A recently published study by the Harvard School of Public Health and Dr. Marco Kaltofen looked at samples of soil and house dust from within 8.1 miles of the Pilgrim nuclear reactor, now closed, on Cape Cod Bay in Mass. The study found radionuclides only produced by reactor operations — such as cesium-137. At 0.6 miles from the reactor, cesium-137 and lead-210 were at 20 times the so-called ‘background’ levels. These findings are not surprising after decades of reactor operations and the spread of contamination from decommissioning, yet this may prompt a larger study. In 1996, the Mass. Dept. of Health documented rates of adult leukemia were four times higher in people living or working closer to Pilgrim. The study is available from Environmental Engineering Science at the following link: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/15579018251371131. — Southeastern Mass. Health Study, Archives of Environmental Health, Vol. 51, July-August 1996
Decades of resistance to the Pilgrim Reactor. Photo and story: WBUR.
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