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A sample taken from the west storm drain at Entergy's James A. Fitzpatrick nuclear power plant has tested positive for tritium, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Station management was notified Dec. 23 that a sample taken from the west storm drain tested positive for tritium. The sample results were confirmed at a level of 984 picocuries per liter of tritium. The sensitivity of the analysis is 800 picocuries per liter of tritium. The increase level in tritium, however, poses no health risk, officials state.

A sample taken from the west storm drain at Entergy's James A. Fitzpatrick nuclear power plant has tested positive for tritium, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Station management was notified Dec. 23 that a sample taken from the west storm drain tested positive for tritium. The sample results were confirmed at a level of 984 picocuries per liter of tritium. The sensitivity of the analysis is 800 picocuries per liter of tritium. The increase level in tritium, however, poses no health risk, officials state.

A group that promotes awareness when it comes to the use of tritium said Wednesday the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has been too lenient when dealing with leaks at the Chalk River nuclear reactor. Representatives from the Tritium Awareness Project said they think the safety commission should impose tighter restrictions when it comes to the tritium that is occasionally released from both the plant's stack and through leaks of the plant's heavy water that allow tritium to evaporate into the air. Tritium is a gas and a radioactive isotope of hydrogen and is a byproduct of nuclear power generation and is used to create fluorescent products such as lights and signs. "The CNSC's attitude seems to be, 'If that's what they want to do, then it's our job is just to grant them a licence,'" said Gordon Edwards, who speaks for the Tritium Awareness Project.

Summary On January 7, the Vermont Department of Health was notified by Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station that samples taken from a ground water monitoring well on site (identified as GZ-3) contained tritium. Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen. It is a by-product of the nuclear fission process in a nuclear reactor, and also occurs naturally in the environment in very low concentrations. Most tritium in the environment is in the form of tritiated water, which easily moves about in the atmosphere, bodies of water, soil and rock. The finding of tritium in ground water signals that there has been an unintended underground release of radioactive material, and that other radioisotopes may have contaminated the environment. Vermont Yankee officials are conducting an investigation to identify the source of the tritium, and the magnitude of contamination, with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in an oversight role."

Radioactive tritium in well two miles from detonations had been predicted Scientists have found the first radioactive tritium from nuclear weapons tests in a monitoring outside the Nevada Test Site's boundary. The levels, reported Tuesday by the National Nuclear Security Administration, were within safe drinking water guidelines. The relatively short-lived isotope had migrated two miles through groundwater layers in 35 years to reach the boundary. Sample results were verified by an independent laboratory and reported to state environmental officials, NNSA officials said in a news release. Scientists believe it will take and estimated 240 years for the tritium-laced water to travel another 14 miles to the nearest public water source. By that time it will have decayed to non-detectable limits, said Darwin Morgan, a spokesman for the NNSA's Nevada Site Office. "The big thing to us is it shows the models are accurate and gives us higher confidence in our ability to understand what is going on with deep groundwater," he said Wednesday. Scientists said in July they probably would find tritium after completion of Well EC-11 near the northwest edge of the test site. Underground tests Benham and Tybo were detonated in Pahute Mesa, two miles from that location in 1968 and 1975, respectively.

Radioactive tritium in well two miles from detonations had been predicted Scientists have found the first radioactive tritium from nuclear weapons tests in a monitoring outside the Nevada Test Site's boundary. The levels, reported Tuesday by the National Nuclear Security Administration, were within safe drinking water guidelines. The relatively short-lived isotope had migrated two miles through groundwater layers in 35 years to reach the boundary. Sample results were verified by an independent laboratory and reported to state environmental officials, NNSA officials said in a news release. Scientists believe it will take and estimated 240 years for the tritium-laced water to travel another 14 miles to the nearest public water source. By that time it will have decayed to non-detectable limits, said Darwin Morgan, a spokesman for the NNSA's Nevada Site Office. "The big thing to us is it shows the models are accurate and gives us higher confidence in our ability to understand what is going on with deep groundwater," he said Wednesday. Scientists said in July they probably would find tritium after completion of Well EC-11 near the northwest edge of the test site. Underground tests Benham and Tybo were detonated in Pahute Mesa, two miles from that location in 1968 and 1975, respectively.

