Hundreds of thousands of gallons of radioactive water leaked from Minnesota nuclear power plant

Minnesota regulators are currently monitoring the cleanup of a leak of about 400,000 gallons of radioactive water from Xcel Energy Monticello's nuclear power plant. 

"Xcel Energy took swift action to contain the leak to the plant site, which poses no health and safety risk to the local community or the environment," the utilities company said in a statement.

Xcel reported the leak of the radioactive water back in November 2022, but federal authorities told them they wanted more information before going public with the information, according to NBC News.

"We knew there was a presence of tritium in one monitoring well, however Xcel had not yet identified the source of the leak and its location," Minnesota Pollution Control Agency spokesman Michael Rafferty said, according to the outlet.  

"Now that we have all the information about where the leak occurred, how much was released into groundwater, and that contaminated groundwater had moved beyond the original location, we are sharing this information," he continued. 

Rafferty also noted that the water is contained on Xcel's property and doesn't pose an immediate public health risk.

"Ongoing monitoring from over two dozen on-site monitoring wells confirms that the leaked water is fully contained on-site and has not been detected beyond the facility or in any local drinking water," Xcel Energy's statement said.