nuclear-news

Extent of tritium leaks still unknown

Extent of tritium leaks still unknown APP.com By Todd B. Bates • ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER • May 17, 2009

A month after radioactive tritium was found in a concrete vault and then ground water at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey, experts still are trying to define the scope of the contamination. Plant owner Exelon Corp. also is still investigating the cause of the contamination and whether there are other leaks, according to plant and federal officials. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission decided last month that Oyster Creek was “good for 20 years, and it didn’t last three weeks before something failed,” said Richard Webster, legal director at the Eastern Environmental Law Center in Newark………

…………. Five monitoring wells at the plant were contaminated with up to 265 times government limits for tritium in water, according to May 6 data provided by Sheehan. Tritium is a weak isotope of hydrogen that increases the risk of cancer.

Extent of tritium leaks still unknown | APP.com | Asbury Park Press

May 19, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radioactive