"Members of an environmental coalition who opposed the relicensing of the Oyster Creek Generating Station have accused its owner, Exelon Nuclear, of violating state law. The coalition's attorney Richard Webster, who is the legal director of the Eastern Environmental Law Center, said Tuesday that "Exelon covered up tritium discharges that occurred in July 2007 and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission failed to follow up to ensure a violation that was to be corrected 10 years ago had been." Tritium contamination was found in the ground at the facility in May. Exelon attributed the contamination to a July 17, 2007 tritium release. Tritium is a weak, naturally occurring radioactive form of hydrogen. Webster maintains that a freedom of information request revealed that Exelon illegally failed to report a major discharge of tritium to the ground in 2007. "As the Department of Environmental Protection has noted, Exelon is required to report tritium discharges," he said."

Officials with Exelon Corp's Dresden nuclear plant near Morris, Ill., have identified an aluminum pipe as the likely source of a tritium leak reported this month. Officials said the leak posed no health threat. Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen. Testing at the plant, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago, found tritium levels of 3.2 million picocuries per liter of water in a monitoring well, storm drains and concrete vault. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's limit for drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per liter. Repairs are in progress, said Tim Hanley, the plant's vice president. The 24-inch pipe carries water between storage tanks. Records show Exelon took steps to hide tritium spills at its Braidwood Generation Station in Will County between 1996 and 2003. It agreed to pay $11.5 million toward a new water supply for the nearby village of Godley and is now required to inform state and federal officials of tritium spills as soon as they are discovered.

CHENNAI: About 55 workers of the Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka, had to undergo medical treatment after they were exposed to an excessive radiation dosage when they drank water that had been mixed with tritium, a highly radioactive substance. Top officials of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited blamed the incident on "an insider's mischief." They alleged that "an insider had mixed tritium in drinking water in a cooler kept in the operating island of the first unit" at Kaiga. The incident took place on November 25, when the first unit (220 MWe) was under shutdown for maintenance. Asked specifically whether security was so lax at the plant that a worker could access a bottle containing tritium, an authoritative official said there were sampling points in the reactor building from where workers took vials containing radioactive substances to the chemical laboratories for analysis. "There are standard protocols for handling and managing the transportation and depositing of such radioactive substances. Some insider has played the mischief," the official said. The incident was detected when the workers' urine samples showed an excess of tritium.

CHENNAI: About 55 workers of the Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka, had to undergo medical treatment after they were exposed to an excessive radiation dosage when they drank water that had been mixed with tritium, a highly radioactive substance. Top officials of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited blamed the incident on "an insider's mischief." They alleged that "an insider had mixed tritium in drinking water in a cooler kept in the operating island of the first unit" at Kaiga. The incident took place on November 25, when the first unit (220 MWe) was under shutdown for maintenance. Asked specifically whether security was so lax at the plant that a worker could access a bottle containing tritium, an authoritative official said there were sampling points in the reactor building from where workers took vials containing radioactive substances to the chemical laboratories for analysis. "There are standard protocols for handling and managing the transportation and depositing of such radioactive substances. Some insider has played the mischief," the official said. The incident was detected when the workers' urine samples showed an excess of tritium.

A coalition of environmental groups that opposed the relicensing of the Oyster Creek Generating Station issued a statement accusing the power plant's owners of not taking corrective action that may have prevented leakage of tritium last spring. The coalition was also critical of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission when it referenced the recent release of Oyster Creek's root cause analysis report of a tritium leak that occurred in April, eight days after the power plant was relicensed by the NRC to operate for another 20 years. A more recent incident of tritium leakage took place Aug. 25. The root cause analysis report, which was released in a redacted form, was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear. In addition, NRC released e-mail exchanges surrounding the coalition's inquiries regarding buried pipes.

A coalition of environmental groups that opposed the relicensing of the Oyster Creek Generating Station issued a statement accusing the power plant's owners of not taking corrective action that may have prevented leakage of tritium last spring. The coalition was also critical of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission when it referenced the recent release of Oyster Creek's root cause analysis report of a tritium leak that occurred in April, eight days after the power plant was relicensed by the NRC to operate for another 20 years. A more recent incident of tritium leakage took place Aug. 25. The root cause analysis report, which was released in a redacted form, was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Paul Gunter of Beyond Nuclear. In addition, NRC released e-mail exchanges surrounding the coalition's inquiries regarding buried pipes.

