Judge orders Exelon to action on tritium

May 24, 2006

FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS

Will County judge on Wednesday approved a preliminary injunction ordering Exelon Generation to take a number of steps to protect public health and the environment at its Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station, according to a pair of releases.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow, who filed suit against Exelon Corp., Commonwealth Edison Co. and Exelon Generation Co., said in one release that the order is the first step in addressing tritium contamination at the Braidwood facility and nearby areas impacted by the releases.

Madigan also said the lawsuits continue to move forward and the injunction is about “protecting public and environmental health and safety now.”

According to the order issued Wednesday, the release from Madigan’s office said, Exelon must lower water levels in a pond near Smiley Road and Center Street to cause adjacent contaminated groundwater to drain into the pond. The pumped water with tritium will be put in the station’s discharge pipe (known as the "blowdown line") where it will mix with water from the station’s cooling lake and be released into the Kankakee River at acceptable Nuclear Regulatory Commission discharge limits.

Exelon said in a release that the tritium level would be less than 1 percent of the acceptable drinking water limit. The company said this phase of the remediation process could last more than a year, but said its hydrologists expect the work to quickly halt further movement of tritium in the ground and begin shrinking the size of the area with elevated tritium levels within six months, the Exelon release said.

The release from Madigan also said:

Exelon has installed and must maintain leak-proof barriers at the base of each vacuum beaker pit and leak detection monitors with remote alarms at the station control center.

Exelon must institute a program of leak detection from the blowdown line by weekly visual surveillance and monthly sampling of groundwater along the four-plus miles of pipe from the plant to the river.

Exelon must sample 280 private residential wells in and near the village of Godley for tritium for five weeks, and present results within 10 days of testing.

Exelon must provide bottled water to about 420 residences in Godley and near the blowdown line until future testing shows no higher levels of tritium in those wells.

By June 30, Exelon will complete an investigation of tritium in the groundwater near the vacuum breaker valves and turbine building.

By July 1, Exelon must submit a written plan to the Illinois EPA for preventing groundwater contamination.

By Aug. 1, Exelon must submit a corrective action plan to the EPA for reducing tritium levels in groundwater.

Exelon must submit a plan for future notification to the EPA and residents of future tritium releases.

Exelon must reimburse Will County and the EPA for past and future costs of investigating potential tritium contamination.

Exelon Wednesday received a construction permit from Will County to allow site work necessary for the remediation program, the Exelon release said. This work includes laying a concrete pad and installing new pipes under a road adjacent to the plant.