Earlier this month, Miami-Dade County released a report that said the Turkey Point Nuclear plant has been leaking dangerous wastewater into Biscayne Bay.
Monitors found more than 200 times the normal levels of tritium in the bay. That’s a radioactive isotope linked to nuclear power production.Eric Silagy, president of Florida Power & Light says it’s not an issue for drinking water.
"The areas that have concerned about radiological materials—specifically tritium—on FPL property that are in some deep pools are at levels that are far far below what the US EPA deems safe for drinking water", Silagy said.
Rachel Silverstein is executive director of Miami Waterkeeper, a Miami-based non-profit that advocates for South Florida's watershed and wildlife. And she says the federal standards are much looser than other drinking water standards.
"The max contamination level set by the EPA for how many picocuries of tritium you can have in drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per litre but California has set a public health goal of only 400 picocuries per liter of which the amount of tritum found in the samples in the bay far exceeds that level", said Silverstein.
Silverstein and Silagy spoke at length about the issue on the most recent Florida Roundup.
