Radioactive Material Found in Groundwater Below NY Nuke Plant

An apparent overflow at a nuclear power plant 40 miles north of New York City spilled highly radioactive water into an underground monitoring well, but nuclear regulators say that the public isn’t at risk.

Officials at the Indian Point Energy Center reported on Friday that water contaminated by tritium leaked into the groundwater under the facility. The contamination has remained contained to the site, said Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ordered the state’s environmental conservation and health departments to investigate.

There has been a history of groundwater contamination at Indian Point. In 2009 a federal oversight agency issued a report after about 100,000 gallons of tritium-tainted water entered the groundwater supply. Then in 2014, elevated levels of tritium were also found in two monitoring wells at the plant.