March 11, 2010
ATTORNEY GENERAL MADIGAN / STATE’S ATTORNEYS REACH AGREEMENT WITH EXELON ON NUCLEAR POWER SAFETY
Settlement Resolves 2006 Tritium Leaks at Nuclear Power Stations; County Organizations and Programs to Benefit from Agreement
Chicago — Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the State’s Attorneys of Will, Ogle and Grundy counties have reached a settlement with Exelon Generation Corporation resolving the environmental consequences of radioactive tritium leaks into the groundwater beneath the Braidwood, Byron and Dresden nuclear power plants.
Madigan said Exelon will pay more than $1 million to resolve three separate civil complaints that she and the State’s Attorneys filed jointly, including civil penalties totaling $628,000 and $548,000 to fund several Supplemental Environmental Projects in and around the communities where the power plants are located.
“It is imperative that Illinois’ nuclear power plants are operated in a manner that does not endanger public health or the environment,” Madigan said. “I appreciate the involvement and assistance of State’s Attorneys Glasgow, Roe and Sobol in reaching these successful settlements. Through these actions, we are working to ensure that proper clean up has occurred and to put in place protections to prevent tritium leaks in the future.”
Braidwood Nuclear Power Station
In March 2006, Attorney General Madigan and Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow filed a suit against Exelon for violations that included a series of releases of tritiated water at the Braidwood Nuclear Power Station resulting from malfunctions in the facility’s blowdown line. The blowdown line is an underground pipe that carries wastewater, including tritiated water, approximately four and one-half miles from the power plant to the Kankakee River. Health experts claim that human exposure to tritium can increase the risk of developing cancer.
According to the settlement filed today in Will County Circuit Court, Exelon has complied with the terms of the May 2006 Agreed Order obtained by Madigan and Glasgow which, among other things, required Exelon to make modifications to the blowdown line to avoid future leaks, install alarms and leak detection monitors along the line and investigate and remediate tritium contamination on both its property and property outside of the Braidwood power station’s boundary. Exelon will pay a civil penalty of $608,000.
“Through this cooperative action involving my office, Attorney General Madigan and Exelon, we have taken the necessary steps to protect the citizens of Will County from future releases of contaminated water,” said State’s Attorney Glasgow. “I also commend local community leaders like Joe Cosgrove from Godley whose commitment to public safety helped drive the settlement we have today. Everyone involved in this process truly understands the paramount importance of protecting the health, safety and welfare of our community.”
In addition to paying civil penalties, Exelon Generation will contribute $392,000 toward Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs), which are court-ordered actions designed to promote the goals of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act to restore, protect and enhance the quality of the environment. The money will be dedicated for the use of the Forest Preserve District of Will County’s proposed Braidwood Dunes & Savanna Nature Preserve Management Plan (NPMP). Protected as a nature preserve in 1981, the 325-acre parcel is preserved for the benefit of the community and is home to rare plants and sensitive animal habitats that are found nowhere else in Will County. The purpose of the NPMP is to improve water quality at the NPMP site, control invasive species, increase the amount of time the site is covered by water, monitor plant and rare species populations and conduct controlled burns at the NPMP site.
Byron Nuclear Generating Station
In a complaint filed simultaneously with today’s settlement, Attorney General Madigan and Ogle County State’s Attorney John B. Roe alleged that leaks of tritiated water occurred in 2006 in the wastewater blowdown line at Exelon’s Byron Nuclear Generating Station, located approximately 20 miles southwest of Rockford. The blowdown line at the Byron facility runs approximately 2.2 miles and drains into the Rock River. Similar to the resolution of the Braidwood complaint, Exelon has agreed to undertake measures to comply with the law, including implementing an aggressive inspection program and installing an alarm system and leak detection monitors along the blowdown line. Exelon will pay a civil penalty of $10,000.
"I appreciate the work of the Attorney General's Office in reaching an agreement that will benefit Ogle County both fiscally and substantively. I am especially thankful that a large part of this settlement will fund educational programs for our youth,” said State’s Attorney Roe.
