THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412160563
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WILMINGTON LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Radioactive water has leaked from a drainage pipe under the Brunswick Nuclear Plant, possibly for the past seven years, according to state documents.
The leak is three miles from the nearest drinking well, so no health risk is likely. But state officials are not satisfied that plant officials paid enough attention to the potential environmental harm.
The state wants Carolina Power & Light Co. to dig new wells under the plant to determine if the radioactive waste contaminated groundwater.
The leak was discovered in May, when a pressure test was performed, and the pipe has since been lined with plastic to prevent further leaking. But assessing the damage has just begun.
``They have done no testing other than the line-testing itself,'' said Rick Shiver, supervisor of the Wilmington office of the North Carolina Division of Environmental Management. ``They have done no investigations to confirm the release or to define the extent of it.''
CP&L has agreed to investigate the leak, Shiver said. By the end of the month, state environmental officials will meet with CP&L workers to begin determining the severity of the problem.
Plant spokesman Mac Harris downplayed the leak.
``I don't think anyone has raised a public health question,'' he said.
The pipe carries water from various parts of the reactor and most of the radioactivity is removed from the water before it ever hits the concrete pipe, which empties into the plant's drainage canal.
The canal runs under the Intracoastal Waterway near Caswell Beach before emptying into the ocean.
By the time the water spills into the ocean, the radioactivity has been diluted. But the leaking pipe contains a concentrated runoff, which is much more radioactive.
The pipe had a similar leak in 1987, but it was not tested again until May. by CNB