The TVA Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Athens, Ala.The Tennessee Valley Authority says a leak of radioactive water from a drain line at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant was mostly contained in the plant area and presented no risk to the public.
Some 100 to 200 gallons of water containing radioactive tritium at levels above EPA drinking water standards leaked Wednesday at the plant near Athens, Ala. a TVA spokesman said.
The federal utility reported the leak to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and said monitoring has not detected any elevated tritium levels outside the plant.
But an anti-nuclear group said any radiation leak is potentially dangerous.
It "indicates a failure of oversight and/or attention to detail, maybe both, on the part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Tennessee Valley Authority," said Garry Morgan, a retired U.S. Army medical officer who has monitored radiation around Browns Ferry for Mothers Against Tennessee River Radiation.
Read the complete story in Sunday's Times Free Press.