Indian Point Nuclear Accident

SUBHEAD:  Operator unable to prevent its highly radioactive coolant from leaking into groundwater.

By Admin on 26 February 2016 for ENE News -
(http://enenews.com/uncontrollable-radioactive-flow-coming-nuclear-plant-nyc-actual-releases-trillions-times-higher-reported-during-latest-leak-cracks-multiple-spent-fuel-pools-intense-investigation-underway-be)


[IB Publisher's note: Emphasis below provided by ENE News Admin. Indian Point Nuclear Plant provides about one quarter of the regions electrical power and includes New York City. There is no politically or economically acceptable way to shut it down - at this time.]


Image above: Smoke rises from the Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, New York, where last May an explosion and fire led to thousands of gallons of transformer fluid being released into the Hudson river. Photograph by Ricky Flores/AP. From (http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/11/indian-point-nuclear-reactor-shut-down-blast-fire)



Inhabitat  on 26 February 2016
No matter where you live, “uncontrollable radioactive flow” is not a phrase that you want to hear in relation to your local water source … According to the Huffington Post’s report, for more than a decade, the Indian Point plant has been unable to prevent its highly radioactive reactor and spent fuel pool coolant from leaking into groundwater routes that eventually lead into the Hudson River. Entergy, the operator of the plant, seems to zero in solely on tritium… The most recent leak, however, according to an assessment by the New York Department of State as part of its Coastal Zone Management Assessment, contains a variety of radioactive elements such as strontium-90, cesium-137, cobalt-60, and nickel-63 in addition to tritium…

 Huffington Post on 15 February 2016
For more than a decade, it has been impossible for operators of the Indian Point nuclear power plant to stop highly radioactive reactor and spent fuel pool coolant from leaking into the groundwater and migrating to the Hudson River… there is no indication that the company has developed the ability to prevent the latest uncontrolled leaks from following the underground waterway into the Hudson. And because the river is a tidal estuary flowing as much as 20 miles above and below the nuclear site, radioactive contaminants may be sucked into the drinking water systems of several river towns… Entergy representatives declined to comment on planned and unplanned radioactive discharges into the environment. The sequence of events leading to leaks of radioactive liquids from Indian Point 2 is the subject of an intense investigation… to determine how the leak occurred and whether or not it can be stopped… In the past, the Coastal Zone Management report states, “radioactive releases have been detected at the Indian Point facility from cracks in two different spent fuel pools. Leaks of radioactive liquids from the Indian Point 2 spent fuel pools have reached the Hudson River”…

See also: CBS: Radiation leak "getting worse" at nuclear plant near NYC -- Levels increase over 120,000%, almost 15 million pCi/L -- Governor: "Extremely disconcerting" -- Expert: I don't think they know where it's coming from -- Radioactive Antimony now being detected (VIDEO)
Watch a local news broadcast on the most recent leak here



Previous Reports on Indian Point

SUBHEAD: Indian Point Plant contaminates the Hudson River with uncontrollable radioactive flow.


NY Daily News 11 February, 2016
 Cuomo to launch probe into troubled Indian Point power plant as radioactive leak gets worse — The amount of radioactive tritium leaking from the Indian Point nuclear power plant is growing, officials said… New samples from groundwater monitoring wells show 80% higher concentrations of tritium compared with when the leak was first reported Saturday… Wednesday, [Cuomo] ordered a more sweeping investigation… “Last week the company reported alarming levels of radioactivity at three monitoring wells, with one well’s radioactivity increasing nearly 65,000%,” Cuomo said… “The news just keeps getting worse,” said Paul Gallay, president of the watchdog group Riverkeeper.

The Journal News 11 February 2016
Tritium levels reported last week were the ‘highest that they’ve seen to date‘ at the plant

WAMC 11 February 2016  
Tritium Levels Spike In Groundwater… Additional testing has turned up higher levels of radioactive tritium in groundwater than what was reported last week at the Indian Point nuclear power plant… One reading showed an 80 percent increase in tritium levels over the 65,000 percent increase initially reported… [An NRC spokesman said] “So given the migration of that water, we would expect those to continue to go up for a period of time… Our specialist inspector will be there… tasked with trying to better understand exactly what happened”…

Associated Press 10 February 2016
New testing has shown that the amount of tritium in the groundwater below the Indian Point power plant in Buchanan, New York, is about 740 times the amount allowed in drinking water… Entergy Corp., which operates the plant at the edge of the Hudson River, said Wednesday that the latest samples from monitoring wells found tritium at a level of 14.8 million picocuries per liter [up from 12,300 pCi/L, a 120,000% increase]. The [EPA] has set a limit of no more than 20,000 picocuries per liter in drinking water… [C]ritics of nuclear plants said the mere fact of the leak’s occurrence is cause for concern, partly because investigators had yet to pinpoint how it happened. “There a leak somewhere, and I don’t think they know where it is,” said Arnold Gundersen, a nuclear engineer and former industry executive… Gundersen said he was concerned that other, potentially more problematic elements could also have leaked out… [Indian Point spokesman Jerry Nappi] said testing had also found elevated levels of antimony, at about 5,500 picocuries per liter… “It’s like an old car ready to fall apart“… said Assemblyman Tom Abinanti…

Reuters 10 Feb  2016: Entergy said it continues to look for the source of the tritium leak

CBSNY/AP 10 February 2016
The radioactive water leak at the Indian Point Nuclear power plant is getting worse. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Wednesday that the level of radioactive tritium-contaminated water that leaked into the groundwater at the nuclear facility has increased by 80 percent since last week’s initial report… Cuomo called it “extremely disconcerting.” “Today, I have further directed that the three agencies integrate their investigations to 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 leak of radioactive water into the environment”… the New York governor said.

WAMC 10 February 2016
Additional testing has turned up even higher levels of radioactive tritium than what was reported last week…

Watch FOX 5 NY’s broadcast here

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