Earth Watch Report - Nuclear Event
Associated Press
In this Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2010 photo, retiree Bob Scamen stands near a discharge pipe for the Braidwood Nuclear Power Station about 300 feet from his property, in Braidwood, Ill., 50 miles southwest of Chicago. In 1998 the pipe poured out 3 million gallons of water but, at first, Scamen did not realize it was radioactive. Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping, an Associated Press investigation shows. The number and severity of the leaks has been escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
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| Nuclear Event | USA | State of Massachusetts, Plymouth [Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station] |  |  |
| Description | |
| The owner of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant has told the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission that radioactive tritium has been discovered in a newly installed groundwater monitoring well at the plant. A sample taken from the well Dec. 30 indicated a tritium concentration of 69,000 picocuries per liter. Those levels dropped to 20,000 in samples taken Jan. 6 and to 14,300 after additional samples were obtained Jan. 9. The EPA limit for tritium in groundwater used for drinking purposes is 20,000 picocuries per liter. However, the groundwater at the Pilgrim site is not used for drinking. In 1991, the EPA calculated it would take a year-long ingestion of water containing 60,900 picocuries per liter of tritium to yield a radiation exposure dose of 4 millirems, a fraction of the approximately 620 millirems of radiation exposure that Americans receive each year from natural and manmade sources. Last April, Entergy identified a separation in its neutralizing sump discharge line. The company theorized, at that time, that this line was the source of tritium groundwater contamination first identified years earlier at the site. The new monitoring well is adjacent to the catch basin where the outfall from the sump discharge line was rerouted, which supports that theory. However, the NRC also said that additional monitoring will be necessary before it can conclusively rule out other possible sources. The NRC will continue to inspect and report on the company’s implementation of its groundwater monitoring and prevention activities, as specified by the Nuclear Energy Institute’s Groundwater Protection Initiative. In addition, any subsurface contamination will be reviewed to ensure that public health and safety are protected. Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and is produced primarily by nuclear fission. Because it emits light in the dark, it can be used in exit signs, watch dials and some gun sights. It is also used to boost the yield of nuclear weapons. |
>Associated Press
This Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007 file picture shows a cooling tower at the Salem nuclear power plant owned by the Public Service Energy Group and a building on a small farm in Lower Alloways Creek Township, N.J., in rural Salem County. One of the highest known tritium readings was discovered in 2002 at the Salem facility. Tritium leaks from the reactor's spent fuel pool contaminated groundwater under the facility _ located on an island in Delaware Bay _ at a concentration of 15 million picocuries per liter. That's 750 times the EPA drinking water limit. According to NRC records, the tritium readings last year still exceeded EPA drinking-water standards. And tritium found separately in an onsite storm drain system measured 1 million picocuries per liter in April 2010. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Tritium found at Pilgrim nuclear power plant
PLYMOUTH —
The
owner of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant has told the federal Nuclear
Regulatory Commission that radioactive tritium has been discovered in a
newly installed groundwater monitoring well at the plant.A sample taken from the well Dec. 30 indicated a tritium concentration of 69,000 picocuries per liter. Those levels dropped to 20,000 in samples taken Jan. 6 and to 14,300 after additional samples were obtained Jan. 9.
The EPA limit for tritium in groundwater used for drinking purposes is 20,000 picocuries per liter. However, the groundwater at the Pilgrim site is not used for drinking.
In the NRC announcement of the discovery, the commission provided a link to more information on tritium contamination: www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/tritium-radiation-fs.html.
In 1991, the EPA calculated it would take a year-long ingestion of water containing 60,900 picocuries per liter of tritium to yield a radiation exposure dose of 4 millirems, a fraction of the approximately 620 millirems of radiation exposure that Americans receive each year from natural and manmade sources.
Read More Here
Leaky pipes put tritium into the groundwater
The
number and severity of the nuclear leaks has been escalating, even as
federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across
the nation.
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