No place for 'oops'

A report that radioactive tritium may be leaking from at least 27 of the nation's nuclear power plants would be worrisome in itself. But news that a leading nuclear energy company misled regulators about the matter should raise a red flag for Congress and the Obama administration as they consider building more reactors.
Mr. Obama must see to it that in following through on his call for "a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants" that the government puts a particular emphasis on "safe" and "clean."
It's important to note -- as the nuclear energy industry surely will stress -- that tritium in groundwater is not necessarily a public health hazard. The naturally occurring radioactive isotope of hydrogen gives off weak beta particles that are not considered to be a major health threat. Scientists say it must be ingested, inhaled or otherwise absorbed in relatively large quantities to be dangerous. It is used in various commercial products, such as gun sights and clocks, to provide illumination.
But it is a carcinogen, and the fact that it is leaking from at least one fourth of the nation's 104 nuclear power plants indicates that those plants are not as safe and clean as they should be. That is, perhaps, not surprising, considering that the last construction permit for a nuclear plant in this country was issued in 1978. Most received their operating permits in the 1970s and 1980s.
Four of the six plants in New York were issued their first operating permits in the mid-1970s; one, R. E. Ginna, 20 miles north of Rochester, received it in 1969. The newest, Nine Mile Point near Oswego, received its original permit in 1987.
Beyond tritium leaks, what other problems do aging plants have? What challenges remain to building new ones that are safe and clean? Can we trust the nuclear energy industry to answer such questions?
That last question becomes all the more pressing in light of revelations that Entergy, the company that runs the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, admitted that officials with the firm misled state regulators and lawmakers by saying the plant did not have underground pipes carrying radioactive material. It does. Entergy -- the nation's second largest producer of nuclear power -- has since overhauled the plant's management in an attempt to restore public trust, but has yet to explain why the statements were made in the first place.
Meanwhile, the leak hasn't been found, and tritium levels in one monitoring well have reached four times what the Environmental Protection Agency considers to be a safe level for drinking water.
Safe? Clean? Apparently not.

THE ISSUE:
A major nuclear energy company misled regulators about a plant leaking radioactive material.
THE STAKES:
Can the industry assure us that more plants won't mean more problems?
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