Groundwater at the Indian Point nuclear plant has tested for "alarming" levels of radioactive contamination, spurring Governor Cuomo to call for a new investigation. Three of the 40 monitoring wells at the power plant were found to be contaminated with tritium, yielding a 65,000 increase in radioactivity, according to a report by the plant's owner, Entergy Corporation. Officials stress though that there is no significant risk to the public at large.
In a statement Saturday, Cuomo stressed that Indian Point's new contamination woes have been contained within the site itself, posing no immediate threat to the public. The governor went on to call for a full investigation: "We need to identify whether this incident could have been avoided by exercising reasonable care." Entergy says that the plant provides New York City with a quarter of its electricity
The Indian Point nuclear plant is located near Buchanan, NY, roughly 30 miles north of New York City. In the past, it has been plagued with maintenance woes and environmental scares, including a transformer explosion that sent thousands of gallons of oil into the Hudson River last May, and caused a "relatively minor" reactor shutdown in December.
"This latest failure at Indian Point is unacceptable," Cuomo wrote in a letter demanding new investigations of procedures at the nuclear plant. "This failure continues to demonstrate that Indian Point cannot continue to operate in a manner that is protective of public health and the environment."
In a statement, Entergy asserted that the spiking tritium levels are still more than a thousand times below federal limits for radioactivity and have not contaminated the public drinking supply. Nevertheless, the company acknowledged that the radioactive groundwater is "not in accordance with our standards."
Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told the News that the new leak was the result of a overflowing drain that failed and overflowed while workers transferred radioactive water.
