FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2007
Well testing underway near Catawba nuclear plant
COLUMBIA – Wells providing drinking water to York County residents living just outside of the Catawba nuclear plant’s property will be tested by agency staff after elevated tritium levels were found in a monitoring well on the plant property, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported today.
“The tritium was found in one of 30 new monitoring wells used as part of Duke Energy’s testing under a new Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved program,” said Patrick Walker, chief of DHEC’s Bureau of Land and Waste Management. “The Groundwater Protection Initiative is designed to locate and address impacts to groundwater that could be associated with operations at the facility.”
Walker said the well where tritium was found is located one-half mile inside the facility’s property. The tritium level found in the monitoring well was 42,335 picocuries per liter of water. The well where the tritium was found is used for environmental monitoring and not for drinking water. The DHEC testing will determine if any drinking water wells outside the plant have been affected. The federal and state standard for tritium in drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per liter of water.
“We want to know whether any tritium is in the groundwater used by wells outside of the plant’s boundary,” Walker said. “DHEC staff will be in the Bethel Community, talking with residents and taking well water samples to compare against the tests done onsite by Duke Energy. Meanwhile, the staff at Duke Energy will work to determine where the tritium originated and how best to address the matter.”
Walker said tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen. Tritium can bond with oxygen to form water and can move in groundwater. The radiation from tritium is considered weak, having a half-life of only 12 years, and cannot penetrate human skin. It can enter the body through the mouth and nose. Tritium exists naturally in small amounts in groundwater and is also produced through operations at nuclear power plants.
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For more information:
Thom Berry – (803) 898-3885
E-mail – berrytw@dhec.sc.gov
Mary Nguyen Bright -- (803) 896-4099
E-mail – brightmn@dhec.sc.gov
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