Carbon-14: Another underestimated danger from nuclear power reactors

number of reasons: Carbon-14 is radioactive and is released into air as methane
and carbon dioxide. 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. There is no good accounting of
releases to date, so its impact on our health, our children’s health, and that
of our environment remains unknown, yet environmental measurement is possible,
but can be challenging under certain conditions. 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 anthropogenic sources of today will result in an increased
radiation exposure to many future generations.” Like tritium, it can collect in
the tissues of the fetus at twice the concentration of the tissues in the mother,
pointing to its disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable human lifecycle:
the developing child.

Beyond Nuclear 1st
Nov 2022

https://beyondnuclear.org/carbon-14-another-underestimated-danger-from-nuclear-power-reactors/