Xcel is cleaning up a radioactive water spill at Monticello plant

“Xcel and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency both said the 400,000-gallon spill posed no threat to drinking water or the nearby Mississippi River.”

“Both Xcel and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said there was no risk to drinking water from the spill, which was traced to a pipe connecting two buildings across just a half-inch space. The spill was first reported to state and federal regulators on Nov. 22, 2022, and the source was found on Dec. 19, and patched soon after, according to MPCA.”

“Koudelka said the MPCA was announcing the leak almost three months after it was patched because “we have now sufficient information to be able to share it out to a wider group.”

Damn, that makes me feel good!

Stribe Link

So, we can’t legally fish under lights in Minnesota, what if the fish are radioactive and light up are we legal?

Trust Xcel & the MPCA as they release information about a radioactive leak 3 months after the case?

…hard pass

“Koudelka said the MPCA was announcing the leak almost three months after it was patched because “we have now sufficient information to be able to share it out to a wider group.”

That sounds like it came directly out of the “how to be a Politician handbook”.

What is with all these train derailments and now radioactive leaks? This is getting very concerning.

thats to get you to go green.

the prez/ of Xcel is from Colorado and hugely into the green movement… just sayin!!!!

I think I’m more concerned with the MPCA then Excel…but then it doesn’t say when Xcel learned about the leak, just when they reported it.

They had the same think at Prairie Island a number of years back. It took 2 weeks for the public to learn about it.

That’s when I bought a Giger counter to keep in my boat. (yes, right next to my aluminum hat).

glenn57 wrote:

the prez/ of Xcel is from Colorado and hugely into the green movement

He (the company) really doesn’t have a choice do they?

^^^^ maybe not….but they sure arent bucking it either……. i got to hear enough of that when i was gainfully employed with the Union….its were the field guys made there bread and butter.

i also have a good friend that works at Xcel…..the stuff he tells me

Sweeping it under the rug until it’s “all clear?”

That’s sketchy as hell…

UNREAL THAT THIS IS JUST COMING OUT

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B-man wrote:

Sweeping it under the rug until it’s “all clear?”

That’s sketchy as hell…

I’ve worked at both plants. Monti and Pi spent majority of my time at Pi. In my opinion it’s basically cooling water that went through the system. So at pi once you took river water out of the river it couldn’t go on the ground but could go back into river. Basically the river water goes through the condensers and back out to the river. It’s all part of their water license. I would not lose any sleep over this or be concerned about it.

gregory wrote:

I’ve worked at both plants. Monti and Pi spent majority of my time at Pi. In my opinion it’s basically cooling water that went through the system. So at pi once you took river water out of the river it couldn’t go on the ground but could go back into river. Basically the river water goes through the condensers and back out to the river. It’s all part of their water license. I would not lose any sleep over this or be concerned about it.

so the cooling water going back into the river has radiative tritium in it?

So I’m not a chemist, but it’s my understanding that it’s a naturally occurring. So it’s my understanding they treat all the river water as it has some level of it, and that’s why it can’t go back on the ground and has to go back in river. And it’s all part of the water license how they handle the river water.

gregory wrote:

So I’m not a chemist, but it’s my understanding that it’s a naturally occurring. So it’s my understanding they treat all the river water as it has some level of it, and that’s why it can’t go back on the ground and has to go back in river. And it’s all part of the water license how they handle the river water.

Gotcha

I have worked at that plant so I want to make a couple of points.
1) Cooling water is taken out of the river and used in condensers (pretty much under the turbines in the turbine building which is the lower broader building in the Strib story). The water the steam is generated with is a closed loop that is constantly being reused.
That river water then goes to the cooling towers where it is dripped / drizzled thru ambient air and sent back to the river.
COOLING WATER NEVER IS IN THE REACTOR BUILDING.
A boiling water reactor (Monticello) operates at less pressure than a pressurized water reactor. A PWR has a steam generator & the steam that spins the turbine isn’t exposed to the reactor. Navy ships are PWR. The turbine in a BWR is exposed to radiation but the contamination half life IS MEASURED IN HOURS NOT YEARS. Once the BWR reactor is no longer critical (it has been shut down) crews are in the turbine building the next day and believe me it is still warm.
2) The Nuclear Reg. Commission & the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators (regulating industry trade group) would be the 1st to be notified by the plant. Any MN state official would be so far over their head. The state is a very minor player.
3) If you want to see & learn more a good source is a web site called The Nuclear Tourist. Schematics of piping systems, etc.
When I read the water leaked thru the “floor” of the turbine blding it tells me it was a leak between the reactor blding & the condenser room in the turbine blding.
Carry on.

