EDIS Number: NC-20091122-23926-USA
Date / time: 22/11/2009 06:12:48 [UTC]
Event: Nuclear Event
Area: North-America
Country: USA
State/County: State of Pennsylvania
City: Londonderry Township
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured: None or unknow
Damage level: Minor

Description:

A radiation leak at Three Mile Island contaminated about 100 employees Saturday afternoon, according to a TMI official. 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. However, DeSantis told WHTM about 150 employees were in the reactor, all were wearing protective suits, but about 100 were still contaminated. Late Saturday, DeSantis told WHTM that all workers have been decontaminated. He also pointed out that the public was not in any danger and the nonthreatening level of contimation was contained to Three Mile Island. The cause of the leak is under investigation. The entire plant is shut down. ABC News says NRC is sending a radiation specialist to Three Mile Island Sunday.