Residents Criticize Delay in Notification of Radioactive Leak

Residents Criticize Delay in Notification of Radioactive Leak

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Will County residents are asking tough questions about how radioctive tritium has polluted water wells in their area.

Tritium’s a byproduct of nuclear power. It’s also a low-level carcinogen.

In 1998, tritium leaked from a water pipe at Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant.

Residents want to know why it took eight years for Exelon, the plant’s owner, to notify them of the spill.

Jim Moustis is the Will County Board president.

“It’s alarming to me that we weren’t informed until it has gone beyond their boundaries,” he says. “Perhaps this could have been dealt with before it got beyond their boundaries.”

Now, tritium’s turning up in wells near the plant and a local forest preserve.

State and federal agencies do oversee the plant, but they say the company never informed them about the spill either.

An Exelon representative says it’s investigating the oversight.

Will County residents are holding a public meeting about the polluted wells Tuesday.