Tritium

The Pilgrim nuclear power plant will start using chemical dyes this month to try to discover the origin of high levels of the radioactive isotope tritium in an onsite monitoring well. Plant operator Entergy Corp. said elevated levels of tritium that exceed federal drinking water standards were found in the well in September. Officials have so far been unable to pinpoint the source. Different colored dyes will be used in different systems to try to detect the origin. A plant spokesman said the tritium levels pose no threat to the public water supply nor to nearby Cape Cod Bay. He told The Patriot...

Vermont Yankee says a small amount of radioactive tritium was found in a Connecticut River water sample, but follow-up samples showed no signs of it and the finding poses no risk to public health or safety. The nuclear plant says it learned Tuesday that a small amount of tritium was found in a sample taken near the plant on Nov. 3. The amount was significantly below the federal drinking water limit, and samples taken Nov. 7 and 10 showed no signs of tritium. Plant officials expected that tritium would eventually reach the river after turning up in groundwater monitoring wells...

Vermont Yankee says a small amount of radioactive tritium was found in a Connecticut River water sample, but follow-up samples showed no signs of it and the finding poses no risk to public health or safety. The nuclear plant says it learned Tuesday that a small amount of tritium was found in a sample taken near the plant on Nov. 3. The amount was significantly below the federal drinking water limit, and samples taken Nov. 7 and 10 showed no signs of tritium. Plant officials expected that tritium would eventually reach the river after turning up in groundwater monitoring wells...

BRATTLEBORO - A lawyer for Entergy Corp. argued yesterday in the court battle over Vermont's refusal to extend the life of a company nuclear power plant that state lawmakers wrongly considered safety in blocking an extension. Kathleen Sullivan played audio clips in federal court from legislative committee discussions and floor debates to support Entergy's argument that state legislators stymied the extension for Vermont Yankee for an improper reason. Both sides agree that federal law makes nuclear safety the sole province of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The owners of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant say levels of the radioactive isotope tritium in monitoring wells near the Plymouth facility have risen above federal drinking water standards. A spokesman for Entergy Corp. told The Patriot Ledger that the tritium levels are not a threat to the public drinking water supply and that the company is working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to pinpoint the source of the tritium, which has vexed investigators for months. Tests on Sept.

New Hampshire health officials say their tests for radioactive tritium in Connecticut River water so far are turning up negative. The announcement follows one last week from the state of Vermont that samples of river water taken from near the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant had turned up positive for the substance. Both state health departments have been conducting stepped up tests for tritium since it was announced last year that it had turned up in groundwater monitoring wells on the grounds over Vermont Yankee, which is located in Vernon in the state's southeast...

MONTPELIER - A small amount of radioactive material was found in a test of groundwater wells at the Vermont Yankee nuclear facility, the plant confirmed yesterday. The problem at the 38-year-old reactor is similar to those cropping up at nuclear plants around the country, with the discovery of a radioactive isotope called tritium in a monitoring well. Vermont Yankee spokesman Robert Williams said the plant confirmed a report provided a day earlier by an independent testing laboratory hired to check samples from 32 groundwater monitoring wells on the site.

Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell is planning to announce the results of his criminal investigation into whether officials from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant lied about the release of radioactive tritium from the plant’s piping system. Sorrell is planning to make the announcement Wednesday in Montpelier. In early 2010 officials with the Vernon reactor admitted they had misled state officials — sometimes under oath — by saying the plant did not have the sort of underground pipes that could carry tritium when the plant did have such a...

MONTPELIER - The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant had a radioactive leak years before the one found last month, confirming a disclosure last week by a consultant to the Legislature that a plant employee told him of a previous leak at the reactor, federal officials say. Donald Jackson, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission section chief, confirmed in a conference call between NRC officials and reporters Monday that the 2005 leak occurred in the same pipe...

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Radioactive water that leaked from the nation’s oldest nuclear power plant has reached an aquifer that supplies drinking water to much of southern New Jersey, the state’s environmental chief said yesterday. The state Department of Environmental Protection has ordered the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station to halt the spread of contaminated water underground, even as it said there was no imminent threat to drinking water supplies. The department launched a new investigation yesterday into the April 2009 spill and said the actions of...

