DoomsdaysCW<p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Carbon14" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Carbon14</span></a>: Another underestimated danger from <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nuclear" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>nuclear</span></a> reactors</p><p>"There are a number of radionuclides released from nuclear energy facilities. This paper highlights carbon-14 for a number of reasons:</p><p>- Carbon-14 is radioactive and is released into air as <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/methane" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>methane</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CO2" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CO2</span></a></p><p>- Before 2010, carbon-14 releases from nuclear reactors were virtually ignored in the United States. Today only estimates are required and only under certain restrictive circumstances.</p><p>- There is no good accounting of releases to date, so its impact on our health, our children’s health, and that of our<br><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/environment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>environment</span></a> remains unknown, yet environmental measurement is possible, but can be challenging under certain<br>conditions. </p><p>- Carbon-14 has a half-life of over 5700 years and the element carbon is a basic building block for life on earth. Therefore, “it constitutes a potential health hazard, whose additional production by <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/anthropogenic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>anthropogenic</span></a> sources of today will result in an increased <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/radiation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>radiation</span></a> exposure to many future generations.”</p><p>- Like <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/tritium" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>tritium</span></a>, it can collect in the tissues of the fetus at twice the concentration of the tissues in the mother, pointing to its<br>disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable human lifecycle: the developing child.</p><p>The element carbon is found in all organic substances. Carbon is also a primary constituent of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/GreenhouseGases" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>GreenhouseGases</span></a> that are responsible for <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateChange</span></a>, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CH4" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CH4</span></a>). Carbon-14 (c-14) is a radioactive form of<br>carbon that occurs in nature and is also newly formed in nuclear power processes.<br> <br>"Carbon-14 is a health concern because it is released from <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearPower" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NuclearPower</span></a> facilities as radioactive carbon dioxide and methane, traveling readily in the local and global environment.</p><p>"Over time, carbon-14 becomes part of organic material including food, and has a half-life of approximately 5,730 years, decaying by a type of radioactive particle called a beta. Its hazardous life is 10-20 times its half-life, meaning that harmful exposure to man-made carbon-14 can last for hundreds of generations. The radioactive carbon forms as a byproduct of fissioning of uranium fuel, through a process called activation. The final step is a chemical reaction between carbon-14 and oxygen or hydrogen, which forms methane or carbon dioxide. The radioactive carbon-14 formed by this process is brand new and would not exist without nuclear fission.</p><p>"During its long hazardous life, carbon-14 could be responsible for gross physical or<br>mental defects, stillbirths and childhood deaths, embryonic and neonatal deaths into the many millions over the life of the isotope. </p><p>"These millions could be underestimated five times or more. Carbon-14 could also be responsible for <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/leukemia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>leukemia</span></a>, bone and other <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/cancers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>cancers</span></a>."</p><p><a href="https://beyondnuclear.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/carbon14FINAL.pdf" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">beyondnuclear.org/wp-content/u</span><span class="invisible">ploads/2022/11/carbon14FINAL.pdf</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoNukes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NoNukes</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RethinkNotRestart" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RethinkNotRestart</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoNukesForAI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NoNukesForAI</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RenewablesNow" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RenewablesNow</span></a>! <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BeyondNuclear" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>BeyondNuclear</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NuclearIsNotCarbonFree" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>NuclearIsNotCarbonFree</span></a></p>