Rendell Angry Over Delay In Hearing from TMI

Governor Rendell says he’s angry it took more than five hours for Exelon Nuclear to notify Pennsylvania officials about a minor radiation leak at Three Mile Island this weekend.
Low levels of radiation—the equivalent of a few X-rays—were detected inside Three Mile Island’s Unit One reactor on Saturday afternoon, around four.
Governor Rendell says he’s irked state officials didn’t find out about the incident until after nine PM.
He says his frustration is compounded by the fact Exelon officials didn’t tell authorities about a series of false alarms on Monday night until the next morning.

"Pick up the phone and call PEMA. And say, look, we think this is a false alarm. We’re going to monitor the level to see if there’s any unusual radiation. We’ll get back to you as soon as we know that. There’s no reason we shouldn’t be notified. And probably the Dauphin County EMA folks should be notified, as well, and the NRC should be notified."

Saturday’s radiation levels were below the legal requirement for notification, but Exelon spokeswoman Beth Archer says the company “appreciates” Rendell’s concern.

"While this wasn’t an emergency at Three Mile Island, we fully support the governor’s goal of timely notification. We certainly appreciate the governor’s concern. And that is exactly why we’re going to sit down with state, local and federal officials to do a lessons learned meeting."

Rendell says Exelon should have notified state and federal officials of the incident right away, noting he would have had to mobilize the National Guard in the event of a serious emergency.

Investigation Continues into Radioactive Dust at TMI

A Three Mile Island official says teams are still trying to determine why an unexpected change in air flow stirred up radioactive dust during work at the nuclear power plant Saturday. Spokesman Ralph DeSantis says public safety was never endangered by the incident in which a dozen workers were exposed to radiation, The unit has been shut down since October 26 to refuel the reactor and replace steam generators. DeSantis says the radiation came from reactor cooling system pipes that were being cut by workers. He says a radiation monitor at an entrance to the building "temporarily went up slightly." But he says a later check detected no contamination outside.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan says the investigation continues..."We do expect our radiation experts to be out there (today) if not later in the week."
DeSantis says workers are back on the job..."Most of the contamination that occurred inside the building has been cleaned up. Our workers have returned to work and we're doing the maintenance work on the building."