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Oyster Creek tritium leak enters second aquifer | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
adioactive tritium that was in water which leaked from the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant has migrated into a second aquifer, the state Department of Environmental Protection reported.
Leaks at the plant, owned by Exelon Nuclear, were reported April 15 and Aug. 25.
DEP Deputy Commissioner Nancy Wittenberg stated in a Nov. 19 letter to Joseph Grimes, Exelon Nuclear Mid Atlantic Operations senior vice president, that tritium is migrating at the site and has entered the Cohansey aquifer — an underground, water-bearing area — which is below the Cape May aquifer.
"Based on modeling of potential routes of exposure, there appears to be no current public health impact, and no samples have exceeded New Jersey's surface water standard," Wittenberg wrote.
Risk unlikely to be great unless exposure was very high - Times Online
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, which has one proton and two neutrons, where a normal atom of the element would have one proton and no neutrons. It is produced naturally when hydrogen is bombarded by cosmic rays, and is also a by-product of reactions that drive nuclear power plants.
Tritium atoms almost invariably bind to oxygen atoms, to create tritiated water. The isotope is a weak source of radiation, emitting low-energy beta particles that cannot penetrate the skin, and are therefore not dangerous outside the body.
If inhaled or swallowed, however, the beta particles present a radiation hazard.
As with all poisons, the risk depends on the dose.Trace levels of tritium are present naturally in all water supplies and are not harmful. Higher exposures, however, may cause cancer, and have also been linked to birth defects in the children of people who are exposed.
Environmental coalition questions Oyster Creek tritium leak | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
A coalition of environmental groups that opposed the relicensing of the Oyster Creek Generating Station issued a statement accusing the power plant's owners of not taking corrective action that may have prevented leakage of tritium last spring.
The coalition was also critical of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission when it referenced the recent release of Oyster Creek's root cause analysis report of a tritium leak that occurred in April, eight days after the power plant was relicensed by the NRC to operate for another 20 years. A more recent incident of tritium leakage took place Aug. 25.
The root cause analysis report, which was released in a redacted form, was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear. In addition, NRC released e-mail exchanges surrounding the coalition's inquiries regarding buried pipes.
NRC- NRC Cites Wal-Mart for Violations in Handling Tritium Exit Signs
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has cited Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., with four violations concerning improper disposal and transfer of tritium exit signs at its stores throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.
The violations, issued Oct. 28, concerned the improper transfer or disposal of 2,462 signs from Wal-Mart stores in states under NRC jurisdiction between 2000 and 2008, and the improper transfer of an additional 517 signs between various Wal-Mart facilities. The company also failed to appoint an official responsible for complying with regulatory requirements and failed to report broken or damaged signs as required.
Exit signs containing tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, pose little threat to public health and safety and do not constitute a security risk. However, the NRC requires proper recordkeeping and disposal of the signs because a damaged or broken sign could cause minor radioactive contamination of the immediate vicinity, requiring environmental clean up.
The improper transfer or disposal of the 2,979 signs and failure to appoint a responsible official were determined to be a Severity Level III problem under NRC’s enforcement policy, and the failure to report damaged signs is a Severity Level IV violation, the lowest on the NRC’s enforcement scale.
Substance from nuclear blasts outside test site - News - ReviewJournal.com
Radioactive tritium in well two miles from detonations had been predicted
Scientists have found the first radioactive tritium from nuclear weapons tests in a monitoring outside the Nevada Test Site's boundary.
The levels, reported Tuesday by the National Nuclear Security Administration, were within safe drinking water guidelines. The relatively short-lived isotope had migrated two miles through groundwater layers in 35 years to reach the boundary.
Sample results were verified by an independent laboratory and reported to state environmental officials, NNSA officials said in a news release.
Scientists believe it will take and estimated 240 years for the tritium-laced water to travel another 14 miles to the nearest public water source. By that time it will have decayed to non-detectable limits, said Darwin Morgan, a spokesman for the NNSA's Nevada Site Office.
"The big thing to us is it shows the models are accurate and gives us higher confidence in our ability to understand what is going on with deep groundwater," he said Wednesday.
Scientists said in July they probably would find tritium after completion of Well EC-11 near the northwest edge of the test site. Underground tests Benham and Tybo were detonated in Pahute Mesa, two miles from that location in 1968 and 1975, respectively.
Excess tritium detected in monitoring well near Monticello nuclear plant - KTTC Rochester, Austin, Mason City News, Weather and Sports
Xcel Energy says a monitoring well at its nuclear power plant in Monticello detected a radioactive element at higher levels than allowed under one of the company's permits.
