4 months after the escape of 400 thousand gallons of water contaminated with radioactive material —tritio—, the company that owns a nuclear power plant in Minnesota, United States, barely warned of this accident, which has put the population on alert and has raised a lot of questions.
Above all and precisely why Xcel Energy -the owns the nuclear power plant in Monticello, Minnesota— did not inform the neighbors of this accident in November 2022, when it happened.
Why did it take so long to notify? And what are the consequences of the leakage and seepage of water contaminated with nuclear material?
What is known about the leak of radioactive material at a Minnesota plant
We tell you: the November 22, 2022the Monticello Nuclear Power Plant—a city located near the mississippi riverin Wright County, Minnesota—recorded a tritium-contaminated water leak.
There were 400 thousand gallons that, he said Xcel Energydid not leave the boundaries of this plant nor did it enter or be detected in the city’s drinking water system.
However, this company did not warn the population of the leak at the time. Because? Just this March 2023, Xcel Energy announced the leak of water contaminated with radioactive material at the Minnesota plant and in its justifications it explained that it did not alert people because there were no risks from this spill.
What it did do, he explained, was inform US and local regulators. To the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commissionwhich in November published a notice, peeeeeero neither the company nor the state agencies informed the people.
And this is what has permeated among the inhabitants of Minnesota and, in particular, of Monticello. Why didn’t they warn, even if there were no risks?
Now what we know is that this leak happened in a water pipe that was between a couple of buildings on this floor.
and that the amount of contaminated water filtered It could fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool to at least 60% of its capacity.
The leak with tritium, a new Chernobyl?
When reading this news, it is inevitable to think about the environmental disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant or just what happened to the train with chemical material that derailed in Ohio, United States.
But how much is the risk from this leak? According to the Federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC for its acronym in English), during and after this leak of water contaminated with radioactive material, the accident does not represent a risk to the health of the residents of this plant.
Ditto Xcel Energy. Although until March 19, 2023, the NRC did not respond to questions from the media or environmental organizations for more details..
Now, let’s go with the tritium. What is it? He is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen —its symbol is T— and it is a pure emitter of weak beta radiation.
According to the NRC, tritium does not travel very far and also cannot penetrate people’s skin. Even so, the questions of the neighbors do not stopabove all because the company or the authorities warned in time, even if there were no risks.
(In fact, the NRC says that toooodo the world is exposed to small amounts of tritium in their daily lives, because it occurs naturally in the environment… but again, the uncertainty remained because this leak was public information that had to be shared).
For now, the cleaning at the facilities of this plant in Minnesota continues. Xcel Energy says they carry the 25% of water contaminated with tritium recovered and that the works will continue until 2024.