As part of this agreement, Exelon will pay SEP funds of $29,000 for three separate Ogle County projects. The Ogle County and Lee County Soil and Water Conservation District will receive $11,000 to fund environmental educational programs including the acquisition of materials for Outdoor Stewardship Days. The program is designed to reach approximately 1,250 third grade students and teachers. Exelon also will pay $7,500 to fund a program sponsored by the Ogle County Solid Waste Management Department that includes creating and providing environmental education materials for use in local schools, and $10,500 to fund the restoration to prairie land of a 23-acre farm field located at Camp McCormick on North Girl Scout Drive in Stillman Valley. That project will involve creating self-guided educational hiking trails and wheelchair trails for children and adults on property that is owned by the Girl Scouts.
Dresden Nuclear Generating Station
In a complaint filed simultaneously with today’s settlement, Madigan and Grundy County State’s Attorney Sheldon Sobol sued Exelon for water pollution and exceeding groundwater standards beginning in 2001 at its Dresden Nuclear Generating Station near Morris. An earlier tritium release occurred in 1994, when Commonwealth Edison owned and operated the facility. The tritium releases to groundwater from the Dresden facility alleged in the complaint have not traveled off of the generating station site or entered private residential wells.
As part of this settlement, Exelon will pay a civil penalty of $10,000 and pay $127,000 to the Illinois Conservation Foundation, which the Illinois Department of Natural Resources will use for a SEP to fund recreational and historical rehabilitation projects along the Illinois & Michigan Canal State Trail complex within Grundy County.
“I am pleased that this matter has been brought to closure and I appreciate the work performed by Attorney General Madigan’s office on behalf of the citizens of Grundy County,” State’s Attorney Sheldon Sobol said. “I am also pleased that the funds paid by Exelon in this matter will be dedicated to a Department of Natural Resources project here in Grundy County.”
Senior Assistant Attorney General Gerald Karr, Supervising Attorney Rebecca Burlingham, Bureau Chief RoseMarie Cazeau of Madigan’s Environmental Bureau and Environmental Enforcement Division Chief Matthew Dunn are handling the cases for the Attorney General Madigan’s Office.
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llinois Sues Exelon for Radioactive Tritium Releases Since 1996
CHICAGO, Illinois, March 21, 2006 (ENS) - Exelon's Braidwood nuclear power plant in Illinois has released millions of gallons of wastewater containing radioactive tritium into the groundwater around the plant since 1996, a lawsuit filed Thursday by the state of Illinois against the plant's owner and operators alleges. The releases were not reported to authorities until December 2005.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Will County State�s Attorney James Glasgow are suing Exelon Corporation, a Pennsylvania corporation based in Chicago; Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd), an Illinois corporation; and Exelon Generation Corporation, LLC, of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania for releasing the radioactive wastewater.
�The method of operations put in place at the Braidwood Nuclear Plant since 1996 by Commonwealth Edison and their parent company as of 2000, Exelon, clearly placed their profit margin first with a callous disregard for the health, safety and welfare of the local residents," Glasgow said.
"Exelon was well aware that tritium increases the risk of cancer, miscarriages and birth defects and yet they made a conscious decision not to notify the public of their risk of exposure,� he said.
Braidwood
The Braidwood nuclear power plant is located at Braceville, Illinois about 60 miles southwest of Chicago. (Photo courtesy Exelon)
Exelon Generation and ComEd produce and distribute nuclear power for their parent, Exelon Corporation. Com Ed was the owner and operator of the Braidwood station until 2000, when Exelon took over.
The releases are alleged to have occurred as early as 1996 and as recently as March 13, 2006.
The plant is located in Will County, and groundwater under the village of Godley, located southwest of the nuclear plant, and the village of Braidwood, about two miles north, are affected, the lawsuit claims.
Exelon Nuclear will provide bottled water to about 420 residences closest to Braidwood, including the village of Godley, during the period that drinking water wells at those homes are being tested for the presence of tritium, the company announced Monday.
