Illinois nuke-plant operator sued for tritium spills it tried to hide
Boy, we can’t wait for that “safe, clean nuclear power” President Bush is always talking about, ’cause this stuff we have now is kind of nasty. The Braidwood nuclear power plant in Illinois, owned by Exelon Corp., has been leaking millions of gallons of water laced with radioactive tritium, and working overtime to cover it up. The fallout [rim shot]: Last week, the state attorney general and the attorney for Will County filed suit against Exelon, as did a number of nearby homeowners. After people living near the plant pressured the Illinois EPA to get Exelon to test for contamination, the company finally revealed information about four tritium spills at Braidwood between 1996 and 2003; during that time, it had opposed public discussion about tritium as well as legislation to require groundwater monitoring near nuke plants. There was another spill at Braidwood early last week, and tritium leaks have also been found at two other Exelon plants. The mismanagement revelations come just as the nuke industry tries to drum up public support for a new generation of nuke plants. Awkward!
