May 25--Exelon Nuclear plans to start removing radioactive tritium from groundwater outside a nuclear power plant in Will County within weeks under an agreed court order entered Wednesday.

The 23-page order, approved by Circuit Judge Richard Siegel, came after months of talks among Exelon Nuclear officials, State's Atty. James Glasgow, attorneys working for Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan and officials of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

"We've been negotiating non-stop since we filed this thing," Glasgow said, referring to the suit he and Madigan filed in mid- March, after Exelon disclosed that groundwater outside the plant had been contaminated by tritium that spilled from Braidwood Generating Station.

The order was described as a "first step" that does not bring an end to the lawsuit. It includes fines of up to $1,500 a day if Exelon Nuclear, part of Exelon Generation, fails to meet its terms.

"Lawsuits take time," Madigan said. "This order is about requiring Exelon Generation to take steps to protect public and environmental health and safety now."

Joe Cosgrove, who as director of the Park District in nearby Godley has worked years to shed light on the tritium issue, praised the agreement.

"I definitely think it's a good start," Cosgrove said. "At least Exelon is trying to remediate and acknowledging that there is an issue."

Exelon officials said the cleanup would start in about two weeks. The company first announced the cleanup plan in late March, but the county withheld a work permit until the court order was entered.

To lower tritium concentrations in groundwater near the plant, Exelon will pump water from a contaminated pond to the Kankakee River. Once the water is pumped out, it is expected contaminated groundwater will flow into the pond from surrounding land.

That water, in turn, will be pumped to the river through the underground pipe from which tritium spilled 22 times between 1996 and early this year, according to Nuclear Regulatory Commission documents. Three of the spills were significant and led to most of the contamination, the documents state.

Glasgow said Exelon has installed alarms on valves along that pipe. If the valves leak, as they did in the past, an alarm will go off and pumping of tritium into the pipe will be immediately halted, he said.

Vaults holding those valves have been sealed, so if the valves do leak, water with tritium will not penetrate the ground, he said. The order also requires Exelon to regularly inspect the pipe and monitor groundwater adjacent to its path.

Though tritium in groundwater outside the plant exceeds government limits, tests found only one private well had significantly elevated levels of the substance. But those levels were well below the point at which state and federal agencies deem tritium dangerous.

Slightly elevated levels of tritium were found in about six shallow wells in Godley, but those levels were barely above what can be expected in nature, county Health Department officials said.

Chronic exposure to tritium, a byproduct of nuclear generation, can increase the risk of cancer. But government agencies have said the levels found near the plant pose no risk to public health.

"While state and federal agencies have confirmed that the levels of tritium in the groundwater are not a health or safety hazard to our neighbors, we have pledged that we would clean up the groundwater," Exelon Nuclear President Christopher Crane said. "All unplanned releases of tritium are unacceptable to Exelon."

The initial groundwater cleanup could take more than a year, Exelon officials said. But it is expected to quickly halt further migration of contaminated groundwater and reduce the size of the contaminated area, which measures about 4 million square feet, officials said.

Under the order, Exelon must give Glasgow and Madigan 28 days' notice if the company plans to again regularly dispose of tritium created at the plant by sending it through the underground pipe, in which it is diluted before being legally dumped into the river.

Cooling water containing no radioactive material is constantly being sent through the pipe, but Exelon last year stopped injecting tritium into that water.

Exelon is temporarily storing tritium in containers on site, while the company evaluates options for reducing tritium production and future disposal.

The company by July 1 also must come up with a plan to prevent groundwater with tritium at levels exceeding government limits from migrating off site.

A month later it must submit a plan for reducing tritium levels outside the plant in spots where it exceeds government standards. The company also must work to prevent off-site tritium levels from rising above what is considered normal.

If tritium does leak again, Exelon must notify state officials within 24 hours.

Exelon also must hold regular meetings with residents to explain its efforts, and it must reimburse the state EPA and Will County for costs incurred addressing the tritium issue.

hdardick@tribune.com