Friday, November 04, 2005

NRC says gallons of radioactive water leaked from plant - Boston.com

NRC says gallons of radioactive water leaked from plant - Boston.com: "NRC says gallons of radioactive water leaked from plant

November 3, 2005

HADDAM, Conn. --Several gallons of radioactive water per day leaked for a time from the former Connecticut Yankee nuclear plant, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported Wednesday.

The leak was discovered by workers digging near the building housing the spent fuel pool, and the contaminated water never made it beyond the plant's property line, Connecticut Yankee officials told the NRC.

The company and the NRC said the leak did not pose a danger to health or safety.

It has not been determined when or for how long the leak occurred. Connecticut Yankee stated that a review of data indicates the it was 'on the order of a few gallons per day.'

NRC spokeswoman Diane Screnci said groundwater monitoring revealed that no hazardous material left the property. She said the NRC would inspect the site before signing off on the plant's decommissioning.

The contamination 'is confined to a very small area onsite,' said Connecticut Yankee spokeswoman Kelley Smith. 'We are still investigating.'

The water apparently seeped through seams in pool building's concrete into a small area of soil, the company reported.

The spent fuel pool housed the nuclear plant's uranium pellets. The rods and radioactive metals have been removed from the pool as part of the plant's decommissioning.

Connecticut Yankee opened in 1968 and operated for 28 years. It was closed in 1996 and decommissioning is expected to be completed next year.

Haddam First Selectman Tony Bondi said neither Connecticut Yankee nor the NRC had informed him of the leak.

'My God, it really surprises me something this egregious can happen,' Bondi told The Hartford Courant. 'We need to determine the extent of the leakage and the consequences of it.'

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Information from: The Hartford Courant"

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