Elevated Levels of Radioactivity Reported in Groundwater at Indian Point Power Plant

Last week we alerted you to concerns about cryptosporidium and giardia in surface water in the Kensico Reservoir. This week, another threat to the Westchester water supply has surfaced. Entergy, the owner and operator of the Indian Point Power Plant in Buchanan New York issued a report showing elevated levels of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen in 3 of 40 testing sites of the groundwater at the site.

Entergy claims that the tritium did not affect any sources of drinking water, on or offsite, and says they are putting remediation plans in place.

Both Governor Cuomo, who lives in New Castle, and Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino issued statements on the news. The two have been rivals since the 2014 race for Governor when Astorino challenged Cuomo.

Cuomo issued his statement on Saturday 2-6, and called for a full investigation. He said, "This latest failure at Indian Point is unacceptable and I have directed Department of Environmental Conservation Acting Commissioner Basil Seggos and Department of Health Commissioner Howard Zucker to fully investigate this incident and employ all available measures, including working with Nuclear Regulatory Commission, to determine the extent of the release, its likely duration, cause and potential impacts to the environment and public health."

Astorino said he met with Entergy and that "these elevated levels are more than one thousand times below federal permissible limits." He pledged that, "The county will continue to verify and monitor the situation. Getting the facts and understanding them are critically important to serving the public interest. False hysteria is not. "

This is just the latest issue at the aging power plant where one unit is now 40 years old. The plant was closed twice in December due to mechanical malfunctions – and for 19 days in May and July of 2015.