Operations at the Braidwood nuclear plant generate tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that can replace non-radioactive hydrogen atoms in ordinary water to form tritiated water. Small amounts of tritium are commonly found in most surface water, while higher concentrations are found in water used by nuclear power plants.
According to Madigan�s and Glasgow�s suit, Exelon released tritiated water at eight separate locations on the defendants' property.
Three distinct releases occurred in 1996, 1998 and 2000, and three other releases occurred at unknown times, from the facility�s blowdown line, an underground pipe that carries wastewater, including tritiated water, about four and one-half miles from the power plant directly to the Kankakee River.
An additional release occurred at an unknown time in the area near and to the west of the station and an eighth release occurred March 13 near the tritiated water temporary storage area at the plant.
Braidwood�s blowdown line is located on property owned by the defendants, but runs adjacent to private and public property, including a forest preserve and nature area.
The suit seeks the maximum civil penalty of $50,000 for the water pollution violation and an additional $10,000 for each day the violations continue. Madigan and Glasgow also seek the maximum civil penalties for additional allegations that include exceeding groundwater standards.
The lawsuit names ComEd in two counts for allegedly violating its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit by not reporting until December 2005 the alleged leaks that took place in 1996, 1998 and 2000. Such incidents must be reported to state and federal authorities within 24 hours.
The complaint also names ComEd for its alleged failure to contain and remove the tritiated water from the areas impacted by the 1996 and 1998 leaks. Each of these counts seeks a maximum civil penalty of $10,000 per violation and an additional $10,000 for each day the violations continue.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) first became aware of the potential for tritium contamination in groundwater after being notified by members of the public in the fall of 2004 of a spill that occurred at Exelon's Dresden nuclear power plant, when tritium was detected in some on-site monitoring wells. Then in December 2005, Exelon notified the IEPA of the releases at Braidwood.
�Since the IEPA learned in late 2005 about the tritium releases from Exelon, we have been aggressively investigating the nature and extent of the groundwater problems,� said IEPA Director Doug Scott. �We have also made every effort to respond to public concerns and we will continue to be involved as long as there is need.�
The IEPA investigated the case and referred it to Madigan�s office in March 2006 after samples taken by the defendants in December 2005 indicated elevated levels of tritium contained in the groundwater at various locations outside the property boundary of the nuclear plant, including a private well allegedly contaminated by the 1998 release.
Madigan�s and Glasgow�s lawsuit alleges that the eight leaks contributed to water pollution and that six of the releases were the result of inadequate maintenance and operation of vacuum breakers along the blowdown line.
Vacuum breakers allow air into the line to prevent the formation of a vacuum within the pipe. In alleging water pollution in their lawsuit, Madigan and Glasgow alleged that tritiated water entered the vacuum breaker housing and flowed into the groundwater and upward through a manhole onto the surrounding land.
�When releases occur, it is absolutely critical that all parties, including state and local officials, employees and those who live in the surrounding area, are notified as soon as possible,� Madigan said. �The potential hazards associated with the nuclear industry demand such a response.�
Timeline for the Alleged Leaks of Tritiated Water:
* 1996: an estimated 40,000-gallon release of tritiated water from vacuum breaker number 1 (VB1), the closest to the nuclear reactor and adjacent to a ditch which flows north, around the reactor and then south toward Godley. Water from the release flowed on the surface, entered the ditch and remains in the groundwater around VB1.
* 1998: an estimated three million gallon-release from VB3 resulted in tritiated water ponding on the surface, which the defendants allegedly left to evaporate and soak into the groundwater where it remains.
* 2000: an estimated three million gallon-release from VB2. According to the suit, the defendants recovered some of the released water, but an unknown amount remains in the groundwater near the area it was released.
* Dates unknown: releases from vacuum breakers 4, 6 and 7, which impacted three additional areas. The release from vacuumbreaker 4(�VB 4�) resulted in tritium contamination, in excess of 20,000 pCi/L (picocuries per Liter), of groundwater within property owned by the Will County Forest Preserve District.
