Much higher tritium levels found at Vermont Yankee nuclear plant

Much higher tritium levels found at nuclear plant

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Tritium levels in groundwater samples taken at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant are up more than nine times over previously recorded levels.

Plant and Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials say a newly dug monitoring well at the Vernon reactor has turned up a reading of nearly 775,000 picocuries per liter. That’s more than 37 times the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety limit for tritium in drinking water.

Vermont Yankee spokesman Robert Williams says the finding is good news because it indicates plant technicians may be getting closer to the source of the leak of tritium, a radioactive substance that can cause cancer if ingested in large amounts.

Plant officials have been hunting for the source of the leak since it was found Jan. 7.