Monitoring and Remediation of Tritium Contamination in Groundwater at a New Jersey Nuclear Power Plant

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's (NJDEP) Bureau of Nuclear Engineering (BNE) has an ongoing program to monitor the concentrations of tritium in groundwater associated with leaks from nuclear power plants. Numerous monitoring wells are sampled on a routine basis to monitor the progress of licensee remedial activities and to ensure that off-site groundwater is not impacted by the leaks. The results of this program have demonstrated that off-site groundwater, including drinking water sources, have not been impacted by these leaks, and that ongoing remedial activities have successfully reduced the level of tritium contamination in on-site groundwater. An important lesson learned was that facility construction activities, such as building foundations, buried pipes and tunnels, cofferdams, and sheet piling, disturb confining layers, creating pathways to deeper aquifers. Proper plume characterization must include sampling in the formation to which the contaminant was released, as well as concurrent sampling of the underlying aquifers that were disturbed by facility construction.