discharging to streams in Illinois and W is—
consin and to the lake in Michigan has not revealed such a problem, he
warned that it must be evaluated when the larger plants begin to operate on
Lake Michigan.
Evaluation after the contaminants have been released, however, could
mean that the problem will become serious before it is officially acknowledged. This is illustrated by the pattern of damage from other long—lived con—
_
taminants, namely pesticides, in the lake.
Chemical Pollution
Even at the time DDT and its breakdown products were barely detectable in
the waters of Lake Michigan, the chemical poison had accumulated to serious
proportions in fish. This occurred after the pesticide had become concen—
trated in the lower forms of animal and plant life in the lake. Each successively higher animal then fed on more and more organisms containing pesti—
cides; the food was metabolized and excreted, but the pesticides were
retained. This led to a greater concentration of the chemicals in the higher
animals than in the individual organisms those animals ate. Ultimately, the
Even when DDT and its breakdown products were barely detectable in the waters of
Lake Michigan, the chemical poison had accumulated in fish and birds as it became
more and more concentrated at successive levels in the food chain.
14
Assault on a Lake
the conference. The one—curie—per—year
level predicted for Lake Michigan
power plant discharges, or even the much higher level suggested by past per—
formance, therefore seems inconsequential, but the accumulation of radio—
nuclides in the lake could still have serious effects. At the rst conference session in Chicago, February 1, 1968, according to B. ]. Schneider, Deputy
Regional Director with the Federal Water Pollution Control Administration
(FVVPCA), now the Federal Water Quality Office: “The particular concern
for Lake Michigan arises from the fact that it has a very small discharge rate,
and any
radioactive material entering into the lake will diminish only by natural decay. This may result in signicantly increased levels of the longer-lived
radioisotopes.”
The threat may therefore be cumulative rather than immediate, since it
would occur by concentration along the food chain—the same inexorable
process
that concentrates DDT from very small quantities in the water into
much larger and more lethal quantities in higher animals. Treated radioactive
wastes will be diluted in the cooling water discharge at carefully calculated
rates to reduce radioactivity intensity below that permitted by U .8. Public
Health Service drinking water standards. But biological magnification with
respect to concentration will counteract the dilution process, making it pos—
sible for radioactivity to reach people by another route—to move up through
the aquatic life that serves as the food chain for fish to those who eat fish from
the lake. Although Mr. Kittrell stated that experience with wastes from
smaller nuclear power plants now discharging to streams in Illinois and W is—
consin and to the lake in Michigan has not revealed such a problem, he
warned that it must be evaluated when the larger plants begin to operate on
Lake Michigan.
Evaluation after the contaminants have been released, however, could
mean that the problem will become serious before it is officially acknowledged. This is illustrated by the pattern of damage from other long—lived con—
_
taminants, namely pesticides, in the lake.
Chemical Pollution
Even at the time DDT and its breakdown products were barely detectable in
the waters of Lake Michigan, the chemical poison had accumulated to serious
proportions in fish. This occurred after the pesticide had become concen—
trated in the lower forms of animal and plant life in the lake. Each successively higher animal then fed on more and more organisms containing pesti—
cides; the food was metabolized and excreted, but the pesticides were
retained. This led to a greater concentration of the chemicals in the higher
animals than in the individual organisms those animals ate. Ultimately, the
Even when DDT and its breakdown products were barely detectable in the waters of
Lake Michigan, the chemical poison had accumulated in fish and birds as it became
more and more concentrated at successive levels in the food chain.
14
Assault on a Lake