The monitoring well showed levels of tritium, a mildly radioactive type of hydrogen, that were below the Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water standards. But the amount exceeded what is allowed under Xcel's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
In reporting the incident to state and federal regulators on Thursday, Xcel said no elevated levels were detected in any other monitoring wells. The company also says there's no indication tritium has been released off the power plant site.
Officials are investigating the source of the tritium.
Oyster Creek leak prompts nationwide probe - pressofAtlanticCity.com : Latest News
A tritium leak at Oyster Creek Generating Station has prompted the federal government to take a closer look at leaks happening at nuclear plants nationwide.
On Tuesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released its inspection report on a leak found at Oyster Creek on April 15, days after the plant was relicensed for another 20 years.
The full report did not reveal any new information about the tritium leak, but the issuing of the report has prompted more investigation into future leaks at nuclear plants, including another leak that happened at Oyster Creek in August.
The leaks occurred 18 years after the underground pipes had last been recoated. In 1991, engineers reported that two underground pipes had been excavated and completely recoated. The recent investigation revealed that the coating was not applied thoroughly enough.
Adjoining areas of the pipes that were not coated properly allowed moisture to seep in, causing corrosion.
TVA’s role in nuclear defense program to grow » Knoxville News Sentinel
The United States maintains a hardline policy opposing countries’ use of civilian nuclear reactors to produce material for weapons, including Iran and North Korea.
But that is what the U.S. Department of Energy has been doing at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar reactor in East Tennessee since 2003, and now the department has signaled its intention to start additional production of tritium at TVA’s Sequoyah plant, near Chattanooga.
Tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen, is needed to boost the explosive power of nuclear warheads. The DOE’s 2010 budget proposal includes plans to make tritium at the two Sequoyah reactors, and TVA spokesman Terry Johnson confirmed that the electricity-generating plant is being prepared for the production of the weapons material.
Palisades nuclear plant says it has fixed second tritium leak - MLive.com
A second radioactive leak at the Palisades nuclear plant has been fixed.
"I'm happy to say we have found the source of the leak," said Mark Savage, the public-affairs and communications director for Palisades, "and have repaired that."
The new leak was at a turn in a pipe and was because of the failure of a weld, Savage said. The pipes and welds are stainless steel.
"We think it was during original construction," Savage said.
In June, Savage told the Van Buren County Board of Commissioners that tritium levels were rising in monitoring wells.
Exelon wants info on Oyster Creek tritium leak withheld | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
The owners of Oyster Creek Generating Station have asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the full analysis regarding the cause of a recent tritium leak at the plant not be made public.
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Earlier this month, state Sen. Christopher J. Connors and Assemblymen Brian E. Rumpf and Daniel M. Van Pelt, all R-Ocean, called for the immediate release of the root-cause analysis of the leak that occurred in April at the plant in the Forked River section of the township.
"We will discuss what our review of the root-cause analysis found in our upcoming inspection report on the groundwater contamination issues at Oyster Creek," NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Wednesday. He added that the report should be issued next month.
LancasterOnline.com:News:Tritium found at Peach Bottom
Levels of tritium six times higher than federal standards were identified at Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Delta earlier this week.
Exelon Nuclear reported Friday that tritium had been discovered in a localized area on the nuclear plant's property by plant workers performing environmental monitoring.
The tritium, which at high levels has been linked to cancer, was identified Wednesday from a sample taken Monday.
The highest sample concentration showed tritium levels of approximately 123,000 picocuries per liter of water, a news release from Exelon said. A picocurie is one-trillionth of a curie, a measurement of radioactivity.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standards allow no more than 20,000 picocuries per liter in the environment.
"This is not a public or employee health and safety issue, but we are committed to being open about the status of our plant operations," Peach Bottom site vice president Bill Maguire said in the news release.
Nuclear Safety Commission accused of being too lenient
A group that promotes awareness when it comes to the use of tritium said Wednesday the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has been too lenient when dealing with leaks at the Chalk River nuclear reactor.
Representatives from the Tritium Awareness Project said they think the safety commission should impose tighter restrictions when it comes to the tritium that is occasionally released from both the plant's stack and through leaks of the plant's heavy water that allow tritium to evaporate into the air.
Tritium is a gas and a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and is a byproduct of nuclear power generation and is used to create fluorescent products such as lights and signs.
"The CNSC's attitude seems to be, 'If that's what they want to do, then it's our job is just to grant them a licence,'" said Gordon Edwards, who speaks for the Tritium Awareness Project.
