The company Xcel Energy announced on Thursday that it had detected and treated a leak of tritium-contaminated water at a nuclear power plant in the northern United States in November, specifying that it represented “no risk” for the inhabitants and the environment.

The leak was confined "to the plant site" in Monticello, near Minneapolis, and the contaminated water "was not detected outside the facilities or in local drinking water," Xcel Energy said in a statement. communicated.

The situation "represents no risk to the safety and health of the local population or the environment", added the company.

This leak was confirmed on November 22, said Xcel Energy, claiming to have immediately warned the American Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the State of Minnesota, where the plant is located.

Local officials are "monitoring Xcel Energy's efforts to clean up" this water release, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) said in a separate statement. "The leak has been stopped and has not reached the Mississippi River or contaminated drinking water sources," she added.

Chris Clark, an official at Xcel Energy, said the company continues to "collect and treat potentially affected water, while regularly monitoring nearby groundwater sources". Xcel Energy estimates that it has so far recovered approximately 25% of the tritium released. The leak came from "a pipe passing between two buildings", she said