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INDIAN POINT

Indian Point: Robot to help search for tritium leak

Michael Risinit
mrisinit@lohud.com
  • Entergy has been monitoring the level of tritium in the groundwater beneath Indina Point.
  • The company this spring detected higher than usual levels of tritium in two wells.
  • The company is still looking for the source of the leak at the nuclear power plant.

Indian Point officials will send a camera-equipped robot into pipes beneath the nuclear power plant next week to try to find the source of radioactive material showing up in the groundwater below the plant.

Indian Point 3 is photographed at the Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station in Buchanan on Feb. 29, 2012.

The move is the latest in an investigation that began shortly after elevated levels of tritium were found in two monitoring wells in late March near Indian Point Unit 2. Tritium, a byproduct of nuclear power, is a radioactive form of hydrogen. Federal and plant officials say the tritium-laced groundwater is not a public health threat.

Plant owner Entergy said the contamination most likely stems from a maintenance shutdown in March when radioactive water may have leaked out from a damaged pipe or drain. The water would have eventually settled on the bedrock beneath the plant and is now ebbing and flowing in response to percolating rainwater, said Don Mayer, a program director at Indian Point.

The detected levels of tritium in a monitoring well have fluctuated since peaking in late March. Mayer said he would expect to see less variation if an ongoing leak was the source of the radioactive water.

A recently discovered damp spot on the wall of the unit's spent fuel pool is also not the source, Mayer said, because that water has a different chemical makeup than what's infiltrating the monitoring wells.

An NRC spokesman said the agency is continuing to press the plant to discover the source of the contamination.

Entergy on Wednesday updated elected officials and regulatory agencies, including U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's office and the state Department of Environmental Conservation, on its investigation. Such conference calls are taking place every two weeks.

Twitter: @mikerisinit