Associated Press: Exelon: No public threat from Ill. tritium leak
A tritium leak was found during routine monitoring of Exelon Corp.'s nuclear power plant, but contaminated water was contained to the property and did not pose a public health threat, company officials said Monday.
Testing at the Dresden plant, near the town of Morris about 60 miles southwest of Chicago, found tritium levels of 3.2 million picocuries per liter of water in a monitoring well, storm drains and concrete vault. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's limit for drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per liter.
Extent of tritium leaks still unknown | Asbury Park Press
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.
* Tritium leaks at Oyster Creek not easily contained
* Radioactive tritium contaminated four wells at the Oyster Creek
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 and lawyer for six national, state and local groups that fought the plant's relicensing.
Group to raise tritium concerns - Peterborough Examiner - Ontario, CA
A local group is raising concerns about radioactive material levels at Peterborough Municipal Airport even though they don't exceed limits monitored by the federal nuclear watchdog agency.
Jeff Brackett, with Safe and Green Energy Peterborough, told The Examiner yesterday he plans to speak at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) hearing for the licence renewal for Shield Source Inc. on June 10 in Ottawa.
Shield Source, which manufactures emergency lighting and signs that don't need to be plugged into an electrical outlet, has been at the Peterborough airport since 1986.
The company uses radioactive material -- tritium -- in its products.
Brackett pointed to the tritium levels recorded in soil and water near the facility and in an apple from across the road from the airport.
"Environmentalists such as ourselves believe it's not prudent to increase your exposure to tritium because every exposure increases the risk of genetic mutation, birth defects and cancer," he said.
Brackett added experts debate what levels of tritium cause those effects.
Assurances about tritium leaks not convincing | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
It's been a crisis month for Exelon since federal regulators jumped the gun and relicensed the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Lacey until 2029. Failure of a main transformer led to the shutdown of the reactor earlier this week. That followed the recent discovery of high levels of radioactive tritium contamination at the site.
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Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff have tracked the tritium leak to two burst pipes from the reactor. Concentrations of radioactive tritium are up to 300 times the allowable levels in four test wells at the site. This raises alarm about the plant's aging management program, which was the basis of the relicensing that is supposed to prevent this sort of dangerous mishap.
High level of tritium found at plant site | APP.com | Asbury Park Press
Workers found an elevated level of radioactive tritium in water on the site of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey on Wednesday, according to plant officials.
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The tritium level — 102,000 picocuries per liter — is five times higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limit for drinking water. A picocurie is a measure of radioactivity.
"There was no discharge . . . or release of tritium on the state's soil or into the waters," said David Benson, an Oyster Creek spokesman.
"Our experts . . . are working to determine how that tritium might have entered" a concrete vault at the plant, according to Benson and a plant statement.
Tests show groundwater near nuclear plant safe, DHEC says - Breaking News - The State
Samples tested near the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in Fairfield County show the plant has had no adverse effects to the quality of the groundwater or surface water in the area, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control said Monday.
"Tests show no radioactive materials in the groundwater coming from the plant," said Chris Staton, director of the agency's Division of Waste Assessment and Emergency Response. "The results did show Tritium in small amounts in two of the surface water samples. The levels that were found were well below any federal requirements, including the federal drinking water standard, for Tritium in surface
NRC: Fact Sheet on Tritium EXIT Signs
Self-luminous EXIT signs containing the radioactive gas tritium are widely used in a variety of facilities across the United States, such as public and private office buildings, theaters, stores, schools and churches – anywhere the public needs a rapid exit path. Those who possess tritium EXIT signs are general licensees of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or an Agreement State,1 and are subject to certain reporting and handling requirements, including proper disposal of unwanted or unused signs.
Tritium EXIT signs pose little or no threat to public health and safety and do not constitute a security risk. However, the NRC requires proper accounting and disposal of all radioactive materials. Proper handling and accounting are important, because a damaged or broken sign could cause mild radioactive contamination of the immediate vicinity, requiring a potentially expensive clean up.
Radioactive tritium persists in well at Palisades nuclear plant - The Kalamazoo Gazette Online - Michigan Newspaper - MLive.com
For some unknown reason, there's still detectable radioactive tritium in one well at the Palisades nuclear plant.
Mark Savage, public affairs and communications director for Palisades, told the Van Buren County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday that 13 of its monitoring wells are below the "minimal detectable activity," or MDA, for the substance. But one well still has detectable levels.
"All of the 14 wells, save the one, continue to show MDA," Savage said.
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