Bad news: radioactive fish found near nuclear plant; Worse news: fish said to be ordinary

Radioactive fish near nuclear plant said ordinary

MONTPELIER, Vt. — A Vermont health official says it may be impossible to determine if the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is responsible for a fish containing the radioactive isotope strontium-90 being found in the Connecticut River.

But radiological health chief William Irwin says there are strong indications Vermont Yankee was not the source of the strontium-9i0.

He says the presence of the isotope is more likely due to atmospheric nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s and ’60s and the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

Meanwhile, Irwin says his department has more important things to worry about, including roughly 2,000 water, soil and other samples taken from around Vermont Yankee since a leak of tritium and other radioactive substances was announced in January.