On August 13, 2012, water contaminated with high levels of tritium was found seeping into one of the buildings at the Nine Mile Point nuclear power generating station. The leak was coming from groundwater outside the building.
The Alliance for a Green Economy immediately called on the operator of Nine Mile, Constellation Energy, to shut down both reactors at the plant in order to more-quickly isolate the source of the tritium leak. We took note of the experience at the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor which also experienced a tritium leak. There, the leak persisted for months until the operator finally shut down the plant. It wasn't until power operations at Vermont Yankee were stopped that the leak was able to be discovered in the underground pipes used in operation at the plant.
Tritium, even at low levels, can be harmful to human health. We encourage you to visit this excellent webpage from the Nuclear Information Resource Service for more information about tritium and the health impacts of tritium exposure here.
Community members wrote the following letters to local media to keep pressure on the media and the nuclear industry to take the leak seriously:
Soon after the story broke, local news outlets seemingly lost interest in the tritium leak and no more information was publicly released. In an effort to find out more, AGREE filed a Freedom of Information Law request to the Department of Environmental Conservation seeking all documents about the leak. The following documents were released:
August 15, 2012 Site Visit Report from DEC (8/20/12)
Discovery of Tritium in Groundwater In-Leakage, 30 Day Report from Constellation (9/12/12)
Status Update from DEC (10/19/12)
Figures from the 10/12/12 Report
Groundwater Monitoring Wells Report