The amount of radioactive tritium oozing from the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York is increasing, officials say, and has spurred Governor Andrew Cuomo to launch a multi-agency probe into the plant’s operations.

Samples from the plant’s groundwater monitoring wells show Saturday, according to New York Daily News.

Entergy Corporation, which operates the plant, said that the recent samples collected from the monitoring wells, reports the Associated Press. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established a limit of no more than 20,000 picocuries per liter in drinking water.

(MORE: )

“Last week the company reported alarming levels of radioactivity at three monitoring wells, with one well’s radioactivity increasing nearly 65,000 percent,” said Cuomo. “The trends of unexpected outages and environmental incidents like these are extremely disconcerting.”

According toEntergy spokesman Jerry Nappi, the radioactive water likely leaked out during a recent operation to prepare for a planned refueling outage, which occurs every two years. The company is still investigating to figure out how.

Nappi also said that , but also "in the environment naturally - it's at lower levels in drinking water," reports Time Warner Cable News. He asserted that tritium in the ground is not in accordance with the company's standards and that there is no chance of it affecting drinking water.

“These values remain less than one-tenth of 1% of federal reporting guidelines,” said the company in the statement. They added that the higher levels are “fluctuations that can be expected as the material migrates.”

(MORE: )

Environmentalists continue to grow frustrated with the leak and other issues stemming from the plant.

“There’s a leak somewhere, and I don’t think they know where it is,” nuclear engineer Arnold Gundersen told New York Daily News. He is also concerned that other potentially more problematic elements could have also escaped, which would add to the cleanup burden when the facility is eventually decommissioned.

“The news just keeps getting worse. Our concerns go beyond the spike in tritium levels. This is about a disturbing recurrence of serious malfunctions - seven over the last eight months,” said Riverkeeper president Paul Gallay.

​(MORE: )

Cuomo had already ordered state health and environmental conservation commissioners to investigate the leak, however, he has now ordered a more in-depth investigation that includes the Department of Public Service, New York Daily News also reports. Investigators from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are also scheduled to visit the plant to look into the incident.

A specialist will and will review the circumstances of the tritium detection, reports The Journal News. The inspector will have 45 days after concluding the review to document their findings.

“We will fully cooperate with the NRC as they conduct their review, and as we continue to investigate the cause of the elevated tritium,” said Nappi.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Japan Nuclear Water

Aftermath of a Disaster

In this March 11, 2012 file photo, storage tanks for radiation-contaminated water are seen in the compound of the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)