No public threat in tritium leak at Ill. plant

MORRIS, Ill. — A utility in Illinois says routine monitoring has revealed a leak of water contaminated with radioactive tritium (TRIHT’-ee-um) gas at a nuclear power plant.

Officials at the Exelon Corp. said there is no public safety hazard from last week’s leak from the company’s Dresden plant at the town of Morris.

Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen that occurs naturally in groundwater but is more concentrated in nuclear reactor cooling water.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says this leak is much different from a series of leaks dating to 1996 at Exelon’s Braidwood nuclear power plant. That situation prompted a $5 million environmental study and led to stricter guidelines.

(This version CORRECTS that plant is named Dresden, located at Morris.)