Bad to the Bone: Maximum Contaminant Levels for Plutonium in Drinking Water

By Arjun Makhijani

Editor▓s note: The promulgation in the United States of safe drinking water regulations for toxic chemicals and radionuclides in 1975 and 1976 pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act was a historic first step for making water safer for the public.  But time has shown that many chemicals and radionuclides pose greater risks and a larger variety of risks to public health. 
This article on maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for plutonium-239, and radionuclides akin to it, is part of a series of IEER initiatives that will call attention to the implications of scientific research for public health and environmental protection.  IEER▓s work shows that the existing MCL for these radionuclides, known as alpha-emitting, long-lived transuranic radionuclides, needs to be tightened by about 100 times in order to maintain approximately the same goals in regard to radiation protection that were part of the rulemaking when the MCL was first promulgated in 1976.
We invite your participation in these initiatives. The next legally-mandated review of radionuclide MCLs in drinking water is scheduled for 2006.  We invite SDA readers and the organizations with which they are associated to join IEER in sending the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a strong and clear message that the drinking water limit for alpha-emitting, long-lived transuranic radionuclides must be strengthened to protect public health. This article is based on IEER▓s scientific analysis of drinking water MCLs for alpha-emitting transuranic radionuclides, entitled Bad to the Bone: Analysis of the Federal Maximum Contaminant Levels for Plutonium-239 and Other Alpha-Emitting Transuranic Radionuclides in Drinking Water. A summary of the report▓s main findings and recommendations can be found on the Web at www.ieer.org/reports/badtothebone/. 

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Published by Alla Yaroshinskaya