Tritium release at Byron reactor estimated

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it has made a preliminary calculation of how much radioactive tritium was released in steam used to cool the reactor during a shutdown at an Illinois nuclear plant this week.

Agency spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng says the radiation dose from the release is estimated to be less than 0.001 percent of the NRC’s annual limit. That amount is thought to be safe to workers and the public.

It’s less than was put out in a 2010 steam release at the Braidwood nuclear plant about 50 miles southwest of Chicago.

The tritium release Monday was at a reactor at the Byron plant, about 95 miles northwest of Chicago.

Final data will be available to the public after the NRC conducts a special investigation.