US nuclear plant leaks 1.5 million liters of radioactive water. But there would be no danger
Xcel Energy is cleaning up a 400,000-gallon radioactive water leak, over 1.5 million liters, from its Monticello, Minnesota nuclear power plant, saying there is still no danger or risk to public health.
The leak occurred months ago, but has only now been disclosed. "Xcel Energy acted quickly to contain the leak at the plant site, which poses no risk to the health and safety of the local community or the environment," the company said in a statement reported by the Associated Press.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is monitoring the cleanup activities.
“Ongoing monitoring by more than two dozen on-site monitoring wells confirms that the leak water is fully contained on-site and has not been detected outside the facility or in local drinking water,” Xcel said. Energy in the press release.
Xcel Energy reported the leak to authorities in late November 2022, but the radioactive water leak was made public for the first time this week. The company has notified state and federal authorities of a tritium-containing water leak. But tritium levels are below federal thresholds.
According to Minnesota state officials, authorities waited to receive more information about the November leak before making the incident public.
“Now that we have all the information about where the leak occurred, how much it released into groundwater, and whether contaminated groundwater has moved beyond its original location, we are sharing this information,” said Michael Rafferty, spokesman for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, as reported by the AP.
The water leak is contained on Xcel Energy property and does not pose an immediate risk to public health and safety, the spokesman added. Then the real danger we will know over time.
The leak came from a pipe between two buildings, Xcel Energy said when it notified state authorities and the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nov. 22. Asked this week by the AP why people weren't notified sooner, the company replied: “We understand the importance of quickly notifying the communities we serve if a situation poses an immediate threat to health and safety. In this case, there was no such threat." At least that's what the company that manages the plant says…
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The article US nuclear plant leaks 1.5 million liters of radioactive water. But there would be no danger comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/impianto-nucleare-usa-perde-15-milioni-di-litri-di-acqua-radioattiva-pero-non-ci-sarebbe-pericolo/ on Fri, 17 Mar 2023 14:13:10 +0000.