STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Radioactive cesium has
leaked into the Baltic Sea from storage tanks at a nuclear power plant in
central Sweden, but poses no risk to the public or the environment, the state
nuclear authority said Wednesday.
Even though cesium levels in the water are 10 times higher than normal, they are
still well below what's allowed under Swedish law, the Swedish State Radiation
Protection Institute said.
It was not clear exactly how much radioactive waste water had leaked from the
tanks at the Forsmark nuclear plant, 75 kilometers (46 miles) north of
Stockholm.
"We believe that storage tanks containing low- and medium-level radioactive
waste have corroded and leaked into the drainage system, from where the water
continues out into the Baltic Sea," institute spokeswoman Anki Hagg said.
She said the institute had asked the plant management to take measures to stop
further leaks.
Forsmark accounts for roughly one-sixth of Sweden's electricity production. The
first of its three reactors was started in 1980.
Sweden has 10 nuclear reactors providing 50 percent of its electricity, but the
government plans to phase them out over the coming decades.
Source: Associated Press