Radiation detected at Three Mile Island

November 23, 2009|Associated Press

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission sent investigators to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant after a small amount of radiation was detected in the Unit 1 reactor.

About 150 employees were sent home Saturday afternoon after the radiation was detected at the plant in central Pennsylvania. Officials said there is no public health risk.

Beth Archer, a spokeswoman for Exelon Nuclear, said investigators are searching for a cause of the release. Archer said the radiation was quickly contained and tests showed the contamination was confined to surfaces inside the building.

NRC radiation specialist John White said there is no indication that radiation at the plant exceeded or even approached regulatory limits, ABC News reported.

The 786-megawatt unit has been shut down for refueling and maintenance since Oct. 26.

A temporary opening was cut into the containment building to allow workers to move new steam generators in, and a monitor near the opening “showed a slight increase in a reading and then returned to normal,’’ Exelon said in a statement.

One worker received 16 millirem of exposure, which is below the NRC limits. The annual limit for nuclear workers is 2,000 millirem.

The average person is exposed to about 360 millirems a year from naturally occurring radiation, according to the American Nuclear Society.

A partial meltdown occurred in Three Mile Island’s Unit 2 reactor in March 1979, and that unit has been shut down since then.

It was the biggest nuclear accident in US history.