A Nuclear Power Plant Leaked Oil Into Lake Michigan For Up To 2 Months Straight
Source: Huffington Post, Date: , 2015
A
leak at a nuclear power plant went undetected for weeks, allowing up to 2,000
gallons of oil to flow into Lake Michigan.Staff at the Cook Nuclear Plant in
Bridgman, Michigan first began actively looking for the leak December 17 after
discovering that the oil level had declined in one of the facility's turbine
lube oil reservoirs. The turbine lube oil system contains about 25,000 gallons
of hot, non-radioactive oil that runs across tubes and is cooled by the water
of Lake Michigan. The leak allowed oil to run into one or more of the tubes and
mix with the cooling water, ultimately washing into the lake. By December 20,
the cooler in question had been isolated and deactivated, though as of Tuesday,
workers were still developing a repair plan and working to find the exact
location of the leak.