* Date unknown: release of tritiated water in the area near and to the west of the station.
* March 13, 2006: Tritium released from tritiated water temporary storage area.
In addition, as a result of the leaks from VB3 in 1998 and VB2 in 2000, a plume of tritiated water is present near the vacuum breakers and has extended through the groundwater to the north through a surface pond and into groundwater north and west of the Braidwood property.
The lawsuit alleges that all of the defendants also discharged non-radioactive contaminants such as sewage without a state National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit into surface and groundwater off site.
The complaint further alleges that tritiated water was released on March 13, from a containment area surrounding a number of tanks the defendants are using to store tritiated water, causing a threat to groundwater. Because of the problems with their equipment that caused the earlier leaks, the defendants currently are storing the tritiated water in these tanks instead of discharging the water into the Kankakee River.
Finally, the complaint alleges that the defendants created and maintained a public nuisance through the releases and the other alleged non-compliance.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction ordering the defendants to:
1. Cease use of the blowdown line for the discharge of tritiated water until further order of the Court;
2. Prevent further migration of any contaminants released in the groundwater at and near the facility in accordance with a plan acceptable to the court;
3. Implement measures to prevent the release of any contaminant from the facility in accordance with a plan acceptable to the court;
4. Fully characterize the nature and extent of all soil and groundwater contamination caused by the releases, including identifying background contaminant levels and the future flow of contaminant plumes in groundwater in accordance with a plan acceptable to the court;
5. Immediately provide a potable drinking water source to all people affected by the violations in an amount and quality sufficient to meet their daily needs, and in accordance with a plan acceptable to the court; and
6. Eliminate any threat to the use of groundwater by citizens in the area impacted by releases from the plant.
�This lawsuit is critical to enjoin Exelon from releasing any additional tritium into the groundwater and to mandate an effective remediation of the serious damage that has already been done,� said Glasgow.
Braidwood
Braidwood's two pressurized water reactors produce 2,360 megawatts of electricity. (Photo courtesy NRC)
In response to a request by the Illinois Attorney General and the IEPA, Exelon Corporation will test private wells in Godley and at residences close to the Braidwood Generating Station for the presence of tritium above naturally occurring levels. The Illinois Department of Public Health will verify test results and send a confirmation letter to residents.
Exelon will continue the bottled water program until wells are confirmed to have no detectable tritium, which is the company expects will take up to 12 weeks.
�We have no reason to believe any detectable tritium exists in those residence wells, nor do we suspect it,� said Keith Polson, site vice president at Braidwood Generating Station �But at the same time, we want to ensure our neighbors� peace of mind until we can demonstrate it scientifically.�
Exelon officials say the company has already conducted extensive testing of groundwater near the Braidwood Station to determine the scope of tritium contamination. Company officials do not believe the new testing will show any additional contamination.
�We are happy to work with state officials to provide more data about the tritium issue,� Polson said. �We know, through our extensive testing, that we have identified all of the groundwater locations affected by tritium."
Under the testing and bottled water program, private wells at about 420 residences in Godley; within 1,500 feet of the discharge pipe; and within 1,500 feet of identified areas of elevated tritium will be tested or re-tested for tritium.
A map of the area included in the program is online at: www.braidwoodtritium.info.
Last month, during a public meeting called by Will County government officials, a county health official told residents that if they are concerned about their water, they should drink and cook with bottled water, which the county would provide. Exelon is now taking on the cost and management of the bottled water program.
Exelon also has publicly committed financial support to help Godley residents establish a new public water source. Details of that program are to be announced soon.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monday announced the establishment of a new task force to investigate tritium leaks at nuclear power plants across the country.
For example, at the Indian Point nuclear power plant in Buchanan, New York, releases of tritium through a crack in the spent fuel pool concrete support wall may have been the cause of the elevated levels of tritium in groundwater in the area immediately surrounding the plant's spent fuel pool, the Commission said. Indian Point is owned by Entergy Nuclear Northeast.
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