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* I didn’t realize these leaks were so common…
On February 6, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that a nuclear power plant about 40 miles from Manhattan had leaked one of the most potent radioactive carcinogens into the groundwater. The groundwater in that area flows to the Hudson River just 25 miles north of New York City.
“Yesterday I learned that radioactive tritium-contaminated water leaked,” the governor said in an official statement. “The company reported alarming levels of radioactivity at three monitoring wells, with one well’s radioactivity increasing nearly 65,000 percent.”
Alarmingly, the leak is not the first for this plant in recent years. In fact, such leaks are relatively common among U.S. nuclear power plants.
* So, this concerns me…
The La Salle County Board has postponed a June training exercise on nuclear safety because the state won’t release the funding — $16,000 locally and $650,000 statewide. This is money Exelon pays to the state designated for this purpose, and the county has to meet a number of planning standards for Exelon to maintain its operating license at the local plant.
The money is being held hostage, plain and simple, in the budget battle between Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Chicago Democrats who control the Legislature. If Exelon had been allowed to just pay county emergency management agencies directly, there would be no issue. But the money went through Springfield and there it sits until someone with power realizes what’s at stake if the funds aren’t released.
There’s no way this is good government. Fix it fast, please.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 11:28 am
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Can’t decide is this Obama’s fault or Madigan’s?
Comment by Spliff Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 11:37 am
Our children and grandchildren will face bigger problems from these nuclear plants on a much grander scale.
Comment by Austin Blvd Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 11:43 am
Meh. There was a tritium leak at the Braidwood nuclear plant 10 or so years ago.
The hysteria is because tritium is radioactive. Unfortunately what we never hear is that tritium is a very low power hydrogen isotope. The beta particles it emits can’t pass through more than 6mm of air or the dead layer of our skin.
Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 11:46 am
Take a deep breath.
Just because some element escapes a power plant doesn’t mean it poses a risk to anyone. Nuke plants are required to report even the smallest discharge of certain substances. It is part of a very thorough oversight system.
It is a simple fact that an airplane trip exposes one to much higher levels of radiation than visiting a nuclear plant. Radiation, at varying levels, is everywhere, some places higher, some lower. Notice, nowhere does Cuomo say that this release presents a health threat to anyone.
Also, the reality is that the federal NRC is the lead oversight and enforcement agency for nuke plants, not the state. The feds are unbelievably thorough and on site at all times, so the state’s delay of a training exercise doesn’t represent a threat. These exercises have been taking place regularly for decades.
Comment by Adam Smith Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 11:46 am
Has to be Rauner’s fault because it is probably part of the cash he wants to sweep to patch his budget problems! /s?
Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 11:48 am
Seriously, -Austin Blvd- is right. The legacy costs of decommissioning old nukes is huge, both financially and environmentally.
Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 11:50 am
So good to see nuclear power is just as clean as wind and solar. I recall that devastating solar leak that dirtied up the groundwater last…umm…oh right, never.
Renewable power has no such risks. Perhaps it’s time for our friends at Exelon to stop calling their nukes “clean energy.”
Comment by BEST Dave Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 11:55 am
It should be concerning-
http://nukefreetexas.org/downloads/exelons_history_of_leaks.pdf
Peach Bottom and Oyster Creek, too. Not our state, but same company.
Maybe instead of dividends to shareholders, mega-mergers, and under-cutting the competition (Entergy in Ohio), Exelon should focus more on its aging fleet.
Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 12:10 pm
- Adam Smith - ,
You forgot to mention the slightly increased exposure from just living in a brick (actually most non-wood) house … but we still build them.
Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 12:16 pm
From the Ledger (Comptroller’s Office)- look up
NUCLEAR SAFETY EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
COMPTROLLER ASSIGNED FUND NUMBER: 0796
Current Daily Amount- $9,338,657.75
http://ledger.illinoiscomptroller.com/Ledger/?LinkServID=A72F6F8F-5056-9397-F02AE48ED06E6CD3&OrderBy=Name&cbFund=0001
So… do we need ANOTHER appropriation bill to take care of this part of the 10% of the budget not covered by the three C’s???
Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 12:24 pm
- RNUG -
Or from Radon exposure in the basement. Like those granite countertops? Also a source.
Comment by illini97 Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 12:25 pm
I don’t think good government is the goal. I think sabotage of government is the goal.
–The La Salle County Board has postponed a June training exercise on nuclear safety because the state won’t release the funding — $16,000 locally and $650,000 statewide. This is money Exelon pays to the state designated for this purpose, and the county has to meet a number of planning standards for Exelon to maintain its operating license at the local plant.–
That would be the issue, not brick houses or flying in airplanes.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 12:28 pm
With or without the monies being made available, it appears that the NRC will be requiring that drill…
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/part050/part050-0047.html
(14) Periodic exercises are (will be) conducted to evaluate major portions of emergency response capabilities, periodic drills are (will be) conducted to develop and maintain key skills, and deficiencies identified as a result of exercises or drills are (will be) corrected.
Comment by Anon221 Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 12:29 pm
Mike Madigan and the leaky nuclear reactors he controls…
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 12:35 pm
Had a cookie problem, so re-posting: The source of the article has a slanted agenda to make this sound worse than it is. Out of context, the numbers sound scary, and that’s intentional. They don’t tell you tritium has a very short half-life (fast rate of decay), of 7 to 14 days, nor that you’d have to drink a concentrated amount for it to give you a cancerous dose: externally, you could bathe in it and not be affected.
Absolutely, the leakage needs to be stopped; that’s not up to specification. But we don’t need people with anti-nuclear agendas ginning-up hysteria with half-truths in sensationalistic reports.
The greenest thing we could do is replace the old nuke plants with new 4th and 5th generation designs that are absolutely foolproof, can’t melt down, and can’t leak tritiated water - because they don’t use water for cooling in the first place.
Comment by Professor Frink Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 12:48 pm
“leaked one of the most potent radioactive carcinogens into the groundwater”
Does anyone know if this chemical causes cancer.
Comment by Mama Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 12:54 pm
I dunno. Seems I hear a lot around here that elections have consequences. Seems also that LaSalle went to the governor 19,843-13,871, so in effect, the residents are getting what they asked for, if not especially in the way they thought they would be getting it.
Talk to me about fully funding social services, where the lives matter right now, then we can talk about this piddly $650k
Comment by Joe Bidenopolous Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 12:55 pm
Does Illinois’s EPA agency have money to test our water, soil & air?
Comment by Mama Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 12:56 pm
See Doctor Frink’s comment, above. I concur.
Comment by Keyser Soze Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 1:24 pm
“The greenest thing we could do is replace the old nuke plants with new 4th and 5th generation designs”
Prof Frink may be right, but they would need an even bigger state subsidy than Exelon is currently demanding. If cost was no object, next-gen nukes would make sense. But those technologies arent even remotely on cost parity with existing renewables.
BTW, great name, Professor.
Comment by Senator Clay Davis Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 3:40 pm
More fear mongering to stampede the weak minded
Comment by plutocrat03 Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 7:38 pm
–More fear mongering to stampede the weak minded–
Huh? Where is this weak-minded stampede occurring, in your obviously extra-strength mind?
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Feb 16, 16 @ 7:43 pm