Minnesota Nuclear Power Plant Spills 400,000 Gallons of Radioactive Waste

This accident was 35 miles upstream of Minneapolis with a population of 4M people, and the Mississippi River Basin (MARB), part of the water supply for 31 states with a potential to harm millions and more than 1/2 the US.

In this case the state failed to notify the public, as the federal Nuclear Regulatory Comission posted a public notice but the state did not because they claim they were waiting for more information. 

Wondering if there will be any more transparency on clean up efforts and long term health risks or do we need to wait for the lawsuits many of which may be settled with no disclosure clauses?

"Xcel is based in Minneapolis, Minn., and operates in eight states around the U.S. Its two nuclear power plants are both based in Minnesota. Monticello is about 40 miles northwest of Minneapolis and has a population of about 15,000 people."

"The company said it had notified the state and the NRC the next day."

"The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission posted a notice publicly at the time, but the company and state agencies did not notify the general public until last week."

"State officials said that while they knew of the leak in November, they waited to get more information before making a public announcement."

"The Minnesota Department of Health has said the leak did not reach the Mississippi River."

https://www.epa.gov/ms-htf/mississippiatchafalaya-river-basin-marb

https://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/wireStory/regulators-nuclear-plant-leak-require-public-notice-97953723

https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/air/tritiumleak.html

https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/2022/20221123en.html

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/19/1164588882/minnesota-nuclear-power-plant-leak-contaminated-water

This incident has convinced me that nuclear energy is simply too risky for us to continue. Nuclear waste is just too plain deadly. It is best we stick to investing only renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and water. Period!

Needs serious up grades. What good is building a border wall in our southern border if we don't have clean water anywhere 

At a time everyone is talking about the toxic chemical spills in East Palestine, Ohio, why weren't we told of this?

Overall, nuclear power is very safe and cleaner than both coal and natural gas electricity. However, it's not perfect and cleanup and waste removal should be safe and effective.

I hope Minnesota officials and the EPA will do what they can to mitigate any damage from this radioactive spill.

So, it spilled in November, it's "fully contained", yet 75% has not been recovered, and it occurred on the bank of the Mississippi River? Sounds like nobody "thought" to check the ground water.

Of course this should've been reported!

It should be an osha violation and/or a crime not to. 

It's a capitalist efficiency, money is the root of all kinds of evil

Yes, they should have notified the public earlier and like most of these "spills" will they down play the severity?  Will 400,000 gallons turn out to be more like 4 mil gallons?  Usually these incidents turn out to be far, far worse than initially reported and the consequences far more far reaching.

The fact that Lawmakers didn't notify the public immediately , is a Dereliction of their duty. The citizens have a right to know and be informed so that they can make a decision On whether the mitigation tactics or whatever the government is telling them is satisfactory or not.They also need to know so that  They can be seen by doctor to get baseline health in case people from Surrounding area start getting sick with Something that pops up that could be caused by the spill . You know ,it was wrong for me to assume that in the united states people have basic right to not have toxic waste  Dumped in our water supply. The people may want additional testing And  environmental impact study, Independent of the ones they have done .. As we have been shown time and time again that our government on every level Do not have their constituents Best interest in mind. So what's going to happen ? What are the consequences For the people running the plant and allowing this to happen? Is there going to be an investigasian?How is this going to be prevented  in the future? The fact that leadership has kept this hush hash is reckless endangerment and should lose their seats indefinitely. Know one should forget the incompetence of the ruling class right now. Have another question where the heck are all the Environmentalists ? This sort of thing is something they should be screaming about it on every channel .. I wonder what their ESG score is after this lol! They're gonna try to take our cars and they keep on Harping on the fact we shouldn't use fossil fuels anymore because, of imishions. Children and the Impoverished people in pits mining for kobolt Without Proper PPE. It's so much cleaner and Green! Meanwhile blowng up pipelines releasing  more methane Into the atmosphere Then anything else We have on this planet. Britts sending depleted uranium weapons to Ukraine where the fighting is taking place produces 10% of the world's wheat ,yay.!lets posion the food supply!. It will be poison , birth defects and all kinds of cancers.  So yeah we're really dealing with some people who Dont care about the environment or people in general . This is gross gligence in its purist form. 

The radioactive leak in Minnesota should have been reported right away. Although it was contained and not harming people or the environment. Not reporting it right away makes it looks like they have something to hide.

There are many issues with this radioactive water 'leak'. From a hazard perspective how,exactly are 400,000 gallons of tritium laced water actually being retained. Does the containment pond have an impermeable base to prevent leakage into the ground? How is this water being removed from the pond, or is it being left to evaporate radioactive water vapor into the atmosphere potentially causing harm to plants and animals downwind? The near term risks cannot be assessed without much more details. 

The bigger long term question involves just how and why did this 'leak' occur? 400,000 gallons is hardly just a 'leak' - or it was a' leak' tat was not fixed with requiatire urgency. Was it intentional due to some other problem that needed to be responded to? Was it an equipment failure that should have been preventable with routine mainetnance? How likely is it that this will happen again, and again?

Very few of these questions can be addressed without more detail. It would appear that the nuclear power industry needs to have more regular and more detailed inspections to assure that no much more and possibly much more consequential 'leaks' occur.

For the millionth time, PUT PEOPLE OVER PROFIT AND CORPORATIONS!

Any and all screw ups that are even possibly dangerous to human life or wildlife should be announced right away...end of story!

WOW! Once again the community is left in the dark. Notification should have been immediate.

"Should Minnesota officials have notified the public of the radioactive spill earlier?" Are you kidding? Is this actually up for debate? I am sick of large companies doing whatever they please and the public be damned.

these same politicians who talk down to the poor working class about ''boot straps'' and '' work ethic'' are the laziest, do nothing people on the planet. they should have been on this, but were too busy raising funds from wealthy donors to care about their constiuants.

Of course the officials should have notified the public much earlier than they did.  I find it reprehensible that they did not.  This is definitely not transparency!

How is this even a question? Who do you people represent anyway? It's certainly not US. 

Citizens of Minnesota should have been immediately notified of the dump of toxic waste. People should be allowed to protect themselves. Cover-ups are not in the best interest of our citizenry. We need public servants, not politicians.

The actual amount of tritium in the 400k gallons of water was not that great, and as then as it does now does not posing a risk to the public.  Clean up is adequately being performed for a radioactive material with a 12.3 year half life.  That being said, not notifying the public, a public that doesn't understand what tritium is, until months after the leak was detected looks bad.  It gives the anti nuclear crowd something to yell about.  Again, even thought the people in the room, from the plant and the State government were correct in that the leak does not pose a risk to the public, that was only because these people are educated to know what the hazards are, unlike the majority of the population.  p.s.  I'm a nuclear engineer who has worked at this and a number of other nuclear plants in the past.

Yes, they should have done.   The fact that they didn't means it's probably not the first time this has happened!

It is common sense to notify the Public immediately for the safety, health, and welfare of others.

The nuclear power plants across our country are too dangerous to do more harms to humans, marine life, avian life and wildlife. Previously the nuclear power plants had accidents causing meltdown, earthquakes, other disasters and human errors in worldwide. Radiation causes sickness, physical damage, genetic damage, and damages to the embryonic developments of any animals and human babies and radioactive pollutants. It's better to have the safer renewable energy sources in our country in future developments in friendly & safe " green" environments.

Transparency 

As soon as it happened