Letter: Nuke plants taint water

To the Editor:

Last month, Environment Minnesota and the Minnesota Public interest Research Group released a new report on the threat of nuclear power plants to drinking water in Minnesota and nationwide. The report showed that, here in Minnesota, the danger of nuclear power is too close to home.

The Prairie Island and Monticello nuclear power plants in Minnesota threaten the drinking water of over 935,000 people who live within 50 miles of these plants.

The risk of experiencing dangerous, radioactive leaks is only increasing as Minnesota’s power plants become older. Some 75 percent of U.S. nuclear plants have leaked tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen that can cause cancer and genetic defects.

Here in Minnesota, almost 4,000 gallons of water containing tritium has been released by Prairie Island nuclear plant in the past four months alone. Further, while routine tritium releases from operating nuclear power plants is one of the largest sources of radiation emissions from nuclear reactors, tritium leaks are not subject to stringent monitoring and review requirements by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In order to reduce the risks that nuclear power poses to water supplies in Minnesota and across the nation, we need to call immediately for a thorough safety review of all U.S. power plants, regular tests of the groundwater to catch tritium leaks, and a continuation of Minnesota’s moratorium on new nuclear power plants.

Minnesotans shouldn’t have to worry about getting cancer from drinking a glass of water. There are far cleaner, cheaper, and less-risky ways to get our energy. Minnesota should move away from nuclear power and choose alternatives like wind and solar power.

Elissa Walter

Northfield, Minn.

Tags: opinion, letters