newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Environmental officials are saying it would be nearly impossible for a similar nuclear accident to the occurrences in Japan to happen in New Jersey.

Bob Martin, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, said that rainwater samples had shown small amounts of iodine-131, a radioactive byproduct of nuclear fission, similar to results reported in states across the country.

Officials also have tested milk and drinking water, but found no contamination.

The Associated Press reports Martin was among five environment and security experts to testify at a briefing on nuclear power plant safety and emergency preparedness at the Statehouse on Wednesday.

Two of the state’s reactors, Oyster Creek in Ocean County and Hope Creek in Salem County, are of a similar design to two of the damaged Japanese reactors.

DEP spokesman Larry Ragonese said in an interview Wednesday that minute traces of radiation were found in water collected late last week by the Middlesex Water Co. at a sampling site on the Delaware and Raritan Canal. After laboratory analysis, the DEP confirmed that find.

The Daily Record reports that very small traces of iodine-131 also were found in rainwater collected late last week, and subsequently analyzed, from the roof of a state laboratory in the Trenton area, according to Ragonese.

Ragonese said the radiation levels, just above what is normally found in nature, do not pose a health problem. The iodine-131 isotope dissipates in eight days.

State officials said there are 4,000 emergency responders trained to react to a nuclear emergency. The state expects that it would evacuate the area around the Oyster Creek plant within 9 1/2 hours by reversing inbound car lanes and moving all traffic out of the vicinity.

The biggest threat to New Jersey's nuclear generating plants is hurricanes, officials said.

State emergency response teams will be tested in September at the Oyster Creek plant as regularly scheduled, officials said.

The Associated Press reports New Jersey officials have said it's time to renew cooperation with neighboring states operating nuclear plants near the New Jersey border. New York's Indian Point nuclear plant is 15 miles from New Jersey and Pennsylvania's Limerick Nuclear Power Plant is 25 miles from the New Jersey state line.

On March 25, Gov. Chris Christie created a Nuclear Review Task Force to apply lessons learned from the Japan events. Martin said the first meeting was held last week and findings are expected to be issued by the end of May.