Greenpeace warns of tritium risk

TORONTO, June 12 (UPI) -- Greenpeace says nuclear power plants in Canada could be releasing dangerous levels of radioactive tritium.

A study released Tuesday said Canada's standard for allowable levels of tritium are 10 times higher than the United States and 100 times higher than Europe, The Globe and Mail said.

Greenpeace said as a precaution, children under the age of 4 and pregnant women shouldn't live within six miles of a nuclear power station and those living within three miles shouldn't eat food grown in their gardens, the newspaper said.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said tritium levels around nuclear plants are not a health threat.

The Greenpeace study was written by Ian Fairlie, a British radiation expert who recently published a peer-reviewed journal article that concluded tritium's hazards are being underestimated.