The Will County Forest Preserve District may seek financial compensation for radioactive tritium leaks at the Braidwood Dunes and Savanna Nature Preserve.
The Forest Preserve District Board is scheduled to consider a proposal Thursday to ask Exelon Corp. to cover the costs of indefinitely closing the preserve, a few yards from Exelon’s nuclear generating plant property in Braidwood.
The proposed resolution authorizes district lawyers to write a letter to Exelon seeking compensation, establishes a 30-day period for Exelon to formally respond and authorizes forest district attorneys to file a lawsuit if Exelon doesn’t respond. Specific cost estimates for staff time and remediation should be available before the board meeting, according to district spokesman Bruce Hodgdon.
Hodgdon termed the preserve closing a precautionary measure.
But Craig Nesbit, Exelon Nuclear’s communications director, says the closing “made no sense to us.”
Nesbit termed the amount of tritium released into the preserve “very very low–barely above background level.”
“I’m not sure why they would be seeking damages. There were none,” he said.
Braidwood Dunes and Savanna Nature Preserve consists of black oak, savanna and prairie in the bed of ancient Lake Wauponsee.