Three Mile Island operations resume
Posted on November 25th, 2009
Greenwire: Following a weekend radiation leak at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant (Greenwire, Nov. 23), Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has criticized plant leaders for failing to involve emergency officials for five hours after knowing of the contamination.
The plant resumed full operations yesterday. “Things are back to normal,” said site vice president Bill Noll.
No contamination was identified outside the plant, where 20 workers tested positive for exposure to radiation, the worst of which was roughly equivalent to about two dental X-rays, say officials. The event did not pose a risk to the public, company and federal officials said yesterday.
The leak probably stemmed from ventilation fans that caused the release of a small amount of radiation inside one plant on Saturday, plant officials say. The problem has since been fixed. “This seems to be the most probable reason,” said John White, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s regional supervisor for radiation protection and inspection, though he says the agency will continue to investigate the incident.
Last month the NRC approved Exelon’s request for a two decade extension of its license to operate the Three Mile Island plant. Just two days before the incident Exelon announced its intention to begin replacing all 96 emergency sirens within a 10-mile radius of the site, a $2.2 million project (Cattabiani/Avril, Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 24) – DFM