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ATSDR Finds No Current, Future Exposure to Radioactive Iodine at Oak Ridge Reservation, TNThursday, September 07, 2006 Geographic Location: Oak Ridge, TNAny iodine-131 (I-131) released from the X-10 site on the Oak Ridge Reservation, TN, during the 1940s through 2004 has decayed completely or is currently not present in the environment at levels of health concern, says the public health assessment released by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). The agency will host a meeting at the Doubletree Hotel, 215 South Illinois Ave. in Oak Ridge on Sept. 11 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. to discuss these findings and its recommendations. ATSDR conducted the public health assessment to evaluate whether past, current and potential future releases of I-131 from the Oak Ridge Reservation could harm people living in communities near the reservation. The radioactive lanthanum (RaLa) process at the X-10 site released I-131 into the air from 1944 to 1956. People who lived near the ORR during this time could have come in contact with I-131, primarily from drinking local goat’s and cow’s milk. Because of limitations with available data, ATSDR cannot reach a definitive conclusion about the potential for health effects from past I-131 exposures for those residents who were under the age of 18 at RaLa was processed. However, after reviewing historical air monitoring data and current literature, ATSDR did conclude the following about past I-131 releases:
ATSDR recommends collecting on- and off-site soil samples downwind and upwind of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and analyzing these soil samples for I-129. Although I-131 from the RaLa process is no longer present in the environment, the current radioactivity of I-129 in the soil can be used to evaluate past I-131 concentrations. Data collected from this I-129 analysis can be used to address the uncertainties associated with the estimated thyroid doses in the 1999 Tennessee Department of Health report Oak Ridge Dose Reconstruction Task 1 Report ―Iodine 131 Releases from the Radioactive Lanthanum Process at the X-10 Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (1944-1956) and to better define the off-site populations impacted by I-131 releases. The public health assessment is available to the public for review and comment, however ATSDR will not be able to address comments or make this report final unless additional U.S. Department of Energy funds are received. Community members are encouraged to submit comments during the public comment period, even though we do not know whether ATSDR will be able to respond. Public comments are an important part of the public record. The public health assessment is available at the following locations:
The ATSDR Oak Ridge Field Office is now closed. Members of the community with questions about this public health assessment may contact Senior Health Physicist Paul Charp, Ph.D., Environmental Health Scientist Jack Hanley or Health Communication Specialist Marilyn Palmer Horton, toll free, at 1-800-CDC-INFO. Or, for more information about ATSDR activities at the Oak Ridge Reservation, visit www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/oakridge. ATSDR, a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, evaluates the human health effects of exposure to hazardous substances. |
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