BRAIDWOOD (AP) — Public documents show that Exelon Corp. officials tried to keep the public in the dark about radioactive tritium spills at a nuclear power plant near the Kankakee River, according to a published report.

Tritium spills dating back to 1996 at the company's Braidwood Generating Station were disclosed after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency pressured Exelon Nuclear to test for contamination at the request of the plant's neighbors.

Documents obtained by the Chicago Tribune show that Exelon Nuclear officials expressed opposition to public discussion of tritium and the release of information about the leaks, the newspaper reported in its Sunday editions. The company also successfully opposed Illinois legislation in 2001 that would have required it to monitor the groundwater at its nuclear facilities for radioactive releases.

"The likelihood of groundwater contamination from ComEd/Exelon facilities is nil; the likelihood does not justify the millions of dollars of cost," an Exelon lobbying document from the time states, according to the newspaper.

The company contends that the leaks do not pose a danger to the public. Craig Nesbit, a spokesman for Exelon's nuclear operations, last week also said the company was not legally required to report some of the leaks.

Click for larger view. Thomas O'Neill, Exelon Nuclear's vice president of regulatory and legal affairs, disputed the notion that the company was trying to hide something.

"When you are talking about extending the life of your plant and possibly building new nuclear plants and looking at the whole environment, it absolutely makes no sense why anyone in this company, the company as a whole, would do anything but be open, honest, candid, forthright and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations," O'Neill said.

Exelon officials pointed to a Web site detailing developments, testing of private wells and meetings with homeowners as signs of openness since the tritium contamination was detected last year.

The spills resulted from malfunctioning valves on an underground pipe, also known as a blowdown line, that carries water with tritium to the Kankakee River, where it is legally dumped.

In 2000, officials from the nearby town of Godley requested an IEPA hearing on the Braidwood plant by objecting to the state's renewal of the permit that allows Exelon to discharge its radiated water into the river.

The Tribune reported that Exelon Nuclear senior environmental analyst John Petro warned colleagues in an e-mail that questions could arise during the public hearing about one of the leaks.

"It is most important to stay away from these issues. I am confident that the Village of Godley knows little if anything about the blowdown line rupture," Petro wrote, according to the newspaper.

Critics say that documents show that the company tried to keep the public in the dark.

"It's apparent that this all points to obfuscation of radioactive material releases at the Braidwood plant," said Paul Gunter, director of the Reactor Watchdog Project at the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.

Tritium is a radioactive substance commonly found in small concentrations in most surface water. Studies have shown long-term exposure — through drinking or bathing — can increase the risk of cancer and birth defects.

State health and regulatory agency officials say public health is not threatened by the contamination near Braidwood.

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