ML24135A070
| ML24135A070 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Monticello  |
| Issue date: | 05/12/2024 |
| From: | Laforge J - No Known Affiliation |
| To: | Office of Administration |
| References | |
| NRC-2023-0031, 89FR31225 00003 | |
| Download: ML24135A070 (1) | |
Text
PUBLIC SUBMISSION As of: 5/14/24, 7:06 AM Received: May 12, 2024 Status: Pending Post Tracking No. lw4-4x7q-6aec Comments Due: June 10, 2024 Submission Type: API Docket: NRC-2023-0031 Northern States Power Company - Minnesota; Xcel Energy; Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant, Unit 1 Comment On: NRC-2023-0031-0006 Northern States Power Company; Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant Unit 1; Draft Environmental Impact Statement Document: NRC-2023-0031-DRAFT-0005 Comment on FR Doc # 2024-08746 Submitter Information Name: John LaForge Address:
Email:nukewatch1@lakeland.ws Phone:
General Comment I urge you to extend the public comment period on your Draft Site-Specific Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal by at least 60 days.
The Monticello reactor endangers our communities and our drinking water. It threatens accidental radiation releases, like the recent, 829,000-gallon leak of radioactive tritium-contaminated wastewater which, according to your Draft EIS likely reached the Mississippi River. [NRC Draft EIS, p. 3-47, line 11: Tritium detections in wells near the Mississippi Riverbank (i.e., MW-29A, MW-33A, MW-37A, and MW-48A) in 2023 indicate tritium-impacted groundwater likely discharged to the river.]
The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions (NRCs) Draft EIS, under "Local and Regional Hydrology at page 3-28, line 4, says, The Minneapolis Water Works Reservoir also is supplied from the Mississippi River with its intake located approximately 37 mi (59.5 km) downstream of Monticello (Xcel 2023-TN9084). This notice, while hardly given any weight in the Draft EIS, is the principle matter of fact regarding the Monticellos radioactive contamination of ground water which feeds and interchanges with the Mississippi River. As the Draft EIS notes under 2022 Tritium Release to Groundwater on page 3-46, line 1: Under normal site hydraulic conditions, groundwater flow is toward the Mississippi river.
On March 18, 2023, soon after NSPM/Xcel, publicly acknowledged the massive leak, the Associated Press (AP) interviewed NRC spokesperson Victoria Mitlyng, and reported: Mitlyng said there is no pathway for the tritium to get into drinking water. [Associated Press, Regulators: Nuclear plant leak didn't require public notice, March 18, 2023, https://apnews.com/article/xcel-energy-nuclear-leak-tritium-6e522afbb12ad26925c40d833853088d.]
This alarming error is contradicted by NSPM/Xcels own 2022 Annual Radioactive Effluent Release 5/14/24, 7 07 AM blob https //www fdms gov/9f282f52 1953 42a2 8917 b4838b62b294 blob https //www fdms gov/9f282f52 1953 42a2 8917 b4838b62b294 1/2 SUNSI Review Complete Template=ADM-013 E-RIDS=ADM-03 ADD: Jessica Umana, Antoinette Walker-Smith, Angela Sabet, Mary Neely Comment (3)
Publication Date:4/24/2024 Citation: 89 FR 31225
Report, May 10, 2023, which states that, There are several mechanisms that can result in doses to Members of the Public, including: Ingestion of radionuclides in food or water. [Xcel Energy, 2022 Annual Radioactive Effluent Release Report, May 10, 2023, p. 5, https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2313/ML23130A190.pdf.]
Public misinformation by the NRCs Mitlyng is flatly contradicted by the NRCs own Draft EIS, which states: Tritium detections in wells near the Mississippi Riverbank (i.e., MW-29A, MW-33A, MW-37A, and MW-48A) in 2023 indicate tritium-impacted groundwater likely discharged to the river. [NRC Draft EIS, Docket No. 50-263; https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML2410/ML24102A276.pdf, on page 3-47, lines 11 to 14.]
The leaked radioactive tritium is a direct threat to the Mississippi River because, according to the Minn.
Pollution Control Agency and the NRCs Draft EIS (above), the groundwater under Monticello moves toward the river. [Doug Wetzstein of the MPCA interviewed on WCCO television in March 2023 said:
The groundwater beneath the facility moves in the direction of the Mississippi River.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v r5c6j7UZZA0&ab channel WCCO-CBSMinnesota.]
Even the sheet pile steel wall constructed by the applicant between the Monticello reactor and the Mississippi River is not designed to prevent tritium from reaching the river but, as the Draft EIS says, at
- p. 3-45 line 7, is intended to merely help contain tritium-contaminated water to the Monticello site.
NSPM/Xcels sheet pile wall cannot and will not prevent discharges of tritium-impacted water to the Mississippi. As the Draft EIS says at page 3-47, line 21, As described above, Monticello has installed a sheet pile wall along the riverbank to minimize discharges of tritium-impacted water to the Mississippi River.
NSPM/Xcel has repeatedly said there is no health risk to the public or plant workers because the affected groundwater contains very low levels of tritium. But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission itself warns, [T]he radiation protection community conservatively assumes that any amount of radiation may pose some risk for causing cancer and hereditary effect, and that the risk is higher for higher radiation exposures. A linear no-threshold dose-response relationship is used to describe the relationship between radiation dose and the occurrence of cancer. any increase in dose, no matter how small, results in an incremental increase in risk. [U.S. NRC, Radiation Exposure and Cancer, https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/radiation/health-effects/rad-exposure-cancer.html]
Based on the foregoing information, I urge you to deny the application.
5/14/24, 7 07 AM blob https //www fdms gov/9f282f52 1953 42a2 8917 b4838b62b294 blob https //www fdms gov/9f282f52 1953 42a2 8917 b4838b62b294 2/2