Patrick Calls For Plymouth Nuclear Plant Investigation After Vermont Leak

By Fred Bever
Feb 11, 2010, 11:56 AM
5 Comments

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A warning sign is seen at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt., in June 2009. The recent discovery of radioactive tritium at the plant means that more than one-fourth of all reactors in the U.S. have tritium leaks. (AP)

AMHERST, Mass. — A radioactive leak at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt., has prompted Gov. Deval Patrick to request a federal investigation into whether a similar problem may be occurring at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant in Plymouth.

The governor is also calling for a halt to federal reviews of whether either plant should be allowed to operate after 2012.

Pilgrim and Vermont Yankee, both owned by the Entergy Corporation, first went online in 1972 and each is up for a 20-year license renewal in 2012. The plants are valued by many energy regulators for their cheap electricity and low greenhouse gas emissions.

But their future is growing more uncertain in the wake of a significant leak of tritium — irradiated water — detected underground at the Vermont plant in January.

Massachusetts officials say they do not have direct oversight of the Pilgrim plant’s re-licensing, as that decision lies with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC. But the situation is different in Vermont, where lawmakers have retained authority to decide a nuclear plant’s fate.

Vermont Senate President Peter Shumlin, whose district includes Vernon, said the legislature is unlikely to give the plant a green light for the future.

“Tritium right now is leaking into the Connecticut River and floating down towards Massachusetts,” Shumlin said. “And the time is well past when we can pretend that we have a new, modern nuclear power plant sitting on the banks of the Connecticut River. We don’t. It was designed to be shut down in 2012. We should land this airplane on time.”

Massachusetts officials have monitored the situation but had little to say publicly — until now.

Gov. Patrick’s letter (PDF) to the NRC calls for an immediate stay of re-licensing consideration for both plants until the leak issues are resolved. He also calls for an “extensive” investigation as to whether similar leaks may be plaguing the Plymouth plant.

NRC offices in Washington, D.C., were closed multiple days this week for the snowstorm, and officials could not be immediately reached for comment. A Pilgrim official said ongoing monitoring for tritium there has turned up no evidence of any leaks.

Fred Bever originally reported this story for WFCR-FM in Amherst.

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Greg Rodgers

Regarding the caption for the photo accompanying this article on the leak of Tritium at the VT power plant, the logic is wrong. The caption reads: “The recent discovery of radioactive tritium at the plant means that more than one-fourth of all reactors in the U.S. have tritium leaks. (AP)”. The conclusion reached is false. One tritium leaker does not assure that 1/4 of all reactors in the US are leaking tritium. This is a logical fallacy and shame on WBUR for propagating it without any evidence to support this illogical claim. Though I am not a fan of power plants operating with fisionable materials (waste storage, potential leaks, and security issues), “reporting” like this does no favor to anyone on this issue. If this caption was written by the AP, then the editor at WBUR should be chastised for not correcting it before publishing. If this was written by a reporter at WBUR, then the reporter should be disciplined for writing this illogical and potentially alarming piece of “journalism”. I would like to read your response.
Rudolf

Why does the Governor think that because an nuke in another state is alleged to have a problem, that that problem must exist or be investigated in this state? And what expertise does the state bring to the investigation? I think it just shows the bias of the Patrick administration and why this state has a reputation of being anti-business and with a NIMBY attitude.
Dan Roberts

The reporter should also ask “What’s the half life of Tritium? Does it build up in the human body and what’s it toxicity? What does it degrade into? Lithium perhaps?”
Now let’s get on with it and build some more nuke plants so we don’t have to worry about foreign oil or black lung disease or the world burning up from global warming.
Jobs in VT

Gov. Dumlin says the tritium is leaking into the CT river there is no evidence of the tritium leaking into the river. Strange how he can tell lies to scare the general public. He’s a crook