Over half of the contaminated water leaked at nuclear plant recovered, Xcel says

MONTICELLO, Minn. (AP) — Officials say crews are making substantial progress in recovering contaminated groundwater at a Minnesota nuclear plant. City officials in Monticello said in a news release Tuesday that Xcel Energy has collected more than half of the tritium released after a pipe leaked at the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant in March. The plant was closed down to fix the leaky pipe but has been returned to service. Xcel Energy, which owns the plant, has pumped over 1.1 million gallons of water and recovered 53% of the tritium that was released. Xcel officials say the leak was fully contained at the site and presented no health problem to area residents.