TMI Incident

[zer0onyx]

Im here at TMI on Outage Coverage for the T1R18 Outage. Yesterday I was watching at they were getting ready to remove the first steam generator. They started removing it, then took it back in and pulled the tarp over the hole cut into containment. I thought nothing of it til this morning when I was watching the news.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7131935

[JsonD13]

Mutant,
      to you.  There is absolutely no need to add to possible fears of anyone until that station figures out the extent of damage.  If you read into the article it says that 20 people were treated for exposure.  That would tend to imply that they recieved exposures bad enough to warrant medical attention.  However, these people probably were only contaminated and just needed to take a shower.

Jason

[zer0onyx]

Sorry. You are right I should change that.

[RRhoads]

Not defend the media, but perhaps TMI/Exelon should be more careful about what THEY put out to the media & how THEY handle jobs going on in Containment.
While i totally agree about the significance of the "incident" (minor to nil at best)
however, if anybody should know how to deal with Media issues it should be TMI and they should be the most sensitive to their neighbors!
Everybody in this business is fully awear of Exelon's "reputation" as well as SGT's when it comes to "getting things done". The worst HP experiences on SG replacements happened to me while SGT was there and talking to other HP's seems to be the norm & not the exception.

[RRhoads]

Nope sure dont have any info on that but just making a general statement about SGT. Perhaps you should start another topic about SGT if you are so inclined!.
Seems you may be too close to the situation to make an unbiased statement.

[Gamecock]

Not defend the media, but perhaps TMI/Exelon should be more careful about what THEY put out to the media

I think this is the problem the plagues the nuclear industry as a whole.  The general public is ignorant of all things nuclear.  The nuclear power conglomerates should educate the public with TV commercials, etc. to help overcome the public misperceptions.  Until they do this, the "Nuclear Renaissance" will never become a reality.

Just my .02

[zer0onyx]

All we have heard is that they were cutting some pipes and the airborne alarm had went off.

[ruth13]

You have to chuckle when you see headlines like "Radiation Detected at Three Mile Island, 150 Workers Sent Home".  (Fox News.com)  Duh.....it IS a nuclear power plant, afterall......

[JustinHEMI05]

I always love how they end it with "there was a partial meltdown in 1979." Because that is related and will help the public remain calm.

[Brett LaVigne]

That short article was absolute BS, fueled with a total lack of understanding and aimed to scare those that don't know the difference. This stuff always makes me really angry. I also think it is a good point that was made in an earlier post about how much info. the utility gives the press. Generally, the media likes to sensationalize things, it pulls in more viewers.

I will also comment that SGT, in my opinion, run SGR projects like a bunch of cowboys with a get-r-done at all costs attitude. I don't know enough to imply that it was their fault, but I was terrified of the refuel floor both times at Diablo once we turned over the can to them. Dropping things on a daily basis it seemed along with much talk about the bonus recieved if done ahead of schedule. Sorry, I know we have to get the job done, but schedule infront of safety is wrong in any industry. In fact, I would consider it almost criminal taking a stance that the risk of injury or death is worth taking to come in under budget and ahead of schedule. And that was exactally my impression of how SGT did business, and how the utility allowed it is just as suspect.

[JsonD13]

Working a normal workday could read like this at any news network.  I detect radiation every day, and every day we sent hundreds of people home, .

[JavaJoe]

All we have heard is that they were cutting some pipes and the airborne alarm had went off.

I've heard that TMI just received 2 more NRC guys to come help them out

[kp88]

I've heard that TMI just received 2 more NRC guys to come help them out

They tend to be helpful that way.   

[matthew.b]

I just love the article opening with "A small amount of radiation was detected in a reactor building."

Hmmm, I've never known a reactor building at an operating plant that didn't have at least a little radiation in it.

Until we see more info, this is a very speculation loaded event.