New Hampshire health officials say their tests for radioactive tritium in Connecticut River water so far are turning up negative. The announcement follows one last week from the state of Vermont that samples of river water taken from near the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant had turned up positive for the substance. Both state health departments have been conducting stepped up tests for tritium since it was announced last year that it had turned up in groundwater monitoring wells on the grounds over Vermont Yankee, which is located in Vernon in the state's southeast corner.

Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell is planning to announce the results of his criminal investigation into whether officials from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant lied about the release of radioactive tritium from the plant’s piping system. Sorrell is planning to make the announcement Wednesday in Montpelier. In early 2010 officials with the Vernon reactor admitted they had misled state officials — sometimes under oath — by saying the plant did not have the sort of underground pipes that could carry tritium when the plant did have such a system.

The Pilgrim nuclear power plant will start using chemical dyes this month to try to discover the origin of high levels of the radioactive isotope tritium in an onsite monitoring well. Plant operator Entergy Corp. said elevated levels of tritium that exceed federal drinking water standards were found in the well in September. Officials have so far been unable to pinpoint the source. Different colored dyes will be used in different systems to try to detect the origin. A plant spokesman said the tritium levels pose no threat to the public water supply nor to nearby Cape Cod Bay. He told The Patriot...

MONTPELIER — Unplanned shutdowns an hour apart at nuclear plants in Vermont and New York — one because of a small leak of radioactive water inside the plant, the other because of a transformer explosion — show the challenge of managing aging nuclear plants, a specialist said. Both plants are 38 years old and owned by Entergy Corp., which is based in New Orleans. No one was hurt at either plant, and each was expected to be back online quickly. In Vermont, Entergy determined that the source of the leak was a 2-inch metal access plug on a pipe that had been welded over in...

The owners of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant say levels of the radioactive isotope tritium in monitoring wells near the Plymouth facility have risen above federal drinking water standards. A spokesman for Entergy Corp. told The Patriot Ledger that the tritium levels are not a threat to the public drinking water supply and that the company is working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to pinpoint the source of the tritium, which has vexed investigators for months. Tests on Sept.

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Peter Shumlin, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, called yesterday for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant to dramatically increase its extraction of contaminated groundwater from its site in Vernon, following news three days earlier that radioactive tritium was found in a well drawing from an underground aquifer and used for drinking water. “I have been saying for some time that the radioactive leaks at Vermont Yankee could be the largest man-made environmental crisis that Vermont has ever seen,’’ Shumlin said at a news conference, adding...

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Peter Shumlin, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, called yesterday for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant to dramatically increase its extraction of contaminated groundwater from its site in Vernon, following news three days earlier that radioactive tritium was found in a well drawing from an underground aquifer and used for drinking water. “I have been saying for some time that the radioactive leaks at Vermont Yankee could be the largest man-made environmental crisis that Vermont has ever seen,’’ Shumlin said at a news conference, adding that plant...

VERNON, Vt. — After pumping out 130,000 gallons of contaminated groundwater, removing 240 cubic feet of tainted soil, and spending about $10 million responding to a leak of radioactive tritium, Vermont Yankee officials said yesterday it will be at least three months before the cleanup is complete. But they say that there is no evidence the isotope made it into drinking water supplies and that samples of water from the neighboring Connecticut River continue to show no detectable tritium levels.

VERNON, Vt. — After pumping out 130,000 gallons of contaminated groundwater, removing 240 cubic feet of tainted soil, and spending about $10 million responding to a leak of radioactive tritium, Vermont Yankee officials said yesterday it will be at least three months before the cleanup is complete. But they say that there is no evidence the isotope made it into drinking water supplies and that samples of water from the neighboring Connecticut River continue to show no detectable tritium levels.

MONTPELIER — A new leak of radioactive material was found and fixed at the troubled Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, officials said over the weekend. Vapor and water containing 13 radioactive substances were found late Friday coming from a pipe in a hole workers dug to find the source of an earlier leak. “This was a new leak,’’ Vermont Yankee spokesman Larry Smith said in an e-mail. “The leak has been stopped. . . . There is no threat to public health or safety.’’ The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission also said the public faced no danger.