New tests: No tritium detected in Buchanan sewers

New tests: No tritium detected in Buchanan sewers
By THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: June 1, 2007)
BUCHANAN - The latest tests of Indian Point's sewage show that the radioactive isotope tritium is not traveling in detectible amounts to the village's sewer system, nuclear plant officials announced today.
In addition, earlier tests showing 8,000 pico curies of radiation per liter of liquid flowing to the village's waste treatment plant have been found to be much lower after more in-depth laboratory analysis, company officials said.
"The false positives (found earlier) were most likely the result of interference due to some organic materials and chemicals commonly found in sanitary sewers," said Donald Mayer, Indian Point official in charge of the groundwater contamination investigation. "When analyzing at very low levels, occasional false positives can occur."
Indian Point officials cautioned early last month that the 8,000 number was preliminary, but said yesterday they released it without further analysis to keep local officials informed.
Tritium and strontium 90 were discovered to be leaking at the Indian Point site in 2005 and 2006 respectively, and company officials have been working on finding the source and reach of those leaks since they were discovered.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said they were aware of the latest results and would continue to monitor the company's testing program and efforts to control the leaks.
"We don't have any reason to doubt the results," said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan. "But as always, we will verify their data."
Sheehan didn't know immediately when the NRC's test results of sewage samples would be available.