Leaks from Minnesota nuclear power plant raise safety fears across US

theguardian.com:

In December, Janica Jammes started a microgreens business in the basement of her home in Big Lake, Minnesota, just across the river from Xcel Energy’s nuclear plant in Monticello.

At least once each day, she uses water from her well to nourish the plant trays. She delivers her product to customers within a 10-mile radius and says the business has been a success.

But now she worries that her water could be contaminated by a leak of about 400,000 gallons of radioactive water that occurred in November at the plant, which is about 40 miles north-west of Minneapolis.

Moreover, Jammes is upset that the company did not alert the public about the leak until March – and then detected a second leak, which the company described as smaller than the first one.

“We don’t know for sure if” side effects from the leaks “will happen or when anything will happen but just the lack of transparency is very concerning”, said Jammes, a 36-year-old mother of four.

While Xcel Energy representatives have said the leaks did not affect local drinking water or pose a safety threat to residents, residents such as Jammes want more answers from the company.

Independent nuclear energy experts agree that the company should have been more transparent, but they say that based on reports from state and federal agencies, they also do not think the leaks pose a health risk to residents or that the incidents will serve as a significant setback to efforts to promote the carbon-free power source in the US.

“This leak, even though it was contained and poses no danger”, according to the official reports, “it should be used as some sort of wake-up call”, said Najmedin Meshkati, an engineering professor who specializes in nuclear safety at the University of Southern