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The Exelon Tritium Leak |
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Beyond Today's community is concerned about the source of our electrical power and that it not interfere with anyone's health or safety.
Beyond Today is involved because our summer interns and one of our coordinators gave the information about the Tritium leak to our Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, which lead to one of the lawsuits against Exelon and ComEd. We are concerned that the electric bill we pay be used to properly maintain the power lines, and especially the nuclear power plant. Some opponents argue that companies such as Exelon and ComEd can't be trusted to do everything they can to prevent another chernobyl or other nuclear accident. We became concerned after we started following the number of "incidents" at the nuclear power plants near Chicago.
Illinois has more nuclear power plants than any other state. We hope that our government sees that this isn't just a problem of a few leaks. There are problems in the way the government allows Exelon to monitor itself and is trusted to protect the people while also turning a profit. We read in several newspaper reports the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is nonfunctional for several reasons which we HOPE will be fixed soon. Please raise up your voice.
We are shocked that this problem got this far and that Exelon would allow the leaks, hide the leaks, and take no action to fix the leaks or to clean up the mess they had made to protect the people from drinking radioactive water. We've seen the movie Erin Brockovich and if you haven't, please do. It is a similar true story..
Please visit the Nuclear Energy Information Service(NEIS)'s website for more information. They are basically against nuclear power plants, but even if your don't agree with them, they have been a watchdog organization, holding Exelon to task for safety violations for many years. They deserve a medal and much thanks and support.
Here are some articles documenting some of the news from spring 2006 about the Tritium leaks. A google search will find much more.
Please email BeyondToday@BeyondToday.com if you hear something of interest to us on this topic. We will be following us and studying this issue as it develops. We invite you to join our little neighborhood nuclear watchdog team, part time and amateur though it is!
How many other corners are they cutting over at our nuclear power plants and
what other radioactive leaks are there?
May 25, 2006 - The NRC has found that Exelon violated NRC regulations. See report here (pdf) >
Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant Class Action Website
Exelon's Braidwood Nuclear Generating
Station information website
3/21/06 Illinois Sues Exelon for Radioactive Tritium Releases Since 1996
3/20/06 (Crain’s) — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has created a special task force on leaks of tritium-contaminated cooling water in the wake of several inadvertent discharges by Illinois nuclear power plants reported recently by Exelon Corp. http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=19911
3/16/2006 Glasgow readying suit vs. Exelon http://www.morrisdailyherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=58&ArticleID=17549&TM=61568.21
Feb 2006 Crain's: Exelon to inspect tritium handling procedures at nukes
June
2006
What’s in the Water?
By Julie Peterson, St. Benedict’s high school science teacher
Here is a photo of some of our high school students with Attorney General, Lisa Madigan. Students visited Lisa Madigan’s office on Friday, June 9th to learn more about how the Attorney General is protecting Illinois’s resources from pollution. These and other students in my science classes and Environmental club all had a role to play in this 40 million dollar lawsuit. Earlier this year, when studying isotopes such as tritium, students learned something that concerned them. Radioactive tritium was allowed for many years to leak from an Exelon nuclear power plant into groundwater that was the drinking water source for nearby cities such as Braidwood, Il. Some students wrote letters and talked about it with their parents and during class discussion they asked if I could call the police to stop the pollution. I spoke with the Attorney General’s office and the rest is history in the making. Exelon (ComEd’s owner and operator of our nuclear power plants in the Chicagoland area) now has a lawsuit against it and must clean up the radioactive spill. Great job! How wonderful for young people to see how their education and their heart can work together to make the world a better place! Thank you Attorney General Lisa Madigan for protecting Illinois’s natural resources and holding companies accountable to their responsibilities!