ML061070442

Document to Public Re Contamination of Groundwater Near the Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station

ML061070442
Person / Time
Site:	Braidwood
Issue date:	01/26/2006
From:	O'Neill T Exelon Nuclear
To:	Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
References
FOIA/PA-2006-0115, FOIA/PA-2009-0077, FOIA/PA-2010-0209
Download: ML061070442 (1)

Text

Exelon.

Nuclear 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 January 26, 2006

Dear Neighbor:

You may have read recent newspaper stories or seen television news broadcasts regarding contamination of groundwater near the Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station. We are writing this letter to provide you with important information about this issue.

First and foremost, the contamination is confined to an area beside the plant and, based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards, Presents no health or safety hazard to anyone in Braidwood or the surrounding At issue are elevated levels of tritium that were discovered in some monitoring wells on the plant property and just outside the property.

• The affected groundwater is in an area about 2,000 feet square adjoining the plant property to the north, near Smiley Road and Center Street.

• The affected groundwater is in shallow ground (about 15-25 feet deep) and moves slowly. This enables us to easily monitor changes well in advance of them occurring.

• No municipal water supplies are affected and only one private drinking water well is impacted based on data collected to date.

We have installed a large number of monitoring wells in and around the plant property and are working aggressively to come up with a remediation plan that will be approved by the State of Illinois.

Tritium is a naturally occurring form of hydrogen with a very low level of radioactivity. It is found in virtually all water in very low levels and is produced in greater concentrations in commercial nuclear reactors such as those at Braidwood.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established drinking water standards for tritium. Only one drinking water well, which is near the plant, has shown any levels of tritium above detectable levels, and those were very low - a fraction of the safe drinking water standards established by the U.S. EPA.

As we have said publicly, we are responsible for this tritium entering the ground and we are committed to cleaning it up. In the meantime, this situation does not present any danger to your health and we will keep you informed.

We have established a telephone number you can call if you have questions (815-458-7000), and in the next few days you will be able to go to a website for information on the project. The address is

-ww.BraidwoodTritium.info.In addition, we are planning a community information night regarding tritium sometime in February. More information about that event will be published on the website and in local newspaper ads.

Sincerely, 9% &

Thomas S. O'Neill Vice President, Regulatory & Environmental Affairs Exelon Nuclear