• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Low-Level Radiation Incident Reported: 100 Workers Exposed at Prairie Island Plant

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 May 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Dennis Lien, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

May 10--About 100 workers at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant were exposed to low levels of radiation last week when contaminated gas was accidentally released into the plant's containment building, forcing a 12-hour evacuation.

No one was injured in the May 3 accident and no radioactivity got outside, according to Jan Strasma, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The incident occurred as maintenance employees were conducting an array of tasks associated with a scheduled refueling of the Red Wing, Minn., area plant's Unit 1 reactor, which has been shut down since May 1.

An NRC report said the plant operator, Nuclear Management Co., inadvertently released radioactive gas into the building while preparing to work on the Unit 1 steam generators. The generators were not properly vented, Strasma said, allowing contaminated gas within them to be released without first being filtered. The building was evacuated until it could be cleaned.

About 100 workers wearing protective clothing were exposed to small amounts of radiation consisting primarily of radioactive iodine, according to the NRC.

All of those workers were monitored, found free of contamination and allowed to go home, according to Pam Gorman, a Nuclear Management spokeswoman.

In the most extreme cases, exposures were about equal to receiving a dental X-ray, according to Gorman. But she said most employees received considerably less exposure.

"It was not significant," Gorman said. "It's not a major issue."

It's not uncommon for maintenance workers to be exposed to low levels of radiation at nuclear plants, Strasma said. But he added it was unusual for so many people to be affected.

"In this case, contamination was throughout the containment building, where a variety of work was being done," Strasma said.

About 800 contractors are at the plant helping staff complete almost 1,500 maintenance tasks as part of the shutdown associated with the refueling effort.

NRC radiation specialists are at the plant this week to review the incident and will prepare a report addressing Nuclear Management's radiation protection program and the May 3 incident, which was not publicized until the NRC included it on a daily report Friday.

George Crocker, a longtime critic of nuclear plants and executive director of the North American Water Office, called the lack of immediate public notification "criminal" and questioned whether authorities are providing full disclosure.

"The fact that this could happen is illustrative of how close to the edge we are," Crocker said. "They are out of bounds. How many times do they get to be out of bounds when they have such unforgiving technology?"

The incident was not significant enough to be reported to the commission, but Nuclear Management notified it anyway, Strasma said.

"There was no threat to the public, no effect on the public," he said. "In our judgment, it didn't warrant a higher level of reporting. But we felt it did warrant the information be publicly available and that's why we issued the morning report."

Nuclear Management didn't consider making a public announcement because the radiation was contained entirely within the building, Gorman said.

In addition to the refueling and maintenance work at Prairie Island, Nuclear Management is replacing the Unit 1 reactor lid, a project that is costing $25 million. Prairie Island's other reactor continues to operate during the maintenance period.

Nuclear Management operates the Prairie Island plant for its owner, Xcel Energy.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

NYSE:XEL,

Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)

More News in this Category