Tritium found at Peach Bottom

Comment: Seems tritium is a big problem, however, the nuke bunch is always saying that nuke plants have never killed anyone! Seems strange people around nuke plants have a high rate of all forms of cancers! I usually do not include comments but the comments are good and telling of cancers in the local people!

Report: Levels above EPA standards

Intelligencer Journal
Lancaster New Era
Jul 11, 2009 08:02 EST
By LORI VAN INGEN, Staff Writer

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.

The amount of radiation someone would receive if they drank two liters of the water found with the highest level of tritium every day for a year would be equivalent to what someone would receive during six cross-country airplane trips, according to data provided by the plant.

Tritium is a normal byproduct of nuclear energy, created during the fission process. It also occurs naturally in the environment. It is most often found in water, and it disperses into the atmosphere.

Tritium is used commercially to make luminous dials and instruments and as a source of light for exit and safety signs. It also is used as a tracer for biochemical research and in groundwater transport measurements.

The elevated levels of tritium were found in an area adjacent to the Peach Bottom Unit 3 turbine building, which is centrally located on plant property and a significant distance from plant boundaries, according to the news release.

Although additional sample testing is being performed to verify that the tritium is contained to the area where it was found, Bernadette Lauer, an Exelon spokesperson, said no detectable levels of tritium have thus far been found off-site.

Plant engineering and environmental teams are working to locate the tritium source and make necessary repairs, Lauer said.

Exelon Nuclear officials notified state and federal authorities Thursday after the tritium sample was confirmed.

"Our environmental monitoring program works," Maguire said. "It alerted us to the presence of tritium early so that we can address the issue quickly."

Peach Bottom is not the only local nuclear power plant that has discovered elevated levels of tritium on its property.

In September 2006, Three Mile Island found groundwater containing tritium that had migrated into the Susquehanna River, where it was immediately diluted to nondetectable levels, according to published reports.

The reports said TMI's monitoring was prompted by the discovery of leaks of tritium at three nuclear plants in Illinois owned by Exelon Nuclear in 2005.

Lauer identified the plants as Braidwood in Braceville, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago; Byron Generating Station in Byron, about 90 miles west of Chicago; and Quad Cities Generating Station in Cordova, about 120 miles west of Chicago.

Just last month, Exelon's Dresden nuclear plant near Morris, Ill., 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 a concrete vault near an outside water storage tank, she said.

Exelon's plant in Oyster Creek, N.J., also had elevated tritium levels of 16,600 picocuries per liter in a June 12 sample, according to a company statement.

Exelon owns 10 nuclear plants: three in Pennsylvania, one in New Jersey and six in Illinois.

E-mail: lvaningen@lnpnews.com

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"The amount of radiation someone would receive if they drank two liters of the water found with the highest level of tritium every day for a year would be equivalent to what someone would receive during six cross-country airplane trips, according to data provided by the plant."

Well, that's enough to keep me off of airplanes.

Now pass me that water jug. Yeah, the heavy one.

notveryhowI've had three siblings die of cancer, and two more have breast cancer now. All of us grew up in Peach Bottom. I' ve known so many people here who died of cancer. I've always thought that plant could be the reason.

http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/239699