Deadly Radiation Hazards USA

INTRODUCTION TO DEADLY NUCLEAR RADIATION HAZARDS USA DATABASE

Welcome to the Deadly Radiation Hazards USA Database. This database is a tool intended to be used in conjunction with the fourth edition of the map Deadly Nuclear Radiation Hazards USA. The authors have taken care to make this booklet "user-friendly," but recommend that you read the introduction before starting.

This database is the end result of thousands of hours of research, analysis, and data input. Scores of federal and state documents were carefully combed through to obtain what we believe is the most complete list of significant nuclear facilities ever compiled. The database includes

All nuclear reactors (power, research, and DOE ) active, shutdown, and under construction, including nuclear powered ships
All NRC and Agreement States "Broad" Licensees
All contaminated sites currently identified by the DOE, NRC and EPA
All licensees for significant quantities of critical mass material
All licensees for storage, transportation, and disposal of radioactive material including nuclear laundries, and incinerators
All known dumpsites including underwater
All off-site nuclear weapons tests
All former uranium mines, mills,and processing facilities
All major ports of entry
All known nuclear weapons deployments
All known nuclear weapon production complex facilities.
All known sites of Depleted Uranium Contamination.
All irradiators greater than 10,008 curies

Users of Deadly Nuclear Radiation Hazards USA are encouraged to contact the Visual Information Project with any additions or corrections to the map or database. The information is compiled in a computer database and this booklet is a living document which will be continually updated and corrected

Deadly Radiation Hazards USA was compiled largely from U.S. government sources. During the research it became apparent that information about nuclear technology is often fragmented and incomplete. For example, when approached for a comprehensive list of nuclear licensees, the NRC denied the existence of a list of Agreement States licensees. Thus it became necessary to contact each state separately, a cumbersome process which took nearly one year and hundreds of phone calls, letters and faxes to complete. When New York state was asked for a list of nuclear licensees by category, they denied key records by category, and responded with a list of uncategorized mailing labels. Months of appeals through the Freedom of Information Act were futile. Fortunately, Leone Hays, an activist in the La Jolla, California area, alerted other authors to a list of nuclear waste producers, developed by the New York Energy Department, which was then used to derive the significant New York nuclear facilities. Provided at the end of the booklet is a partial bibliography of the major sources used to compile the database.

Of necessity, the criteria used for inclusion of a particular facility as "significant" were often somewhat subjective. The NRC has 84 categories of licenses and over 6.700 licensees and the NRC Agreement States license more than 15,000 other facilities. Categories of facilities included were selected based on the degree of potential threat posed to the environment, community and work force. For example, nuclear laundries were selected because of potential contamination of water sources and sewage treatment plants, while most smaller sealed sources of radionuclides (except for large manufacturers) were excluded. Certain categories of facilities posed special cataloging problems. For example, nuclear powered ships are identified by the shipyard where they were built; so most of them are listed under Connecticut, Virginia, and California. Alternative methods of producing uranium such as leach process, and copper and phosphate byproduct production are classified as mills. To assist the reader, facilities of "special concern" are indicated by an asterisk(*), while facilities of "greatest concern" are indicated by two asterisks(**). Power reactors, nuclear weapons production complex, underwater dump sites, and nuclear transportation routes are in red to signify their special dangers.

The entire database includes 5,767 entries, including the location of 3,847 abandoned uranium mines, and a list of 183 medical institutions which carried out human radiation experiments(including the inclusive experiment dates, and the names of approximately 1,000 presiding physicians). Due to space constraints the uranium mines and the human radiation experiments have been excluded from this booklet, but are available upon request from the authors. This booklet contains 1,737 entries organized alphabetically first by state, second by city and third by the facility's name. The entire database is also available on computer disk We are hoping to establish an on-line database, and ultimately a CD-ROM with both map and database.

The Map includes 5 symbols: Major Nuclear Weapons Production Facilities; Nuclear Power Reactors; Nuclear Weapons; Nuclear Industry and Science; and Radioactive Material. Each symbol includes the following types of facilities:

Major Nudear Weapons production Complexes: The largest and most contaminated nuclear weapons production facilities containing approximately 5% of the total radioactivity.

Nuclear Power Reactors: Including on-line, shutdown and under construction. Nuclear Power Reactors have produced approximately 9596 of all radioactivity.

Nuclear Weapons: including design, production, storage & deployment, Military and DOE Reactors, and test sites.

Nuclear Industry and Science: Including university and research reactors, commercial manufacturing, research and development (medical, academic and corporate), and human radiation experiments.

Radioactive Material: including transportation, storage, ports of entry, mines, mills, processing, radioactive burial and contaminated sites.

Each database entry contains the following fields: Name(of the facility); Type (of facility); City/County; State; Owner/Contractor (where applicable); Description (brief overview); and Comments(additional information). Due to the massive amount of data involved we have left it to the individual researcher(s) to obtain addresses, contacts, phone numbers, and more detailed information. Deadly Radiation Hazards USA is intended as an activist's guide and a starting point for further research.

PLEASE SEND COMMENTS TO: John Steinbach & Louise Franklin-Ramirez

copyright Louise Franklin-Ramirez

*Acknowledgements * Forward * Database * Glossary *
* Resource List * State Resources * Bibliography *