State sues ComEd over tritium leak

March 17, 2006

BY ERIC HERMAN Staff Reporter

Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow joined in the suit, which seeks $36.5 million in fines and other remedies -- including drinking water for residents of Braidwood and nearby Godley.

"In reviewing how ComEd and Exelon have operated . . . it reminded me of the Homer Simpson episode that I saw, where Homer worked at the local reactor and would put his jelly doughnut on the control panel. It's that bad," Glasgow said.

The Braidwood generating station runs a 4.5-mile "blowdown" pipe from the plant to the Kankakee River. Agencies including the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency have found that tritium -- a radioactive substance -- seeped from the pipe into surrounding groundwater. Leaks occurred on eight different occasions, one as long ago as 1996, according to the lawsuit.

"Exelon has not been maintaining and operating this nuclear facility as it should be," Madigan said. "We are asking the court to hold Exelon and ComEd responsible."

Exelon spokesman Craig Nesbit said the company notified area residents of spills that occurred in 2000 and 2003. He acknowledged that spills in 1996 and 1998 "were not handled well," but said the company was not legally required to report those leaks.

"We're not happy that we're dealing with this environmental situation eight years after this occurred, and we're going to fix it."

Could increase cancer risk

Tritium is a form of hydrogen found in most water. In fact, Exelon is legally permitted to dump water containing tritium into the Kankakee, which it was doing in some of the instances when the substance leaked into the ground surrounding the blowpipe. "The levels of tritium we're talking about are very, very low and do not represent any health hazard to anybody in the area," Nesbit said.

But Madigan and Glasgow said samples have shown elevated levels of tritium that could increase the risk of cancer.

Another spill on Monday

According to Madigan and Glasgow's lawsuit, the most recent spill happened Monday, when a storm caused part of a berm around a holding tank to collapse, allowing tritiated water to be discharged into the ground.

The lawsuit, filed in Will County Circuit Court, seeks a court order temporarily halting use of the blowdown pipe and stopping the release of tritium into the groundwater. It also seeks documentation of past spills and current tritium levels.

Nesbit said the company was working on getting free drinking water to about 150 people who live north of the plant, plus another 300 households that make up the town of Godley. The company will announce a plan by Monday, he said.

Homeowners who live near the Braidwood facility have filed three separate lawsuits against ComEd and Exelon this week, alleging the tritium leaks have hurt their property values and may harm their health.