(file photo)
Xcel Energy has released a community notification regarding a tritium recovery incident at it’s Monticello nuclear power generating plant.
In a release posted by the City of Monticello, Xcel officials say on January 16th, some 450 gallons of recovered groundwater containing low levels of the radioactive element tritium, was released from a hose and onto the ground in a fenced-in area on the plant property.
Officials stress that this was not a new leak from the plant, and the water quickly froze, allowing a team to begin immediate remediation, which the company says was completed within 24 hours.
Xcel says the incident was reported to state and federal regulators, as well as local officials. The company says the concentration of tritium in the released water was nearly 100 times lower than the initial readings in 2022.
Xcel says significant progress has been made in recovering tritium from groundwater at the Monticello plant since the first incident of release in 2022, and concentrations in the groundwater are said to be more than 90 percent lower than initial recordings. The company says more than 8 million gallons of water containing tritium has been contained into on-site storage ponds.
Officials say that at no point has tritium been detected in the Mississippi River or in drinking water above naturally occurring background levels.
