Radioactive material found at NY nuke plant, but officials say resident shouldn't worry
US News
Radioactive material found at NY nuke plant, but officials say resident shouldn’t worry
An apparent overflow at a nuclear power plant north of New York City spilled highly radioactive water into an underground monitoring well, but nuclear regulators said the public isn’t at risk. Officials at the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, reported on Friday that water contaminated by tritium leaked into the groundwater under the facility. The contamination has remained contained to the site, said Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ordered the state’s environmental conservation and health departments to investigate.
Our first concern is for the health and safety of the residents close to the facility and ensuring the groundwater leak does not pose a threat.
Cuomo
The leak occurred after a drain overflowed during a maintenance exercise while workers were transferring water. Normally, a sump pump would take the water and filter it into another treatment system, but the pump apparently was out of service, said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. After the drain overflowed, the water seeped out of the building into the groundwater. Contaminated groundwater would likely slowly make its way to the Hudson River, Sheehan said, but research has shown that water usually ends up in the middle of the river and is so diluted that the levels of radioactivity are nearly undetectable.
We don’t believe there’s any concern for members of the public…First of all, this water’s not going anywhere immediately … and, again, because of the dilution factor, you wouldn’t even be able to detect it were you to take a direct sample.
Sheehan
