Nuclear Waste Spill Keeps Village Leaders in Dark, EPA Silent
NORTH PERRY VILLAGE - Just ten days after the public was made aware of the nuclear power plant waste spill in Perry village, village leaders are left puzzled as to why they were not kept in the loop.
On December 16 Cleveland.com published an article notifying the public of a waste spill occurring in the village. Allegedly the Perry nuclear power plant experienced a significant waste spill where some 78 gallons of radioactive wastewater was spilled, a conservative estimate based on Vistra's self-reporting. This was only gleaned from a voluntary report obtained by the outlet, as the incident occurred sometime between January 2024 and October 2024 with the report not being made until December 14. According to the report, a loose lid sitting on a container of nuclear waste was left unattended for months as rainwater collected in it, causing it to overflow and seep into the groundwater between January 2024 and October 2024. The Plant’s operational owner, Vistra Corps, allegedly discovered the issue, hopefully rectifying it, but did not report the incident until December 14, some two months later. According to the actual report from Vistra, The ML24332A080 NRC letter states that if the spill got to an area accessible to the public it might give a member of the public a 1.5 mrem organ dose. This is half of the allowable dose to a member of the public. Despite this, there was apparently no response to investigate from any regulatory agency, including the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
According to North Perry Village mayor Brian Titus, the neighboring community to the power plant was given no notification of the event and no communication or reporting from any government regulatory agency afterwards to assure the village things were safe. “I didn't know about it until it hit the cleveland.com article,” Mayor Titus said. “I have talked with Vistra a few times about better communication. It would have been nice to know so when people are worried or upset.”
According to Titus, the plant was originally owned by First Energy before being sold to Vistra, a Texas based energy corporation, by way of Energy Harbor. The Blackrock owned energy corporation provided no details about the spill to neighboring villages other than the contents of the spill, that entered into waterways in the area, were the result of an untightened lid. Vistra has reported the contents of the spill included cobalt-60, a carcinogen, and manganese-54.
Within the State of Ohio, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to investigate and ensure environmental safety in the event of a nuclear waste spill, however according to mayor Titus, the regulatory agency has provided no communication and there is no indication any investigation has been made to ensure the validity of Vistra’s reporting.
“We were not contacted by the EPA, we didn’t get anything, there was no contact whatsoever,” Titus said. “I reached out to them after I heard about it.” Mayor Titus has reiterated that the village maintains a strong working relationship with Vistra, despite the lack of communication on this incident.
“I just want to really reiterate we have a good relationship with the plant and maybe it was a small thing to them and maybe they didn’t feel it was necessary or worth mentioning, I just want us to have an open line of communication in anything going forward, but we appreciate them as our neighbor and we support them we just like to be in the know if something, however small, takes place,” Titus said.
Potentially more concerning about this event, is the knowledge that the plant was closed in May of this year for regulatory inspection, allegedly to fix a coolant leak, during the time this waste spill was occurring (January through October) and was not discovered by regulatory agencies who may have been present.
The plant itself was scheduled to be closed sometime in 2021 due to lack of profitability, however the plant was salvaged due to Ohio House Bill 6, providing nearly $150 million per year in government subsidies to keep their doors open. The village itself has been eyed by land developers seeking to purchase the bequeathed Champion Farms property, jointly owned by neighboring Perry Village and the Perry school district, to develop a massive data processing center, which may utilize the nuclear power plant to maintain its massive servers. It is suspected such a large operation will be utilized to advance artificial intelligence.
