Senator Christopher Connors

June 29, 2009   

Contact: Jason Smith / (609) 693-6700
Assemblyman Brian Rumpf, Senator Christopher J. Connors

9th District Legislative Delegation Writes to White House, NRC, Governor’s Office & DEP

In response to recent media reports, Senator Christopher J. Connors, Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf and Assemblyman Daniel M. Van Pelt are calling for the immediate release of a root-cause analysis on the tritium release at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station. According to published media reports, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has a time-frame of six weeks to decide whether or not to make this information public.

In seeking the release of the analysis, the 9th District Delegation wrote President Barack Obama, requesting that the President direct the NRC to make the analysis available to the public in interest of government transparency. A letter was also sent to NRC Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko.

On the state level, the Delegation wrote to Governor Corzine and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Mark N. Mauriello in an attempt to solicit further support for the release of the analysis. In late April, the Delegation requested a full briefing on the Department’s investigation to the tritium release at the Oyster Creek facility.

Connors, Rumpf and Van Pelt made the following remarks regarding their unified call for the release of the analysis:

“In the interest of transparency, we strongly believe that the contents of the analysis should be considered public information and, therefore, released in a timely fashion. From our point of view, the analysis should be made available for review by the very people whose health and safety it is the NRC’s obligation to protect. Since the initial investigation included whether or not there was groundwater contamination resulting from the tritium release, we do not understand how the NRC could reach a conclusion that this information should be kept confidential.

“Considering the public response when it was first made public that there was a tritium leak at the Oyster Creek facility, we fully anticipate that constituents will be contacting our Office calling for this analysis to be made public. If nothing else, this information should be released to reassure residents of local communities that there is no risk to the public, if that is indeed the conclusion reached by the NRC through its investigation.”

Copies of the Delegation’s letters to the President, the NRC, Governor Corzine and the DEP are attached.

9th District Legislative Delegation Writes to White House, NRC, Governor’s Office & DEP In response to recent media reports, Senator Christopher J. Connors, Assemblyman Brian E. Rumpf and Assemblyman Daniel M. Van Pelt are calling for the immediate release of a root-cause analysis on the [...]