Regulators: Nuclear Plant Leak – Why the Public Wasn’t Notified

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The state of Minnesota found out about 4 months ago that a nuclear power plant in Monticello had spilled radioactive waste, but they didn’t tell anyone until now.

The delay in telling people about the leak from November caused a lot of questions to be asked about if people were safe and how open everything was. But, experts said on Friday that there was never really anything to worry about when it came to safety. Xcel Energy reported to state officials and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission right away when the radioactivity levels of 400,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of water were confirmed as a leak. Even though a lot of water leaked, it wasn’t enough to have made people worried or force any kind of public warning or announcement.

Victoria Mitlyng, from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said that people were very worried about anything related to nuclear activities. She said that it is understandable why people are so scared and stressed out but she wanted to make sure that everyone in Minnesota knows that they are not in any danger because of the plant nearby.

Government people said that although they were aware of the problem in November, they needed to find out more details before saying something about it publicly.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency spokesman Michael Rafferty said on Thursday that they knew there was a dangerous chemical, called tritium, found in one of their monitoring wells. But until now, Xcel couldn’t identify the source of the leak and its exact location. Now it is known where the leak came from, how much of this toxic tritium was released into the groundwater and that it had spread beyond its original spot, so they are informing people about this information.

Tritium is a special type of hydrogen found on Earth. It can also be produced in nuclear power plants. This hydrogen gives off a kind of radiation, but it isn’t strong enough to go through skin. So don’t worry, it won’t hurt you!

Edwin Lyman, who works at the Union of Concerned Scientists on nuclear power safety, said that people would only be in danger if they consumed a lot of tritium. But, Xcel Energy and Minnesota officials said that the tritium will stay inside the company’s area so it won’t harm anyone.

If regulators are sure that there have been no leaks, people don’t have to worry about their safety. Companies usually react when their onsite monitoring wells detect too much tritium or other contaminants.

Mitlyng said that nuclear plants don’t have to tell the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about all the tritium that leaks out. But Xcel Energy had promised to keep the state updated with certain leaks. Whenever Xcel Energy gives info to the state, they also let the commission know.

The commission put an announcement about the leak on its website Nov. 23, and the plant told the state about it the day before. This leak wasn’t an emergency and at that time they were trying to figure out what caused it. Nobody knew about this until Thursday though.

Rafferty explained that it was the responsibility of the facility to inform about what was happening, and if there was any danger to people or nature, the state would have let everyone know quickly.

Rafferty said that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency told us more details about the contaminated water area and what’s being done to control it. They also shared their plan for how best to get rid of the contamination, including storing the polluted water temporarily.

Mitlyng said there isn’t any way that tritium can get into the drinking water. Plant workers have put monitoring wells in a circle around the facility so they can keep track of contaminants. Also, Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors are always at the site to check if everything is okay.

The company believes that the leak happened through a pipe between two buildings.

Xcel has gathered back around 25% of the tritium that spilled and they plan to keep collecting until they finish gathering it all. They are also planning to make a permanent fix in Spring this year regarding the situation. Xcel is thinking about making above-ground storage tanks for the contaminated water and is considering appealing treatments, possibilities for reuse, or just disposing of the tritium along with the collected water. The state will take a minute to look at these chosen options before anything gets done according to their Pollution Control Agency.

The regulatory commission said there were sometimes tritium leaks at nuclear plants, but they didn’t affect people or the environment outside the plant. In 2009, a small amount of tritium leaked from the Monticello plant which is 35 miles away from Minneapolis. It is located upstream on the Mississippi River.

Shelby Burma, who lives close to the accident site, feels scared about all the chemicals in the environment after hearing that a train crash near the border of Ohio and Pennsylvania left behind contaminated air, soil and water.

She said, “It’s pretty worrying that they didn’t tell people immediately. They said it would not be harmful but I’m having doubts when they took so long to share this news.”

Phillis and Biraben told us what happened in New York City and Pierre, South Dakota. Trisha Ahmed, Steve Karnowski, and Margaret Stafford all gave us extra information from Minneapolis and Kansas City, Missouri.