TMI sends workers home Saturday after radiation contamination
About 150 workers at the shut-down Three Mile Island Unit 1 containment building were sent home Saturday after a contamination alarm inside the reactor sounded.
Employees were working inside the building about 4 p.m. when the alarm went off, and Exelon engineers are working to determine the cause of the contamination, according to an Exelon news release.
"Workers were sent home because work couldn't continue until we clean the area," Exelon Vice President Bill Noll said. "We hope to be able to resume activities tomorrow."
One worker received 16 millirem of exposure, and other workers received lower levels of contamination. The annual limit for nuclear workers at Exelon plants is 2,000 millirem, according to the release.
Exelon technicians Saturday night were checking employees for possible unusual radiation exposure.
The unit has been shut down since Oct. 26 for refueling, maintenance and steam generator replacement. No contamination was found outside the building, and the event posed no threat to public health and safety, according to the news release.
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TMI Radiation Leak, Mayor Delayed Notification
WPMT-TV
Surveys conducted outside the reactor building indicated a slight increase in radioactivity, but levels have since returned to normal, TMI officials report.
LONDONDERRY TWP., - Officials with the Dauphin County Emergency Management Agency reported that low levels of radiation were measured on monitors at Three Mile Island (TMI) Reactor Unit 1 in Londonderry Twp., at about 4pm on Saturday afternoon, prompting 175 workers to be removed from the reactor building.
According to Exelon, all 175 workers were checked for exposure, but none of them approached or exceeded any exposure limits.
Exelon Nuclear says that there was no contamination identified outside the reactor building.
Surveys conducted outside the reactor building indicated a slight increase in radioactivity, but levels have since returned to normal, TMI officials report.
Dauphin County and state EMA officials did not learn of the exposure until Middletown Mayor Robert Reid contacted the county's 911 Center at 9:30pm, 5 1/2 hours after the radiation release.
Officials believe the radiation exposure was caused by ongoing work related to the cutting of lines in preparation for the removal of the Bravo Steam Generator.
Radiation incident at Three Mile Island
6abc.com
THREE MILE ISLAND - November 22, 2009 (WPVI) -- We are learning more this morning about a reported radiation incident at Three Mile Island.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says later today it is sending two radiation specialists to the plant near Harrisburg.
Diane Screnchi, spokeswoman at Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), tells ABC News that Exelon was doing maintenance work at TMI.
Speaking to WHTM in Harrisburg, Three Mile Island spokesperson Ralph DeSantis said work was being done in Unit 1 reactor building. Workers were cutting a large number of pipes when a radiation alarm sounded.
Unit 1 had already been shut down for weeks due to overhauling of new steam generators and other equipment.
Exelon tells ABC News that once the alarm sounded they then cleared everybody out of containment.
According to ABC News, Exelon is in the process of evaluating everybody to see if they had any kind of occupational exposure.
"This does not appear to be an occupational threat nor a threat to the public health and safety. Exelon is working to understand what happened, why it happened and what they need to do to prevent a recurrence," Screnchi said.
The NRC now says about 20 employees were treated for exposure following the incident at one of the reactors. Originally, there were reports that more 100 workers had to be decontaminated.
The cause of the leak is under investigation. The entire plant is shut down.
Three Mile Island was, of course, the site of a nuclear incident 30 years ago.
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