FPL Nuclear Plants Confirmed Leaking into Biscayne Bay
During a recent study of the waters in Biscayne Bay, researchers discovered abnormally high levels of tritium, a rare hydrogen isotope produced by nuclear reactors that is used to track any possible water leakage by a nuclear plants cooling canals. This discovery confirms that the aging cooling canals of Turkey Point are leaking into the nearby Biscayne Bay. The study found that the samples taken in December and January had tritium levels 215 times higher than normal ocean water. While this doesn’t necessarily mean there is actual nuclear spillage, tritium is usually an accurate indicator of potential or current spillage.
The study comes two weeks after a Tallahassee judge ordered the utility and the state to clean up the nuclear plant’s cooling canals after concluding that they had caused a massive underground saltwater plume to migrate west, threatening a wellfield that supplies drinking water to the Florida Keys. The judge also found the state failed to address the pollution by crafting a faulty management plan.
“How much damage is that cooling canal system causing the bay is a question to be answered,” said Everglades Law Center attorney Julie Dick, who had not had a chance to review the report. “There are a lot more unknowns than knowns and it just shows how much more attention we need to be paying to that cooling canal system.”
We’ll be keeping you updated with the situation as it progresses.
(Cred: Miami Herald)
