Communications

A Road Less Traveled...a Road not Far...Soon, -Nils J. Diaz, Chairman

Excerpt from speech concerning groundwater contamination

• One oversight issue that requires attention is the management of tritium from a radiological protection standpoint. The NRC is diligently reviewing recent and ongoing instances of groundwater contamination involving tritium at operating and decommissioning power reactors. Tritium contamination is currently being addressed at power reactor sites in several States, including Illinois, New York, and Arizona. Tritium is a weak beta emitter and is found extensively in nature. From my perspective, the fundamental issue in these cases is that, regardless of the minimal public health and environmental impacts of these contamination events, the releases were uncontrolled and identified after the fact. Beyond tritium and these particular cases, I believe that the industry as a whole should proactively address unanticipated radioactive releases from the technical and environmental standpoints.

Statement Submitted by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Committee on Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate Change, and Nuclear Safety - United States Senate Concerning NRC Oversight

Excerpt from testimony concerning groundwater contamination

• Radiological Protection
  As part of NRC's requirements for operating a nuclear power plant, licensees must keep releases of radioactive material to unrestricted areas during normal operation as low as reasonably achievable and comply with radiation dose limits for the public. In addition, NRC regulations require licensees to have various effluent and environment monitoring programs to ensure that the impacts from plant operations are minimized. The permitted effluent releases result in very small doses to members of the public living around nuclear power plants. The NRC oversees these licensee programs to ensure adequate protection of public health and safety and the environment. Recently, the NRC staff has been monitoring instances of, and licensee actions to address, groundwater contamination involving tritium at operating and shutdown power reactors undergoing decommissioning. In addition, the NRC is in the process of establishing a tritium lessons learned task force to review these incidents and identify lessons learned from them to determine what, if any, changes are needed.