Search on for Vermont Yankee tritium leak

January 16, 2010

By Terri Hallenbeck
Free Press Staff Writer
State officials continued to search Friday for the source of the radioactive isotope tritium that has leaked into groundwater at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
Heightened levels of tritium first were found in monitoring wells at the plant in November and at increased levels this month.

William Irwin, the state's radiological health chief, said the state and Vermont Yankee are looking for the source. Among the possible sources are underground pipes that state officials said Vermont Yankee had previously told them didn't exist.
The leak was discovered through routine tests done on groundwater monitoring wells, Irwin said. Those wells were installed in 2007 in response to tritium leaks at other nuclear power plants. Without those wells, he noted, the leak might not have been discovered until it reached drinking water supplies.
Samples taken since the discovery of the leak at Vermont Yankee have revealed radioactive levels as high as 21,000 picocuries per liter, Irwin said. The latest test, taken Thursday, showed 19,800 picocuries, Vermont Yankee spokesman Rob Williams said.
Federal standards for drinking water are 20,000, Irwin said, but he noted that the heightened levels of tritium have not been found in drinking water. The state and Vermont Yankee have increased the frequency of tests done on nearby drinking water, including at Vernon Elementary School, the Connecticut River and the Brattleboro municipal water supply, Irwin said.
Irwin said he's not sure when crews will determine the source of the leak. "Hopes are that it's a matter of days," he said.

Shumlin calls for another review of Yankee audit
By BOB AUDETTE, Brattleboro Reformer, January 16, 2010

BRATTLEBORO -- The state's legislative leaders want an oversight panel that was tasked with reviewing a reliability assessment of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon to take another look at the audit and determine if Entergy gave "misleading information" to inspectors.
Without the new review, the state can't be sure it received a complete and accurate reliability report, which was to be used to inform the Legislature's decision on whether Yankee should be allowed to operate from 2012 to 2032, stated Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Putney, and House Speaker Shap Smith, D-Morristown.
"The information provided by Entergy Louisiana can no longer be guaranteed," they stated in a press release.
Entergy has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the operating license of Yankee for another 20 years, from 2012 to 2032. In addition to NRC approval, Entergy must also receive a certificate of public good from the Public Service Board and the OK from the Vermont Legislature.
The state can only consider the reliability of the plant and whether its continued operation is in the best interests of the Vermonters. Safety and environmental concerns are under the NRC's purview.
To help determine the plant's reliability, Nuclear Safety Associates was commissioned to assess the plant's reliability by looking at a sampling of Yankee's systems, components and piping.
In March 2009, the oversight panel finished reviewing NSA's audit, concluding that if a number of action items were addressed the plant could continue to run reliably for another 20 years.
But following the discovery that tritiated water had been found in a test well sampled quarterly by Yankee, information given by Entergy to the NSA team was called into question.
Five months ago, plant officials made their most recent of several statements that the plant has no underground piping carrying water that could contain radioactive materials. But after the tritium was discovered, a plant spokesman said underground piping could be the source of the leak that contaminated the test well sample.
Yankee claimed that "there may have been miscommunications about the extent of underground piping that carries radioactivity."
Shumlin said the oversight panel and legislative committees will determine whether there was a miscommunication or "a distortion of the truth" about the underground piping.
"Whatever it was it's totally unacceptable and Vermonters deserve a company that they have trust in," he said. "It's hard to conceive of a management team that was unaware that there were pipes carrying radioactive substances under the plant."
Shumlin has said on the record that he believes Yankee's continued operation is not in the best interest of Vermonters.
"This does nothing to give me any reason to second guess my decision," he said.
Legislators who have been sitting on the fence and even many in the camp who support continued operation have been raising their eyebrows at this latest development, said Shumlin.
"They want a company that tells them what they need to know," he said.
The oversight panel and DPS need to determine if the "miscommunication" is exclusive to the piping, said Shumlin, because what trust Vermonters may have in Entergy is "rapidly eroding."
The Department of Public Service, which recently recommended the Public Service Board issue a certificate of public good, told Entergy until it resolved the issue it was putting its support on hold.
"Vermont Yankee shares the DPS concerns and takes them seriously," wrote Rob Williams, spokesman for Yankee, in an e-mail to the media.
"The company's aim is to fully address the DPS concerns by establishing whether there was miscommunication, and if so, to determine the cause and set the record straight," wrote Williams.
This latest incident is "a pattern of either incompetence or outright deception," said Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney. "In this case, it's hard to believe they didn't have this information."
This development has only confirmed what many people already know, said Sen. Jeanette White, D-Brattleboro.
"Many of us have not trusted what they have been saying for a long time," she said. "Either they are not familiar with their plant or they just didn't want to tell us. They have now shown the state and the rest of the world that they aren't to be trusted."
The controversy has also raised concerns in Washington, D.C.
Vermont's Congressional delegation submitted a letter to the NRC asking it to conduct a thorough investigation into whether there was any attempt by Vermont Yankee officials to mislead state officials regarding the plant's safety and underground piping.
"We hope you can pinpoint exactly what Entergy knew about the extent of their underground piping and this leak, and when they knew it," stated the letter from Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-VT, and Rep. Peter Welch, D-VT. "We would also like to know whether and why state regulatory agencies were not made aware of the extent of underground piping and the risk it posed prior to this incident, and whether communications to the NRC have been complete and timely."
Central Vermont Public Service also issued a statement concerning the issue.
"The in-depth analysis of the plant appeared to show that the plant could be safely and reliably operated," according to the statement. "We believe the revelations of the past few days raise questions that must be answered to the satisfaction of state and federal regulators."
Even though CVPS believes that Yankee provides "enormous economic value" to Vermont, it's important that a new inspection be conducted on the plant's piping system.
"Even a well-priced contract, absent these steps, would be trumped by our concerns about safety," according to the statement.
A spokesman for the Vermont League of Conservation Voters stated in an e-mail to the media that this latest incident should be "the last straw."
"Vermont Yankee executives may have lied under oath about the existence of these pipes," wrote Todd Bailey. "Entergy is not the kind of corporate citizen that we can tolerate in Vermont. Who knows where else they may have misled Vermonters?"
Bob Audette can be reached at [email protected], or at 802-254-2311, ext. 273.