Washington (Platts)--16Apr2009

Water containing tritium was discovered at Oyster Creek in an underground
concrete vault, Exelon Nuclear said in a statement Thursday.
The vault houses electrical lines and equipment, and "plant engineers are
working to determine how the tritium might have entered the space," the
company said.
Exelon Nuclear said the water appeared to be contained in the vault and
posed no threat to plant workers or the public. More than 800 gallons of water
containing tritium were discovered Tuesday in the vault about 50 yards from
the plant turbine building, Exelon Nuclear said.
The water was pumped out of the vault into 55-gallon drums for testing,
Exelon Nuclear spokesman David Benson said. Initial analysis of water samples
showed a tritium concentration "slightly greater" than 100,000 picocuries per
liter of water, the company said.
The US Environmental Protection Agency's federal regulatory limit for
tritium in drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per liter, but Exelon Nuclear
said laboratory tests of 32 onsite monitoring wells on March 11 "showed no
detectable levels of tritium in the groundwater near the plant."
Those wells are tested twice a year and will be sampled again to follow
up on the discovery of tritium, Benson said. The company notified state and
federal authorities, including the NRC, he said.