Ar 41 is producted by reactor

Why are nuclear power plants STILL releasing materials besides steam into the environment? This question about Ar-41 (an isotope of Argon, correct?) has me concerned and raises questions for me since I thought the operational release problem was solved a long time ago.

Which radioactive materials do today's modern nuclear power plants release on a daily basis into the air,land and sea or is this a problem that has been largely solved by capture and containment methods and if not, what is being done to create such methods to eliminate their release?

By 'clean' energy I always thought that all nuclear power plants did was release steam and hot water while they're in operation, am I wrong?

The following (at bottom) was a link found from another post on the forums here mentioning an atmospheric test in 1976.

As a 'boomer' born in '64 I grew up hearing plenty of stories about Strontium 90 and, unfortunately I too drank the milk here in the Bay Area (Berkeley Farms and Foremost brands) from '67 onward when we moved back from Europe after being based there.

http://www.radiation.org/spotlight/091023_npr_Interview.html
..."CURWOOD: Joseph Mangano, I want to turn now from radiation exposure from nuclear bomb testing to the matter of nuclear power. Your organization has a project you call the Tooth Fairy Project where you look at radiation hazards from nuclear power plants. What have you found from this research so far?

MANGANO: We found that close to nuclear plants the levels of strontium-90 are considerable higher than areas far away. Number two, we found that levels are going up - since the late 1980s they've gone up about 50 percent, as nuclear plants get older, and are corroding more, and emitting more radiation. And number three, we found the link with childhood cancer. We found that in counties closest to nuclear plants in New York and New Jersey, when strontium-90 in teeth went up, childhood cancer went up; when strontium-90 went down, childhood cancer went down.

CURWOOD: What tests have you conducted that show the effects of before and after a nuclear power plant closes?

MANGANO: We've done two studies, which looked at eight nuclear plants in the United States that were shut down permanently during the 1980's and the 1990's. And we found that in the first two years after nuclear reactors shut there was a very sharp plunge in the rate of infants that died, in the rate of children born with birth defects, and in the rate of children diagnosed with cancer.

CURWOOD: When you say the rates plunged, what exactly are you talking about?

MANGANO: Typically, childhood cancer rates go up slowly by say one percent a year. We found that in the first two years a decline of 25 percent. If you want to reduce childhood cancer, near nuclear plants, according to our research and of course needs to be followed up, but a quarter of them can be eliminated simply by closing the nuclear plant.

CURWOOD: Joseph Mangano is an epidemiologist and the executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project in New York. Thank you so much, sir."

Off my menu: All Seafoods because the oceans really are a military and industrial sewer! Yes, I will miss Anchovies on my pizza, fishsticks, red snapper, tuna (even 'chicken of the sea' is no longer 'worthy,'crab, fake crab (made with Pollock, an ocean fish), clam chowder, Nori Seaweed,Caviar etc... See: http://pstuph.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/can-ocean-currents-transport-radi...