Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a background in nuclear physics. There is no way that the plant is releasing "radioactivity" to the lake (lay term in this case, anyway). It's a tertiary loop. I would bet a large amount of money that if I threw a banana into a swimming pool, the pool water would be more radioactive than anything that the power plant is putting into the lake. (Potassium is radioactive.)

Also a scientist with nuclear research experience and exactly this

Great that you guys are nuclear experts… but that doesn’t make the lake safe with the nuclear power plant.

The lake water on the discharge side is warmer because of the plant. As a result, microorganisms and algae that shouldn’t thrive do thrive.

The reason people say it’s not safe is because it’s not - people just jumped to conclusions that it was because of radioactive contamination and then smarty pants come in and lecture them to make them feel stupid, as is par for the course with experts, and the point is missed.

Unfortunately we are getting to the point where we won’t be able to safely swim in any lake in all but the coldest parts of the country. But the warm side of Lake Anna is artificially warm. It’s closer to swimming in a lake in Louisiana than Virginia.

Just don’t eat the three-eyed fish.

Swam there many times past few summers. No issues. No ear infections or weird skin rashes. Totally fine. And you can swim well into the Fall. I think Lake Anna was voted best place to have an airbnb. People must like the water. I would research if you rent a house about lake access and swimming. Some parts of lake get algae blooms and you can't swim.

Swimming in the Potomac north of Georgetown. That I would avoid. Kids got horrible ear infections

Totally safe. Monitored more than other bodies of water. Ignorant people make ignorant remarks. There are tons of people enjoying that lake almost year round.

Its extremely dangerous to swim in Lake Anna.
It is because of all the stupid drunk reckless boaters everywhere that buzz too close to the shoreline.
The actual water is safe.

Anonymous wrote:Supposedly it is safe but my husband doesn’t like to do it often. We will go once a year or every other year.

My husband says that’s what they all say - it’s safe - until oops, it turns out we were wrong.

Can't argue with that deep scientific reasoning.

Supposedly it is safe but my husband doesn’t like to do it often. We will go once a year or every other year.

My husband says that’s what they all say - it’s safe - until oops, it turns out we were wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a background in nuclear physics. There is no way that the plant is releasing "radioactivity" to the lake (lay term in this case, anyway). It's a tertiary loop. I would bet a large amount of money that if I threw a banana into a swimming pool, the pool water would be more radioactive than anything that the power plant is putting into the lake. (Potassium is radioactive.)

Yep, the pp talking about "incidents" is talking out of their ass. Of course they don't provide any sources or citations for their claim, because they don't have any. While there have been "incidents" including a leak of cooling water, those incidents have been thoroughly investigated by the NRC and even in the case of coolant leak the water discharged was well within normal safe and legal levels of radioactivity.

As for amoebas, Lake Anna does have a higher incidence than other bodies of water, but we're talking about the difference between winning the lottery and winning the lottery twice in a row. It may be more likely, but that doesn't mean it's anything to worry about.

The poster talking about “incidents” was making a joke that went over your head.

I knew DCUM was a humorless bunch but this thread proves it.