A study released last week by environmental policy groups claims that drinking water in Maryland could be at risk for radioactive pollution as a result of Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, though the plant and industry experts maintain local waters are not contaminated and are suitable to drink.

The study, “Too Close to Home: Nuclear Power and the Threat to Drinking Water,” performed by the Maryland Public Interest Research Group Foundation and Environment Maryland Research and Policy Center, argues that 208,442 Marylanders live within 50 miles of the Lusby plant, the distance used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to measure risk to food and water supplies.

The incident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, which occurred last March after an earthquake and tsunami, sparked increased attention to the risks associated with nuclear power, as radiation contaminated the air and drinking water sources for more than 100 miles around the plant, according to a Maryland PIRG press release.

“The danger of nuclear power is too close to home,” Jenny Levin, state advocate with Maryland PIRG, said in the release. “Here in Maryland, the drinking water for 200,000 people is too close to an active nuclear power plant. An accident like the one in Fukushima, Japan, or a leak could spew cancer-causing radioactive waste into our drinking water. ... Marylanders shouldn’t have to worry about getting cancer from drinking a glass of water.”

Radiation exposure may lead to an increase in the number of people with cancer, the release continues. Even without a disaster, a common leak at a plant could harm drinking water for “millions of people,” it states, adding that leaks become more common as a plant ages. About 75 percent of U.S. nuclear plants have leaked tritium at some point, a radioactive form of hydrogen that can cause cancer and genetic defects, according to the report.

Calvert Cliffs accidentally leaked tritium in 2003 due to an eroded pipe installed 40 years ago, before the 37-year-old plant began operations. Plant workers discovered the tritium in shallow monitoring wells, according to "Unacceptable Risk: Two Decades of ‘Close Calls,’ Leaks and Other Problems at U.S. Nuclear Power Plants,” a report PIRG released last year.

At the time that study was released, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said the tritium levels in the 2003 incident at Calvert Cliffs were less than 3,000 picocuries per liter of water; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s safe drinking water level is 20,000 picocuries per liter. He said the tritium was contained within the plant’s protected area and did not migrate off-site, and corrective actions were taken to repair the eroded pipeline.

Plant owner Constellation Energy Nuclear Group said at the time that the plant is conveniently located where factors like hydrology and typography protect against possible aquifer contamination, and after the incident CENG installed three new monitoring wells for the purposes of monitoring tritium migration.

“Calvert Cliffs does have in place numerous safeguards to ensure protection of local bodies of water and drinking supplies near our facility,” plant spokesman Kory Raftery said this week. “The safety of the plant and workers, the community and the environment is really our top value at Calvert Cliffs.”

In order to reduce the risks nuclear power poses to water supplies, the report recommends completing a thorough safety review of U.S. nuclear power plants, requiring plant operators to implement recommended changes immediately and requiring nuclear plant operators to implement regular groundwater tests in order to catch tritium leaks, among other actions. However, CENG is already required to monitor local waters regularly and report its findings annually and publicly, Raftery said.

Each plant is required to maintain a comprehensive and thorough environmental monitoring program and submit to the NRC an annual report summarizing what was found, Sheehan said. On top of that, the NRC performs regular inspections of the program. During its most recent review of the program, performed last July, the NRC verified that the Calvert Cliffs program “‘quantifies the impact of the radioactive releases to the environment, monitors non-effluent exposure pathways, and validates that doses to members of the public are within the (federal) dose limits,’” Sheehan cited from the report in an email.

The PIRG report also argues that local bodies of water play a critical role in cooling nuclear reactors and are at risk of contamination as well. At Fukushima, large quantities of seawater were pumped into the plant to cool it, and contaminated seawater then leaked and was dumped back into the ocean, carrying radioactivity from the plant with it. The Chesapeake Bay provides cooling water for the Calvert Cliffs facility and could be at risk, PIRG asserts.

But Raftery said that because Calvert Cliffs is a pressurized water reactor facility, any water with radioactive isotopes is contained and never comes in contact with other waters.

According to Calvert Cliffs’ most recent “Radiological Environmental Monitoring Report,” the plant performed a total of 3,483 radiological analyses on samples collected from bay water, fish, oysters and shoreline sediment and found all levels to be below federally allowable limits. Those analyses took place during the operating period from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2010, and the report was submitted to the NRC last summer.

mrussell@somdnews.com