By John La Forge; reprinted with permission; first published
in Nukewatch Quarterly newsletter, Spring 2024, a publication of the
Progressive Foundation; see www.nukewatchinfo.org;
Editor’s Note: IPN
was informed by author John LaForge at Nukewatch that there is “new, breaking
information about the tritium leak: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has
acknowledged (in its Draft Site Specific Environmental Impact Statement regarding
the reactor operators application for a second license renewal) that Northern States Power/Xcel Energy has
admitted that its leaked tritium was detected in the Mississippi River
following the massive accidental leak -- after publicly denying it several
times.*
This is a consequential admission, since the Mississippi is
the drinking water source for 3.7 million in Mpls/St. Paul, their suburbs and
another 20 million people downstream, since tritium persists in the environment
for 123 years, since if consumed it crosses the placenta, since it cannot and
is never removed from the water it contaminates.”
* The recent, 829,000-gallon leak of radioactive
tritium-contaminated wastewater, according to your Draft EIS, “likely” reached
the Mississippi River. The Draft EIS states: “Tritium detections in wells near
the Mississippi Riverbank (i.e., MW-29A, MW-33A, MW-37A, and MW-48A) in 2023
indicate tritium-impacted groundwater likely discharged to the river.” (NRC
Draft EIS, Agency/Docket Numbers: Docket
No. 50-263; NRC-2023-0031; Docket ID NRC-2023-0031; Document Number:
2024-08746; https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2410/ML24102A276.pdf, on page “3-47”,
lines 11 to 14, under “2022 Tritium Release to Groundwater”.)
Xcel Energy’s Monticello nuclear reactor on the Mississippi
River has leaked some 829,000 gallons of wastewater contaminated with radioactive
tritium into the groundwater on site, (1) more than double the 400,000 gallons
Xcel first estimated. The company has
since replaced two leaking pipes, built an underground retaining wall, and is
cleaning up after a second spill and its temporary reactor shutdown. Yet, according to WCCO TV, for July 20, 2023,
Xcel said a “small amount of leaked water may have reached the Mississippi River.”
(2)
On March 18, 2023, the Associated Press (AP) reported that a
representative of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) told them that
the tritium-contaminated wastewater from the reactor couldn’t contaminate the
water people drink. The AP reporters
quoted NRC spokesperson Victoria Mitlyng, writing, “Mitlyng said there is no
pathway for the tritium to get into drinking water.”(3)
In fact, there are two pathways for the tritium leak to get
into drinking water. First, the tritium
in the 829,000 gallon leak is now in a groundwater plume that can move beyond
Xcel’s Monticello site and reach private or public drinking water wells.
Second, the groundwater plume, which moves toward the Mississippi,
(4), will contaminate the river which supplies drinking water to one
million-plus people in the Twin Cities and their suburbs and 38 million people
downstream.
Perhaps Mitlyng was misquoted, since the NRC and the AP have
both reported that the plume of tritium-contaminated groundwater can move
outside Xcel’s boundary. In fact, both
agencies have reported that Xcel’s stated purpose in hastily building an
underground steel wall between the reactor and the Mississippi is to prevent
the radioactive groundwater from entering the river. (5)
The AP reported March 24, 2023 that Chris Clark, the
president of Xcel Energy, acknowledged that the radioactive pollution can reach
the Mississippi. The AP reported: “Even if the tritium reached the river, which
Clark assured wouldn’t happen, it would dissipate within a few yards.” (6) Clark’s assurance is either a mistake or a deliberate
fib, because “dissipate” means to disappear or vanish. However, tritium contamination in water lasts
123 years.
Further there is no way to remove tritium from water once it’s
contaminated- as the 1.5 million tons of tritiated wastewater being pumped into
the Pacific Ocean from the three-reactor earthquake/ tsumani/ meltdown site at
Fukushima proves.
Why is Xcel’s tritium in the groundwater and the Great River
such a threat to the people and animals that rely on it? As the NRC says, “this is because tritium
travels as a form of water through the soil faster than other radionuclides.” (7)
The city of Minneapolis proudly declares, “Our water comes from the
Mississippi River. Roughly 21 billion
gallons of water are pumped from the river each year, and 57 million gallons of
drinking water delivered every day.” (8)
We can’t say, “There’s nothing we can do.”
Everyone can comment to the government regarding the risks
posed by Monticello’s operations, when Xcel issues (this spring) its draft
supplemental environmental impact statement (DSEIS) regarding the firm’s
request to extend its license and run the 54-year-old reactor until 2050, when
it will turn 80.
The comment period will last four to six weeks and open
after the DSEIS is released. Check
Nukewatch’s website to learn when the period has opened. Use one of Nukewatch’s sample comments or
your own. Plan to make your voice heard
in person once the NRC schedules a public hearing on the license extension. Nukewatchinfo.org/Monticello
[1] Xcel Energy, Dec. 18, The Monticello Times, Dec. 21; [2]
CBS Minnesota, July 20; [3] AP, March 18; [4] Doug Wetzstein of the Minn. Pollution
Control Agency told WCCO in March [5] Nuclear Engineering International, Aug.
22; WCCO Staff, CBS Minnesota, Aug. 18; [6] AP, March 24, 2023; [7] NRC ADAMS;
[8] minneapolismn.gov
John LaForge is on staff with Nukewatch, based in Wisconsin.
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