MONTPELIER — New Hampshire authorities say water samples taken from the Connecticut River near the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant show no detectable levels of tritium, the radioactive isotope leaking from Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

In a news release, the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services said nine samples analyzed by its public health lab showed tritium levels below 500 picocuries per liter, which it said is the lower limit of detection.

But they say none has been found at all.

Vermont Yankee spokesman Larry Smith says tritium occurs naturally in the environment and that there's no indication that the plant's leak has reached the river.

— Staff and wire reports