Aug 10 - McClatchy-Tribune Business News Formerly Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Hal Dardick Chicago Tribune

The head of the federal agency overseeing the nation's nuclear power plants said Wednesday that those facilities can adequately monitor radioactive tritium leaks, a problem that gained national attention this year because of spills at an Exelon plant in Will County.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Dale Klein said he supports the "groundwater protection initiative," a self-policing effort proposed in May by the Nuclear Energy Institute trade organization.

"I think as a nation we need to be cautious about putting unneeded regulations in place," Klein said. "We have not identified, at this point, any new regulations we believe are necessary."

He spoke after touring Braidwood Generating Station, where tritium in groundwater spread beyond plant boundaries, sparking state and federal legislation, three lawsuits and an Exelon cleanup effort being monitored by state and federal agencies.

Klein, who became commission chairman last month, praised the steps taken by Exelon to clean up the contamination and limit future leaks.

But David Lochbaum, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Nuclear Safety Project, expressed doubt that utility companies could adequately monitor tritium spills at the nation's 103 commercial nuclear power plants.

At Dresden Nuclear Generating Station in Grundy County, another Exelon-owned facility, tritium leaked in 1994 when Commonwealth Edison owned and ran the facility, and again in 2004, after Exelon absorbed Commonwealth Edison, Lochbaum said.

More water with tritium was spilled in 2004 than in 1994, after which ComEd promised to monitor tritium in groundwater at Dresden, he said.

"The Dresden situation seemed to show that more is needed than a voluntary program," Lochbaum said. "The NRC should be a little more active on this issue."

With some of the 22 leaks at Braidwood that started in 1996 unreported until late last year, he said, "This should be a wake-up call, not a series of wake-up calls."

But Thomas O'Neill, vice president of regulatory affairs for Exelon Nuclear, said the monitoring worked at Dresden because tritium was detected before it could leave the site.

And Christopher Crane, president of Exelon Nuclear, said Exelon this year replaced the old pipe that leaked previously at Dresden with a much stronger one, stepped up its groundwater monitoring effort and mapped groundwater flows.

Similar measures, and others including the installation of alarms on pipes that carry water with tritium, have been taken at all 11 of Exelon's nuclear sites, Crane said.

The industry, as part of its voluntary initiative, is taking similar steps, with Exelon's efforts serving as the model. So far, tritium leaks have been detected at an AmerenUE nuclear power plant in Callaway County, Mo.

A nuclear commission task force is continuing its probe, with all results not in yet, Klein said.

The commission has issued a findingagainst Exelon, saying it failed to properly respond when tritium was spilled at Braidwood. That triggered more annual inspections at the plant.

Tritium, a byproduct of nuclear generation, can increase the risk of cancer, birth defects and genetic damage. None of the tritium contamination found at Braidwood or Dresden poses a health risk, public health officials have said.

Will County Board Chairman James Moustis (R-Frankfort), who strongly criticized Exelon over the Braidwood issue, said he believed the company was coming around.

"I thank Exelon for coming along and being partners with us," he said. "It took a little bit of pushing, a little bit of persistence, I would say, for them to see our view."

 

 

hdardick@tribune.com