The majority of news coverage on the Monticello plant it is based on the 2023 tritium leak.
“Xcel discovered in November that about 400,000 gallons of water containing tritium — a radioactive isotope of hydrogen — had leaked from a faulty pipe.”
Prior to the leak, news coverage in the Monticello plant was mostly informational on Xcel’s plans for sustainable nuclear power generation and on the operations of the plant.
The community was not informed of the leak until 4 months after when they were assured that the leak was not a threat to their health and safety.
- Although there was a community meeting to discuss this issue, a lot of the community members in the area had little to no prior issue with the plant being there until the leak