INDIAN POINT

Fed specialist to probe radioactive water leak at Indian Point

Tritium levels reported last week were the 'highest that they’ve seen to date' at the plant.

Michael D'Onofrio
mcdonofrio@lohud.com

A federal specialist this week will scrutinize what led to the radioactive contamination of a monitoring well at Indian Point nuclear power plant.

A view of the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan Jan. 27, 2016.

A radiation specialist from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will investigate Thursday how radioactive tritium-contaminated water was found in a monitoring well at the power plant, said Neil Sheehan, a spokesperson for the NRC.

The specialist will conduct visual checks with full-time NRC inspectors at the power plant, who are now “reviewing what exactly led to the spike in tritium levels,” Sheehan said. In addition, the specialist will review the circumstances around the tritium detection, and monitor the investigation that Entergy Corp., which owns the power plant, is conducting.

The specialist inspector will have 45 days after the conclusion of his review to document any findings, Sheehan said.

On Wednesday Entergy said its most recent samples from groundwater monitoring wells revealed elevated tritium levels from the first readings. The highest concentration increased by about 80 percent, "fluctuations that can be expected as the material migrates," the company said in a press release.

Entergy said the new readings still show that there is no impact to public health or safety, and that samples will continue to be taken regularly.

"Last week the company reported alarming levels of radioactivity at three monitoring wells, with one well's radioactivity increasing nearly 65,000 percent," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Wednesday. "The trends of unexpected outages and environmental incidents like these are extremely disconcerting."

Cuomo said that he directed the Departments of Environmental Conservation, Health, and Public Service to integrate their investigations and "thoroughly explore whether the operational problems that are suspected to have caused the uptick in unexpected outages of the plant may also be causing the lake of radioactive water into the environment."

On Tuesday Entergy spokesperson Jerry Nappi said, “We will fully cooperate with the NRC as they conduct their review, and as we continue to investigate the cause of the elevated tritium.”

A view inside the control room at the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan Jan. 27, 2016.

Nappi said the tritium contamination was most likely caused when crews were transferring a volume of water related to a scheduled refueling outage. The power plant runs on two-year fuel cycles, Nappi said; as crews were preparing for an upcoming refueling, some of the water is believed to have leaked from a filtration system into the ground.

Crews are inspecting the pump and drainage systems to determine how water most likely reached the ground.

“Tritium reaching the ground water is not in accordance with our standards,” Nappi said, “and we are working to find the precise cause of that issue."

Samples from three of the power plant’s dozens of monitoring wells, taken in January, came back positive for radioactive tritium-contaminated water late last week. Entergy notified officials on Friday. Sheehan said there was no delay in Entergy notifying state and federal officials about the contamination.

"We haven’t seen any issue about the time-line of the notifications,” he said.

This was not the first time a tritium leak was detected in groundwater around the plant.

The most recent was in 2014, when a tritium leak was reported at the power plant’s Unit 2 reactor. The NRC later classified the leak as a “Green” violation, or of very low safety significance, Sheehan said.

The tritium levels reported last week were the “highest that they’ve seen to date.” Indian Point also has the “most extensive system of monitoring wells” in the country because of past issues.

The tritium leaks come at a time when Entergy is seeking approval from the NRC to extend licenses for two reactors at Indian Point, an ongoing process that will take years. Sheehan said the primary focus of the licensing renewal will be on “aging management,” since much of Indian Point’s infrastructure has been running for more than four decades.

However, Sheehan said that groundwater contamination is a “longstanding issue” at nuclear power plants across the county, and cautioned against labeling last week’s findings at Indian Point as a sign of deteriorating infrastructure.

“This is what appears to be a spill or overflow event that was a one-time event,” Sheehan said. “We would look at this in the vein as an ongoing operation issue, as opposed to one of those aging management issues.”

A view of the turbine in the turbine hall at Unit 3 at the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan, seen during a Jan. 27 tour.

Nonetheless, the tritium contamination found last week sparked Gov. Andrew Cuomo to launch an investigation into the leak.

"This is not the first such release of radioactive water at Indian Point, nor is this the first time that Indian Point has experienced significant failure in its operation and maintenance," Cuomo said in his letter Saturday. "This failure continues to demonstrate that Indian Point cannot continue to operate in a manner that is protective of public health and the environment."

An executive for Entergy said Tuesday on public radio that Indian Point has been facing "increased scrutiny" from the state after its parent company decided late last year to close the FitzPatrick nuclear plant near Syracuse.

Michael Twomey, vice president of external affairs for Entergy, said on the public-radio show "The Capitol Pressroom," that the company’s decision to close FitzPatrick angered Cuomo and other state legislators.

"There are a number of stakeholders, including the governor, who do not like the fact that we are having to close FitzPatrick," Twomey said Tuesday on the show. “I would say that we’ve certainly seen an increase in scrutiny in Indian Point since we made the decision to close FitzPatrick.

"Having announced our closure at FitzPatrick,” Twomey continued, “we certainly have some people in Albany who are dissatisfied with that business decision and we expect more scrutiny and we just need to be prepared to deal with that."

While supporters of the plant say it's safe and provides a significant portion of New York City and Westchester's electricity, critics — including Cuomo — say it poses too great a risk because it's located in a densely populated area and 25 miles north of New York City.

Both Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, and Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti, D-Mt. Pleasant, reiterated their calls to shut down Indian Point.

In a statement Tuesday, Stewart-Cousins said having an "aging nuclear plant surrounded by such a large population" is cause for "major concern.”

"As a county legislator, I voted for the orderly decommissioning of this plant and I still believe that should happen," she said.

Twitter: @mikedonofrio_ 

 Matt Spillane and Jon Campbell contributed to this article. 

A view of the turbine in the turbine hall at Unit 3 at the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan Jan. 27, 2016.