Plants to Monitor Radioactive Water

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http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-other/2006/may/09/050902213.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nuclear industry took steps Tuesday to head off a growing public relations - if not health - problem, promising to closely monitor leaks of slightly radioactive water into groundwater at power plants.

The issue has become particularly troublesome in Illinois where three power plants reported leaks of tritium into groundwater, including one case where 6 million gallons was released into soil outside the plant boundary.

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Groundwater contamination on plant sites also has been reported at reactors in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida and New York, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nuclear industry watchdog group.

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Before the creation of the recent NRC task force, the agency "has been treating the leaks as isolated events. But seven events in 10 years suggests a trend rather than a series of isolated events," said Lochbaum.

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