A local group is raising concerns about radioactive material levels at Peterborough Municipal Airport even though they don't exceed limits monitored by the federal nuclear watchdog agency. Jeff Brackett, with Safe and Green Energy Peterborough, told The Examiner yesterday he plans to speak at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) hearing for the licence renewal for Shield Source Inc. on June 10 in Ottawa. Shield Source, which manufactures emergency lighting and signs that don't need to be plugged into an electrical outlet, has been at the Peterborough airport since 1986. The company uses radioactive material -- tritium -- in its products. Brackett pointed to the tritium levels recorded in soil and water near the facility and in an apple from across the road from the airport. "Environmentalists such as ourselves believe it's not prudent to increase your exposure to tritium because every exposure increases the risk of genetic mutation, birth defects and cancer," he said. Brackett added experts debate what levels of tritium cause those effects.

Workers found an elevated level of radioactive tritium in water on the site of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey on Wednesday, according to plant officials. Advertisement The tritium level - 102,000 picocuries per liter - is five times higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limit for drinking water. A picocurie is a measure of radioactivity. "There was no discharge . . . or release of tritium on the state's soil or into the waters," said David Benson, an Oyster Creek spokesman. "Our experts . . . are working to determine how that tritium might have entered" a concrete vault at the plant, according to Benson and a plant statement.

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, which has one proton and two neutrons, where a normal atom of the element would have one proton and no neutrons. It is produced naturally when hydrogen is bombarded by cosmic rays, and is also a by-product of reactions that drive nuclear power plants. Tritium atoms almost invariably bind to oxygen atoms, to create tritiated water. The isotope is a weak source of radiation, emitting low-energy beta particles that cannot penetrate the skin, and are therefore not dangerous outside the body. If inhaled or swallowed, however, the beta particles present a radiation hazard. As with all poisons, the risk depends on the dose.Trace levels of tritium are present naturally in all water supplies and are not harmful. Higher exposures, however, may cause cancer, and have also been linked to birth defects in the children of people who are exposed.

Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, which has one proton and two neutrons, where a normal atom of the element would have one proton and no neutrons. It is produced naturally when hydrogen is bombarded by cosmic rays, and is also a by-product of reactions that drive nuclear power plants. Tritium atoms almost invariably bind to oxygen atoms, to create tritiated water. The isotope is a weak source of radiation, emitting low-energy beta particles that cannot penetrate the skin, and are therefore not dangerous outside the body. If inhaled or swallowed, however, the beta particles present a radiation hazard. As with all poisons, the risk depends on the dose.Trace levels of tritium are present naturally in all water supplies and are not harmful. Higher exposures, however, may cause cancer, and have also been linked to birth defects in the children of people who are exposed.

"Contaminated groundwater at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon is making its way into the Connecticut River, stated the Vermont Department of Health in its daily update posted on its Web site on Wednesday. However, stated the DOH, the tritium in the contaminated groundwater is being diluted by the water in the river "below the lower level of detection." "The major source of tritium contamination of groundwater -- if not the only source -- was identified at the advanced off gas pipe tunnel, and the leak stopped on the weekend of Feb. 14," stated the DOH's daily update. Since that time, water samples taken from the groundwater monitoring well nearest to the off gas tunnel have shown decreasing tritium concentrations and water samples taken from wells further east have shown increasing tritium concentrations, it stated. "

" Workers at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Port Gibson, Miss., last Thursday released a large amount of radioactive tritium directly into the Mississippi River, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and experts are currently trying to sort out the situation. An investigation is currently underway to determine why the tritium was even present in standing water found in an abandoned unit of the plant, as well as how much of this dangerous nuclear byproduct ended up getting dumped into the river. Many also want to know why workers released the toxic tritium before conducting proper tests. The Mississippi Natchez Democrat reports that crews first discovered the radioactive water in the plant's Unit 2 turbine building after heavy rains began hitting the area last week. Unit 2 was a partially-constructed, abandoned structure that should not have contained any radioactive materials, let alone tritium, which is commonly used to manufacture nuclear weapons and test atomic bombs (http://www.nirs.org/radiation/triti...)."

