by The owner of one of Minnesota’s two nuclear power plants said it will temporarily shut down the facility Friday to fix a recurring leak of radioactive water discovered this week, which comes as state regulators have been monitoring the effects of an initial spill four years ago. months.
xcel energy said in a press release Thursday that there is “no risk to the public or the environment” with the latest incident at the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant.
The company added that the water leak containing tritium, a mildly radioactive form of hydrogen, is “fully contained at the site and has not been detected beyond the facility or in local drinking water.” This second leak involved hundreds of gallons of radioactive water, according to the utility, much less than the 400,000 gallons that were discovered in late November.
But some Monticello residents surrounding the plant, located 38 miles northwest of Minneapolis and up the Mississippi River, say they are concerned about what features a recurring leak and the delay in discovering the initial spill.
“I think the general public needs to be more informed about this,” said Megan Sanborn, 31, who lives 6 miles upriver from the nuclear plant.
“My children go to school 2 miles downstream from the power plant,” he added. “If the water levels were safe all the time like they said, where was the transparency?”
xcel energy notified the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the state on November 22, one day after it confirmed the leak, as a “non-emergency report” with no “impact on the health and safety of the public or plant personnel.” He said the source of the leak was found about a month later in a ruptured pipe between two buildings, and a temporary solution was devised to contain the water and redirect it back to the plant for reuse.
In late February, the city was informed about the leak. But it wasn’t until March 16 that state officials told the public and Xcel Energy announced it had been taking steps to contain and manage the leak for the past four months.
“After the company told the state, it was a hush situation,” Sanborn said. “No one from the state told residents that we had a nuclear leak, and when we don’t have the ability to overcome a potential impact because no one told us, that’s a huge concern for residents.”
Xcel Energy said it has been monitoring to ensure the underground plume of tritium remains within the property and does not contaminate local drinking water or the nearby Mississippi River, which each winter attracts hundreds of trumpeter swans attracted by the hot water discharged by the nuclear plant.
Tritium occurs naturally in the environment, but it is also the result of the production of electricity in nuclear power plants, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.which he says is “one of the least dangerous radionuclides because it gives off very weak radiation and leaves the body relatively quickly.”
Furthermore, it says that “tritium radiation does not travel very far in the air and cannot penetrate the skin.”
Tritium spills do happen occasionally, but they are usually contained within a nuclear site, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
State officials said they waited to inform the public because they wanted to understand the full scope of the leak and Xcel had not immediately identified the source.
In an earlier statement, Xcel Energy said it also understands the “importance of promptly informing the communities we serve if a situation poses an immediate threat to health and safety,” but that “in this case, there was no such threat.” “.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which monitors environmental quality, said Thursday that it is “encouraged” that Xcel Energy is taking immediate action to fix the new leak and that it will continue to monitor groundwater samples for tritium. .
“Should an imminent risk arise, we will inform the public immediately,” the agency said in a statement, adding that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has regulatory oversight of plant operations, should “share ongoing public communications about the leakage and mitigation”. efforts to help residents better understand the situation.
Xcel Energy said electric service is not expected to affect its customers. The company initially said it had planned to permanently repair the ruptured pipeline during a regularly scheduled refueling stop in mid-April, but the new leak prompted it to bring the plan forward.
The incident comes as Xcel Energy is in the midst of seeking an operating license renewal for Monticello. The license will expire in September 2030.
At a town hall meeting on the license on Wednesday, before the latest leak became public, officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tried to allay residents’ fears.
“There’s no reason to worry about your safety because of this,” Valerie Myers, a physicist and inspector for the commission, was quoted as saying. NBC KARE affiliate in Minneapolis.
“If we tried to make public notices about everything nuclear because everything looks scary for nuclear, we would just be bombarding everyone,” he added.
