I just want to give my two cents on this. Not that this article is wrong in expressing the concerns over nuclear safety, it is a very important issue in the industry, there are just some details that where not necessarily presented clearly in my opinion and some additional perspectives that might not cause people to panic about the around the clock generation of clean energy using nuclear power. I hope to give anyone who takes the time to read this some insight on how he level of conservatism/safety in the nuclear power industry, and enforce that it is many orders of magnitude greater than almost all other industries, as it should be.

The first point I would like to make is that the Containment/Reactor Building SUMP System in All Nuclear Power Plants is completely isolated from the outside world and is not directly connected to the storm drain system in anyway. The storm drain system at this plant is probably connected to river, that would make sense, most man made structures drain storm water (i.e. rain/snow melt) to local bodies of water or back into the ground, if possible, and I am almost certain that any storm water discharge is highly regulated by EPA/NJDEP.

My second point is that regardless of public perception, Nuclear Power Plants are actual design to be very safe, hence why plants are getting shut down by operators for finical reasons, not safety reasons, even with the increase microscope that nuclear plants are being inspected under due to the events in Japan. This instance is a great case that demonstrates the conservative (safe) manner in which the plants have been designed and are being operated. By isolating this system in the containment building, the plant is designed to passively contain this entire leak. Even with this sump system isolated and ensuring that there is no way this tiny leak can get out and impact the public, Nuclear Plant operators have a legal responsibility to fix any leaks in these critical systems beyond a certain point, in other stories I read, the limit for this plant is one gallon per minute. If the leak is not reduced to below this limit in a set period of time, again other stories indicated 6 hours, the plant is forced to shut down until the leak is repaired. This is just one of the many passive design features of NPP that protect the health and well being of the public.

To put it simply, they shut the plant down after only 6 hours, taking away enough clean energy to power over 1 million homes because minor leak that resulted in 4,800 out of the 90,000 gallons (0.533%) leaked from this system in a 2 day period, with no where it could go and causing no harm to the public well being. That is equivalent to a slow drip from a faucet in someones home. Think about that, they had 6 hours to stop a leak that equates to a radioactive leaky faucet slowly dripping into a sink that doe not have a drain before they had to shut off the water under this sink and replace that tiny o-ring that’s responsible for that leak. Most people probably would let that sink leak for weeks, probably months before they fix it. If that’s not looking out for the health and safety of the public and environment while providing around the clock clean energy, I don’t know what is.

I obviously am connected to the industry; I have been so fora very short period of time so far, less than a year. I also have technical background with Degrees in engineering, and I am in the “under 30” demographic. I think solar and wind energy are great alternatives to fossil fuels along with Nuclear power. I also think that the public needs to try and hear both sides of the story and try to have a solid understanding of the matter at hand. So don’t just assume that any liquid that leaks from a nuclear power plant goes in to the near by river/stream/ocean, etc., because it doesn't. In fact that couldn't be further from the truth.