[Smart People]

I remember an incident at Hatch. there was a lifting accident in the turbine access and a worker had to go to the hospital. All the local news was worried about was that the worker had to be checked for contamination (Just like everybody else at the plant)

[HydroDave63]

I've heard that TMI just received 2 more NRC guys to come help them out

Portable shielding! 

[Neutron Whisperer]

Might I suggest saving a millirem:

[MeterSwangin]

So what actually happened at the TMI SGR?  Grind on mrad pipe-end?  Need facts.

[zer0onyx]

They are still not sure. They "think" it was from the cutting of pipes. There has been talk about the vacuums they were using in the opposing d-ring that did not have filters in them. The workers that were using the vacuums did not receive any dose so i am not sure how they are thinking they are the cause.

[UncaBuffalo]

In a statement, a county representative said, "County and state officials did not learn of the exposure until Middletown Mayor Robert Reid called the county's 911 center at 9:30 p.m., which was five and a half hours after the leak was detected."

http://www.wgal.com/news/21691924/detail.html

So...why did they notify the local authorities anyway?  I've been in several 'incidents' where we had airborne in the can & crapped a bunch of people up...but notifying the county was never mentioned. 

Is this a notification that only TMI (because of their history) has to make?

[rumrunner]

TMI doesn't help themselves when their 4-hour NRC report uses poor terminology.  "Hmm, we got some of that radiation activity going on in there."

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/event-status/event/en.html#en45514

[Brett LaVigne]

This whole thing is just stupid.

I helped an Areva guy a couple of years ago that got nearly 100 millirem from an uptake on the generator platform. Looking back on it, I should have called 911 as soon as I found out he was contaminated!

[Marvin]

You guys are looking at this through a dirty lens.

Keep em scared and in the dark and we'll have work for life.  If everyone knew about radiation, then they wouldn't need us.

[RDTroja]

You guys are looking at this through a dirty lens.

Keep em scared and in the dark and we'll have work for life.  If everyone knew about radiation, then they wouldn't need us.

I disagree. The regulators will never relax rules or allow the utilities to reduce controls no matter what the public thinks. You don't have to teach them the magic, just get them to accept that the magic and magicians are benevolent.

[Melrose]

FYI,

At approximately 1600 on Saturday an unexpected increase in airborne radioactivity developed in the Reactor Building.  This was immediately evident by the alarming of local air monitors first in the B D-ring, then in other areas of the Reactor Building.  As per procedure, the control room and OCC were notified and all work was stopped.  Personnel were directed to exit the reactor building until conditions could be assessed.  Precautionary actions were then taken to cover reactor building openings, including lowering of the pre-installed curtain at the construction hatch, and covering the personnel hatch entrance area.  RB purge supply fans were secured to maximize purge exhaust ventilation flow and reduce air flow out of the construction opening.  An airborne sample taken at the inside of the construction opening at 1830 showed activity levels had returned to normal values.  The calculated release for this event was 0.7% of TMI’s annual limit, which is equivalent to 0.1 mrem on an annual limit of 15 mrem.  No contamination was found on any surfaces outside the containment building – in other words, this event posed no threat to public health or safety, or the health or safety of our team.

 The inside airborne contamination was caused by a slight change in air pressure inside the containment building that dislodged small irradiated particles in the reactor system piping. Some of the small particles were lofted into the air inside the building and were detected by an array of monitors in place to detect such material.

 The air pressure change occurred when fans were started to supply warm air to the Reactor Building.   

145 Whole Body Counts (WBC) were completed using the bioassay process with the results being validated by the Radiological Technical Manager and Corporate RP staff as well as the NRC.  Some workers may continue to alarm the gamma monitors at the main access facility until the activity is biologically eliminated from the body over the next few days.  All workers are expected to receive zero (0) mrem of dose following completion of final whole body counts.


Each person in the United States receives about 300 mrem per year of radiation dose from naturally occurring sources.  The activity released during this event was about 0.1 mrem (one tenth of one mrem). 

 
Hope this clears things up......... RELAX...