Governor wants investigation into radioactive water leak
ALBANY – A radioactive water leak into groundwater at the Indian
Point nuclear power plant on Friday has prompted Governor Andrew Cuomo
to call for a full investigation into the incident.
The facility reported that the contamination has not migrated off site
and as such does not pose a threat to public health.
“While elevated tritium in the ground onsite is not in accordance
with our standards, there is no health or safety consequence to the public,
and releases are more than a thousand times blow federal permissible limits,”
said an Entergy spokesman. “The tritium did not affect any source
of drinking water onsite or offsite.”
The company said while the effect of the elevated values is less than
one-tenth of one percent of federal reporting guidelines, Entergy made
voluntary notification to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, state agencies
and key stakeholders.
Cuomo, meanwhile, called the leak of tritium-contaminated water at three
monitoring wells “unacceptable” and said, “This failure
continues to demonstrate that Indian Point cannot continue to operate
in a manner that is protective of public health and the environment.”
Tritium, a radioactively weak isotope of hydrogen, likely reached the
ground at Indian Point during recent work activities, Entergy said.
On Saturday he directed acting Environmental Commissioner Basic Seggos
and Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker to “fully investigate
this incident and employ all available measures, including working with
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to determine the extent of the release,
its likely duration, its causes, its potential impacts to the environment
and public health, and how the release can be contained.”
Cuomo said it should be determined if the incident could have been avoided
“by exercising reasonable care” and if “a recurrence
of this episode can be avoided by specific steps that Entergy should be
taking.”
The Indian Point spokesman said the issue of tritium in the ground is
“a well-studied issue by the state DEC, which has previously concluded
historic leaks of tritium to the ground at Indian Point have no effect
on public health or safety.”
