MONTICELLO, Minn. — Lunchtime at the Cornerstone Cafe in Monticello was busy on Saturday.
Residents said the food brings you into the local business, but the conversation is what keeps them lingering for hours. And for the past few weekends, the talk of the town has been dominated by the nuclear plant leak.
Xcel Energy announced last week that 400,000 gallons of a radioactive chemical leaked from the Monticello plant late last year.
On Friday, Xcel President of Energy Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota Chris Clark said another leakage was detected in the groundwater.
Clark said the leak is fully contained, there has not been any local contaminated drinking water, and the contamination has not reached Mississippi.
The news of November's leak hit hard at first.
"I asked myself, 'Do I need to be worried about the water that I drink?'" said Leah Litzau, as she enjoyed lunch with a friend at the cafe. "Do I need to be worried about walking outside?"
Litzau said that she'll trust officials that there is no threat to the public.
"I think it concerns a lot of people just with everybody is covering things up nowadays," said Renee Henrickson, who lives nearby in Big Lake. "And we don't believe that we're always getting the truth."
Bob Finke said he believes officials, but said more people would if they only told the public about the first leak sooner.
"As always, the doomsayers are saying our fish are going to have four eyes in the Mississippi and stuff," said Frinke.
With fewer fishermen on the banks of the river Saturday, some residents say there are those who may be concerned about the waters.
"We've never not seen anyone else fishing here," said Carson Ficker, who spent the morning with a friend casting lines along the Mississippi. "This whole stretch, there are usually quite a few people down it."
He and his friend said they think the low turnout is due to the news of the leak, despite officials insisting that the Mississippi hasn't been impacted.
"I definitely don't like not hearing about something like that," said Ficker, referring to November's leak and delayed announcement.
They just hope more news doesn't come from upstream.
The public is invited to attend an open house at the Monticello Community Center on Monday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
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