glenn57 wrote:

thats to get you to go green.

the prez/ of Xcel is from Colorado and hugely into the green movement… just sayin!!!!

nuclear energy is green

What about the spent rods??

The amount of water that was released means nothing. How radiation dense it is does. Nearly all our lakes rivers, drinking water etc has some amounts of radiation. Hell we all walk around with a radiation emitting device in our pockets and hold them up to our heads.

Nuclear energy is the greenest energy we have. From a power used vs power produced standpoint for sure.

Nuclear isn’t the problem. It’s the agencies that are to keep the public informed is!

The MPCA was on channel 4 this morning was asked directly “why did it take 4 months to notify the public”?

The question wasn’t answered.

If it’s important enough to be reported to the Nuclear Agency and the MPCA, the public should be notified immediately as well.

When was the last time a large company told us the truth right up front?

Oh yeah, I forgot 3m. Right??

I know there’s different types of radiation. However, I used my Geiger counter and checked out my iPhone 14 on the setting of times 100 and I couldn’t tell the difference between the background and if there was any radiation coming off of the iPhone.

The problem with a Geiger counter is that if you do find radiation source, it’s too late for me, but it will be three months earlier than what excel or the MPCA tells me.

Edit: Now if we are talking radio frequencies, that’s different.

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Brian Klawitter wrote:

Nuclear isn’t the problem. It’s the agencies that are to keep the public informed is!

The MPCA was on channel 4 this morning was asked directly “why did it take 4 months to notify the public”?

The question wasn’t answered.

If it’s important enough to be reported to the Nuclear Agency and the MPCA, the public should be notified immediately as well.

When was the last time a large company told us the truth right up front?

Oh yeah, I forgot 3m. Right??

MPCA learned their transparency rules from another Minnesota agency, the MDNR.

Red Herring Dutch.

What, we cant trust the govt to be transparent???
The last 2 years are great examples of that.

Just imagine how many more coverups Xcel enery will now be creating having more radioactive pollution due the increase in electro cars….

Ya know because electro cars have ZERO EMISSIONS…

Th article I was reading said they didn’t “have to” release information about the spill because the radiation remained on Excel property. The levels were low but I find it hard to reason that in a wet marshy environment, with runoff, that it could be reasonably expected that the spill would never leave the property.

It says right in the Strib article that the NRC “published the “nonemergency” report in its public list of nuclear events the next day” so it seems like a pretty bad coverup. This must not be a “do your own research” situation…

NRC Event Number: 56236
“On 11/22/2022, Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant initiated a voluntary communication to the State of Minnesota after receiving analysis results for an on-site monitoring well that indicated tritium activity above the [Offsite Dose Calculation Manual] ODCM and Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) Groundwater Protection Initiative (GPI) reporting levels. The source of the tritium is under investigation and the station will continue to monitor and sample accordingly.”

This is an odd numbered year, 2023, & in odd #ed years there is a late winter / early spring refueling outage.
The plant is off line and the areas of the plant that are not accessible due to radiation when under operation become accessible. IE The condenser room on the lower level of the turbine building, to be specific. Draw your own conclusions.
If this incident was anything that the NRC or INPO was the least bit concerned about being a risk to the public the plant would have been shut down long ago.
ajw is spot on that the density matters. I would venture that he, like me, has an “N” # that once issued & renewed allows one to work unescorted in nukes.

Tritium’s half-life is 12.4 years. I used to use it to calibrate a piece of equipment because it is so stable.