An Energy Northwest official told a state board Tuesday that an investigation will be completed soon into spiked tritium levels in the groundwater near the Columbia Generating Station reactor north of Richland, Wash.
Felicia Najera-Paxton of Energy Northwest gave a brief update to the Washington Energy Facility Evaluation Council — a permitting and watchdog board on the state’s energy facilities. Energy Northwest, which operates the reactor, will provide a written report to EFSEC. The reactor is located on the Hanford nuclear reservation, which has numerous groundwater contamination problems.
Energy Northwest first detected tritium on Feb. 16, in a month groundwater sample collected in January, said Energy Northwest spokeswoman Angela Smith in an email. The groundwater came from near a pump house on the Columbia River close to a facility to treat industrial wastewater. No drinking water is involved, Smith wrote.
The highest level of tritium contamination in the samples was 6,997 picocuries per liter in the effluent of the treatment facility. The maximum allowed level of tritium in drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per liter. The source of the tritium has not been identified, Smith wrote.
Energy Northwest contacted EFSEC in April, and the board approved the utilities consortium’s tritium investigation plans in July. Energy Northwest said it has kept the U.S. Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission updated on the situation.
