"Vt. Yankee Says Didn't Mean to Mislead Lawmakers"

Entergy Nuclear officials have been caught in a lie regarding leakage of radioactive tritium from buried pipes at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in southeastern Vermont on the Massachusetts and New Hampshire borders along the Connecticut River. (Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen, mentioned in the article as a consultant to the State of Vermont Legislature, which has been strongly critical of Vermont Yankee's requested 20 year license extension, also serves as an expert witness on Beyond Nuclear's quality assurance violations contentions at the proposed Fermi 3 atomic reactor in Michigan.) The Vermont State Department of Public Service, which has been generally supportive of Vermont Yankee and its bid for a 20 year license extension, may be reconsidering its position in light of Entergy Nuclear's misleading statements in the past regarding buried piping at the plant. The DPS may even seek to levy financial penalties against the company for the false information. Vermont lawmakers responded to the leaks of radioactive water from underground pipes that supposedly did not exist with a "storm of criticism."

Congressmen call for investigation of leaky, buried piping at atomic reactors

U.S. Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA), John Hall (D-NY), and John Adler (D-NJ) have called upon the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to launch an investigation into the corrosion of and leakage from buried piping at the nation's nuclear power plants. In their letter to GAO, the Congressmen stated that "The recent discoveries of leaks of reactor cooling water, diesel fuel, and radioactive water at several plants suggest that NRC processes must be improved to help licensees adequately manage the aging of this infrastructure to ensure the safety of the reactors and of the public." The Congressmen cite leaking pipes at such nuclear power plants as Oyster Creek NJ, Indian Point NY, San Onofre CA, Byron IL, Perry OH, Dresden IL, and Braidwood IL to make clear that this is a nation-wide problem. Hazardous tritium -- a radioactive form of hydrogen -- is very often involved in such leakage into groundwater. (However, besides such accidental, uncontrolled, and unmonitored leaks, tritium is also "routinely" discharged from atomic reactors, with permission from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.)