Officials are monitoring the cleanup of a 400,000 gallon (1.5 million liters) radioactive water leak from a nuclear power plant in Minnesota that was first discovered in late November but not made public until Thursday. The pipe where the water leaked is located between two buildings at Xcel Energy’s Monticello plant; this utility company said that it had contained the spillage on site and it had not been detected beyond its facility. Although delayed for several months, state officials emphasised there was no immediate risk to local health with tritium rarely causing ill-health given that beta radiation does not travel very far or penetrate human skin easily.
Minnesota Health Department has thus far confirmed that none of this leakage reached vital ecosystems such as Mississippi River as only around one quarter of what leaked has actually now been recovered by authorities so will have limited long-term impact upon outdoor environments which humans typically come into contact with directly or indirectly.
Xcel Energy suggests constructing further above-ground storage tanks while inspecting all other pipes carefully to minimise future leaks after previously experiencing another small leak at their Monticello facility in 2009 due to an equipment failure; Tritiated water emergencies remain extremely rare however having experienced yet another instance, these utilities can be expected to seek more stringent checks before reopening publicly again following any smaller errors when restarting energy production within some facilities domestically or internationally.
Currently cleaning up radioactive water leak at Minnesota’s nuclear power facility.
