Radioactive Leak San Onofre

Paul Kiesel

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Shockingly there has been a finding of a tritium leak coming from the San Onofre nuclear power plant. The 450 Megawat plant has been controversial but this is the first direct finding of potential enviornmental damage caused from the plant. Officials are concerned that drinking water in the area has been affected by the tritium leak. Additional testing will be ongoing to determine what, if any, enviornmental damage may have been done.

Tritium occurs naturally in the environment but is also a byproduct of nuclear fission, said Victor Bricks, spokesman for the NRC's regional office in Arlington, Texas. It has a half-life of 12 years, meaning its radioactivity is reduced by half every 12 years.

Tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that can cause not only cancer but also miscarriages and birth defects, is increasingly stoking fears in communities near nuclear plants across the country.

A tritium leak that contaminated millions of gallons of groundwater near the Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station in northeast Illinois led that state to sue the owner of the plant in March.