(Monticello Nuclear Power Generating Plant)
( image courtesy Xcel Energy)
Xcel Energy says it is monitoring new reportable levels of tritium at the Monticello Nuclear Power Generating Plant.
The company says that two wells of the more than three dozen water recovery wells on site at the plant have recently been found to have tritium levels above the Environmental Protection Agency’s safe drinking water standard. Two other wells closer to the Mississippi River were reported to also have low levels of tritium, but the levels were lower than the EPA’s standard.
Xcel officials say the company is adjusting the amount of water pumped at the plant to help control the flow of groundwater and recover it more effectively. Xcel says at no point has tritium been detected in the river itself above naturally occurring levels, and that the tritium has not posed a risk to the surrounding communities, employees or the environment at any point.
Officials say groundwater recovery work will not impact the plant’s regularly scheduled refueling outage, which begins today (Friday, April 18th).
Xcel says residents in the Monticello area can expect to see increased activity at the plant around the clock, as well as at local restaurants and hotels as several hundred specialized contractors arrive to help complete the work safely and effectively over the next month.
(content: courtesy, in part, Wright County)
