ST. PAUL, Minn. – State health and pollution-control officials told Minnesota lawmakers there’s no threat to public health or municipal water supplies from radioactive tritium that leaked into the ground from a broken pipe at Xcel Energy’s nuclear plant in Monticello.
Xcel Regional President Chris Clark said they also heard the public’s concern about not being informed sooner, even though there was no safety threat.
“We want to be responsible in how we’re providing information, but I think we’ve identified plenty of opportunities to be in a position to provide more information in a more timely manner to the communities,” Clark said.
As far as the leak not being detected for nearly a month, Clark told lawmakers the other part of Xcel’s after-action analysis at the plant will be to identify whether other systems could have, or should have, indicated there was a leak before tritium was identified in the well.
Republican Sen. Andrew Mathews from Princeton, whose district borders the plant, said he’s “heartened” by Xcel’s response.
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