Mississippi
Low levels of radioactive tritium may be near the Mississippi River after an energy company’s leak
MONTICELLO, Minn. — Groundwater containing low levels of radioactive material may have reached the edge of the Mississippi River, the energy company responsible for the leak from its nuclear power plant in Monticello, Minnesota, announced on Thursday.
Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, has not been detected in the river water itself, Xcel Energy said in a statement.
“The closest sample to detect tritium is about 30 feet from the river, and detected about 1,000 picocuries per liter, far below Safe Drinking Water Act standards, or below 20,000 picocuries per liter,” the statement said. “Any presence of tritium in the river would be well below the Safe Drinking Water standard and likely at levels indistinguishable from what occurs naturally in the environment.”
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the state Department of Health released a joint statement saying the latest development does not present a threat to public health, and there are no immediate impacts to the safety of drinking water or private wells, Minnesota Public Radio reported.
Xcel Energy discovered in November that about 400,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of water containing tritium had leaked from a faulty pipe. The utility made a temporary fix but learned in March that hundreds more gallons of tritium-laced water leaked, leading to a dayslong shutdown to fix the pipe.
While the utility and health officials say the leak is not dangerous, the issue has prompted concerns among residents and raised questions about aging pipelines.
More than half of the tritium that leaked from the pipe has been recovered, officials said in May.
The nuclear plant is about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Minneapolis.
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Staff
Dallas-based Compass Datacenters, a multinational data center developer, is locating its next hyperscale data center campus in Meridian, according to Gov. Tate Reeves, who announced the project at the Mississippi Economic Council’s Capital Day Thursday.
The campus will consist of eight data centers that will be constructed over an eight-year period.Upon occupancy, Compass Datacenters’ campus will represent an investment of $10 billion, including future tenants’ information technology equipment. The campus also will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs. Compass Datacenters builds single-tenant, hyperscale data center campuses. The large-scale campuses built by Compass are designed to last for more than 100 years and create economies of scale to support local businesses and jobs.
Mississippi Development Authority is providing assistance for site preparation. MDA also will certify Compass Datacenters as a data center operator, which will provide the company with 10-year state income and franchise tax exemptions, as well as a sales and use tax exemption on construction materials, equipment and software and hardware replacements.
The city of Meridian, Lauderdale County, and electrical utility provider Mississippi Power Company also are assisting with the project. Mississippi Power will supply approximately 500 megawatts of power to the facility.
Ross Reily is a writer for the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Malik Dia scored 21 points to lead No. 23 Mississippi to a 73-66 win over Arkansas on Wednesday night, the Rebels’ first win in Fayetteville since 2015.
Sean Pedulla scored 16 and Dre Davis 10. Pedulla and Dia made back-to-back buckets with less than nine minutes left to build Ole Miss’ lead to double digits after Arkansas (11-4, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) had cut it to six.
Adou Thiero led the Razorbacks with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting. The rest of the Arkansas team shot just 32%.
Dia, Pedulla and Davis scored 14 straight points for the Rebels (13-2, 2-0) over a five-minute stretch midway through the second, outscoring the Hogs over that span by four to keep the lead at double digits.
The Razorbacks, who fell out of the Top 25 last week after a loss at Tennessee, have started 0-2 in league play for the second straight season.
Takeaways
Arkansas’ NCAA Tournament hole may be large by the end of the week as ninth-ranked Florida visits Bud Walton Arena on Saturday.
The Rebels are 2-0 in the SEC for the first time since 2019, which is also the last time the Rebels made the NCAA Tournament. They look the part of returning in 2025.
Key moment
Ole Miss’ 17-7 run over the first 5:37 of the second half was precisely what the Rebels needed to get out of Arkansas with a win.
Key stat
Shooting doomed the Razorbacks. Arkansas shot just 22% from 3-point range to Ole Miss’ 39% and the Razorbacks’ leading scorer on the season, Boogie Fland, went just 5 of 20 from the floor for 14 points.
Up next
Ole Miss hosts LSU on Saturday.
Arkansas hosts No. 8 Florida on Saturday.
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JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The Mississippi State Department of Health held its first meeting of 2025 on Wednesday, during which it also announced an achievement.
At the state board meeting, the department discussed scheduled items on the agenda and heard from MSDH State Health Officer Dr. Dan Edney.
Edney briefed the state board on current health concerns such as a nationwide increase in cases of pertussis.
Edney also briefed the board on legislative priorities for the upcoming year.
And after an 18-month process, the Mississippi State Department of Health has officially achieved full reaccreditation status.
Edney expressed his gratitude to the MSDH staff and others in attendance.
“The fact that our hard work does not go unrecognized and objectively measured evidence is very important to me,” said Edney.
According to Edney, the reaccreditation status is objective evidence that MSDH is confident in what they do and more than confident that they excel in what they do.
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