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During the meeting, the Illinois EPA intended to emphasize its
concern about the safety of Illinois groundwater and ask that Exelon
perform additional investigation of not only the Braidwood facility,
but of all their facilities in Illinois, and to report to the agency
how many releases have occurred and the extent of any resulting
contamination of the groundwater. In addition, the agency will
request that Exelon sample all private drinking water wells that
would potentially be affected by any of the releases. "We were
disappointed to learn about the old incidents only recently," said
Doug Scott, Illinois EPA director. "Groundwater is a precious
resource belonging to the state of Illinois, and IEPA will
aggressively work to protect it, as well as the people that rely on
it for drinking water."
The Illinois EPA first became aware of the potential for tritium
contamination in groundwater after being notified by the public in
the fall of 2004 of a spill that occurred at the Dresden nuclear
power plant, when tritium was detected in some on-site monitoring
wells. After discussions with citizens and local officials near the
Braidwood plant, Illinois EPA became aware of tritium releases that
potentially affected the groundwater and private drinking water
wells near that plant as well. Since then, the agency has become
aware of numerous releases of water containing tritium at several of
Exelon's nuclear facilities across the state.
The meeting Friday was part of the ongoing enforcement process
against the Braidwood facility. Exelon requested the meeting to
discuss their proposal to correct the consequences of the 1998
release of tritium, which the agency learned about in November 2005,
as well as other releases. Illinois EPA then issued a violation
notice to Exelon.
Among the options available to Illinois EPA is to refer the
matter to the Illinois attorney general, who has additional
enforcement authority, including levying of fines and penalties.
Illinois EPA has advised the attorney general's office of the issues
relating to the numerous tritium releases.
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 "It has become apparent to me that the reporting mechanism in
place is not adequate to protect the groundwater or the people that
rely on it as a source of drinking water," Scott said. "I also
intend to pursue avenues to correct this gap and discuss options
with Senators Durbin and Obama, as well as state elected officials."
The current reporting process obligates Exelon to report spills
of water containing tritium or other radionuclides to the federal
Nuclear Regulatory Commission. There is not a process in place for
Exelon to directly notify the state environmental agency, which is
charged with protecting the state's groundwater.
To ensure that citizens in the areas of these facilities receive
the most recent information about Illinois EPA's activities, the
agency is establishing a Web page containing documents relating to
the tritium releases at Exelon's Illinois facilities. In addition, a
repository containing all documents related to the Braidwood
facility will soon be available at the Godley Park District offices.
Repositories will be developed for the other facilities as
information becomes available.
The agency is compiling a contact list for any future mailings.
To be added to this list, call Carol Fuller at (217) 524-8807 or
e-mail her at
Carol.Fuller@epa.state.il.us.
Groundwater is a resource belonging to the state of Illinois.
Contamination of groundwater is a violation of the Illinois
Environmental Protection Act and of Illinois groundwater regulations
and can adversely affect the health and welfare of the citizens and
the economy. Illinois EPA is charged with protecting the state's
groundwater resource through under the provisions of 35 Ill. Adm.
Code 620 and the Illinois Groundwater Protection Act adopted in
1987.
[Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency news release]
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