Second well records tritium leak at Vermont Yankee
Toolbox
By Susan Smallheer - Published: January 20, 2010
STAFF WRITER
BRATTLEBORO — A second groundwater monitoring well at the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor is contaminated with the radioactive isotope tritium, Entergy Nuclear announced Tuesday.
At the same time, the company also said that the tritium levels in the first contaminated well had risen again and were now above federal safe drinking water standards of 20,000 picocuries per liter.
The first well, about 30 feet from the Connecticut River, now registers 22,300 picocuries per liter, and the second well, which the company estimates at 100 feet from the river, registered 9,600 picocuries per liter. The level of tritium has risen steadily in the past 10 days, since Entergy first announced the contamination.
Neither well is used for drinking, and both wells are below 30,000 picocuries per liter, the standard set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The monitoring wells are relatively shallow, about 30 feet deep, the better to track groundwater.
William Irwin, radiological health chief for the Department of Health, said it was obvious that the tritium-tainted water was draining into the Connecticut River, but he said the river, with its huge volume of water, was diluting the radioactive contamination to an immeasurable level.
Irwin, who said he had participated in several meetings on Tuesday on the issue, said the second well was helping to define the size of the plume of underground contamination. Irwin called it a "large plume," and additional wells would be drilled around the reactor to help pinpoint the source of the leak.
The second well is 500 feet north of the first well, Entergy spokesman Robert Williams said, and on the north end of the plant, near the water intake structure on the Connecticut River.
Irwin said the state had increased its testing of wells in the area, particularly the well serving the Vernon Elementary School, directly across the road from the reactor. The school's well will now be tested weekly, instead of monthly, he said.
Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Entergy has narrowed its focus on potential sources of the radioactive isotope to the condensate storage tank and its associated piping. The underground tank contains about 500,000 gallons of water, and is located south of the plant, between the plant and its cooling towers.
Both Jay Thayer, Entergy Nuclear's vice president of operations, and Michael Columb, the site vice president, had testified before the board last May that such pipes didn't exist.
Thayer last week apologized for the "misinformation," but said that Entergy provided correct information about the radioactive piping to a state consultant, NSA, which was helping conduct the Legislature's special inspection under Act 189, which specifically called for an inspection of any underground piping carrying radionuclides.
Entergy so far has declined to produce the information it said it provided to the NSA regarding the buried radioactive piping. Williams said he is looking into the matter.
Arnie Gundersen, a member of the Public Oversight Panel, which oversaw the Act 189 inspection, said that NSA told him last week that it had no knowledge of underground, radioactive pipes at Vermont Yankee.
Gundersen, who is a nuclear engineer, said that he was told repeatedly last year by Entergy officials and engineers that there were no underground radioactive pipes in question, with the exception of some storm drains containing cobalt 60.
Gundersen said he discovered in the summer of 2009 that there were underground pipes, but was rebuffed by Entergy engineer and legislative liaison David McElwee.
McElwee, who was one of six featured Entergy employees, disappeared from the ads which were running on media Web sites over the weekend. Williams said Tuesday evening that other employees were being rotated into the ads.
Williams said earlier Tuesday that Thayer has publicly apologized for his misstatement and his failure to correct the record.
"The company's senior management has fully acknowledged the Department of Public Service concerns and is directing a comprehensive review to determine what information was provided, what caused the errors and to set the record straight," Williams said, reading from a prepared statement.
Meanwhile, an anti-nuclear group, the New England Coalition, filed a request with the Public Service Board to reopen the relicensing proceedings for Vermont Yankee, citing the admission by Entergy officials that they had given misinformation to the board regarding the existence of buried pipes at Yankee that could carry radionuclides.
Entergy is seeking state permission to continue operating the plant until 2032, a 20-year license extension.
The Department of Public Service had already contacted the board about Thayer's inaccuracy, and the board has scheduled a meeting next week on Jan. 27 in Montpelier about the issue.
But Jared Margolis, attorney for the New England Coalition, one of several lawyers who cross-examined Thayer on the issue of buried piping during board hearings last May, has asked for financial sanctions against Entergy.
He said the relicensing case has to be reopened to take into consideration not just the buried piping, but the fact that the costs of decommissioning and cleaning up the plant and site just got more expensive than originally estimated.
"They need to reopen the record on this issue, it goes beyond Act 189," he said. "They're going to have to do more work and they have to redo the decommissioning costs. It opens up a lots of issues, not just trust issues."
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com
10