File photo of Muehleberg nuclear plant in Switzerland.[/caption]Scientists have found that a nuclear plant in Switzerland is responsible for the radioactive material found in a lake used to supply potable drinking water, a report says.
Geologists from Geneva University discovered that the Muehleberg nuclear plant in northwestern Switzerland is dumping contaminated wastewater into a tributary stream feeding into Lake Biel which supplies drinking water to nearby residents, theLe Matin Dimanchenewspaper reported Sunday.
The nuclear plant has been dumping its contaminated wastewater into the Aar River since 2000, resulting in a sharp increase in cesium 137 levels which were found in the sediment under the lake, scientists added.
Experts said the radioactive levels posed no immediate known danger to human health.
Meanwhile, nuclear-free advocates said government officials and nuclear inspectors had provided no information to the public about the higher levels of the radioactive material released into the lake that provides 68 percent of the drinking water to the nearby town of Biel.
"No one ever told me that there were abnormally high concentrations in the lake," said Hans Stoekli, former mayor of Biel from 1990 to 2010, adding that "the plant should have alerted us even in the case of minimal risk."
This is while, the Swiss government allowed the nuclear plant to discharge water with very low levels of radioactivity subject to strict controls several times a year, the newspaper added.
The Muehleberg plant, which started operations in 1972, is located 17 kilometers west of the capital, Bern.
Following the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan, the Swiss parliament approved to phase-out the country's five atomic power plants by 2034.
By Press TV
The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.