"A radioactive form of hydrogen called tritium was found leaking out of a storage tank this week at the Exelon Nuclear generating station south of Marseilles, plant officials said Thursday in a press release. "We have identified the source of the tritium leak and are taking actions to make repairs," said La Salle Site Vice President Dave Wozniak. "This finding has no impact on public health or safety." Workers performing regular monitoring discovered tritiated water near the base of a tank. Exelon notified state and federal regulatory agencies. On Wednesday workers sampled water at the base of a tank that stores water from the plant and found tritium. The plant is transferring water from the tank to temporary containers. Workers will inspect the empty tank and make necessary repairs, Exelon said. There is no indication that tritiated water has left the station property, Exelon said."

"Elevated levels of the radioactive isotope tritium have been detected in one of the new groundwater monitoring wells at Pilgrim Station Nuclear Power Plant. The release, issued Thursday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of test results taken from a sample of one of the 12 monitoring wells by Pilgrim staff June 21, states that the level falls within federal drinking water limits and does not require public notification but the information is being released because it's an issue of public interest. Six of the 12 monitoring wells were added in May. The monitoring well where the tritium was detected at 11,072 picocuries per liter is located near the condensate storage tank that stores water for use in the nuclear reactor. The Environmental Protection Agency's safe drinking water limit for tritium is 20,000 picocuries per liter."

" Levels of radioactive tritium remain high in a number of monitoring wells at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in Lacey, according to new state data. The Oyster Creek nuclear plant looms near its discharge canal in Lacey (file photo by Peter Ackerman) Through late April, the highest tritium level - nearly 50 times government limits - was in a well in the Cohansey aquifer beneath the plant. The Cohansey is used for drinking water beyond Oyster Creek property lines. A different well in the shallower Cape May aquifer beneath Oyster Creek had a tritium level that was about 45 times above government limits. The state Department of Environmental Protection has posted a map of well locations."

Self-luminous EXIT signs containing the radioactive gas tritium are widely used in a variety of facilities across the United States, such as public and private office buildings, theaters, stores, schools and churches - anywhere the public needs a rapid exit path. Those who possess tritium EXIT signs are general licensees of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or an Agreement State,1 and are subject to certain reporting and handling requirements, including proper disposal of unwanted or unused signs. Tritium EXIT signs pose little or no threat to public health and safety and do not constitute a security risk. However, the NRC requires proper accounting and disposal of all radioactive materials. Proper handling and accounting are important, because a damaged or broken sign could cause mild radioactive contamination of the immediate vicinity, requiring a potentially expensive clean up.

The Education, Science and Technology Ministry has started recalling about 5,500 cell phone straps that contain the radioactive substance tritium through the Japan Radioisotope Association, officials said. The Metropolitan Police Department arrested a couple in Hiroshima in July for allegedly selling the cell phone straps without obtaining permission from the ministry. The fluorescent cell phone straps reportedly have glass containers holding tritium. Although the tritium in the product is harmless to humans even if the glass container is broken, the amount of tritium per unit is about 26 times the allowable level under the radiation sickness prevention law.

Levels of tritium six times higher than federal standards were identified at Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Delta earlier this week. Exelon Nuclear reported Friday that tritium had been discovered in a localized area on the nuclear plant's property by plant workers performing environmental monitoring. The tritium, which at high levels has been linked to cancer, was identified Wednesday from a sample taken Monday. The highest sample concentration showed tritium levels of approximately 123,000 picocuries per liter of water, a news release from Exelon said. A picocurie is one-trillionth of a curie, a measurement of radioactivity. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standards allow no more than 20,000 picocuries per liter in the environment. "This is not a public or employee health and safety issue, but we are committed to being open about the status of our plant operations," Peach Bottom site vice president Bill Maguire said in the news release.

"The plume of tritium leaking from the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is suspected of being 35 feet deep, 200 feet wide and 400 feet long, according to the Legislature's nuclear expert. Arnie Gundersen, a member of the Vermont Legislature's Public Oversight Panel for Vermont Yankee, told lawmakers Wednesday morning the quickest way to stop the tritium leak before finding its origin would be for the reactor to shut down. Gundersen said that move would likely cost Entergy, the company that owns Vermont Yankee, about $1 million a day in electricity sales. "If the plant shuts down, the tritium leak stops," Gunderson told members of the Senate Natural Resources Committee at the Statehouse Wednesday. "It would take years for the tritium to move off-site, but you would not be adding anything to it if the plant shut down.""