Minn. Nuclear Workers Exposed to Radiation

[jpak]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2006/may/09/050902408.html


RED WING, Minn. (AP) - An accidental release of radioactive gas at a nuclear plant in southeastern Minnesota exposed about 100 workers to low levels of radiation last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

The Prairie Island plant was shut down for maintenance and refueling at the time, and no radiation was released outdoors, said Jan Strasma, commission spokesman.

The workers were wearing protective gear May 2 when they were exposed to low levels of radioactive iodine, said Arline Datu, spokeswoman for Nuclear Management Co. Most received 10 to 20 millirems of radiation, about the same as a dental X-ray. They were decontaminated and allowed to go home, she said.

<not much more>

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. another link

with a little more info.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/state/minnesota/14537589.htm

3mile Island
Trojan
Prairie Island

I just googled "Nuclear Workers exposed" and got 7,410,000 hits.

Nuclear doesn't have my confidence.

[Dead_Parrot]

2. Yeah...

whereas "coal miner dies of bronchitis" only gets 124,000 hits, so coal must be way safer.

You missed out the link, BTW

Edit: here we go:
"spam" - 377,000,000 hits
"Aliens" - 50,300,000 hits
"pixies" - 8,720,000 hits
"nuclear workers exposed" - 7,030,000 hits
"killed by coal" - 7,000,000 hits
"killed by spam" - 6,050,000 hits
"Gwendolyn Anne Lewthwaite" - 0 hits

Conclusions: Spam kills almost as many people as coal, but it's not as bad as nuclear power. Pixies are real, we're choking on aliens and there's more spam than Americans, and I've hallucinated my own mother.

Wow. Google sure tears down those walls of propaganda.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. Hey, that's a nasty job too.

burning more coal (or even as much) isn't the answer either.


thanks for the correction. :)

[depakid]

10. The Trojan cooling tower is about to demolished

On May 21st, I believe.

A suitable end to yet another PGE rip-off.

http://www.cheappower.org/trojan.htm

[Viva_La_Revolution]

11. Hey you, missed ya last weekend.

:hi:

[Odin2005]

4. LOL,

Good comeback! :evilgrin: :rofl:

[hunter]

7. Oh my. I typed my mom's name into Google.

I've never done that.

She's not a hallucination.

[phantom power]

8. Dude, "Nuclear workers exposed" is a porn site :-)

[One_Life_To_Give]

5. 5rem annual limit vs 20 thousandths (20/1000)rem

Doesn't sound like much of anything.

[dcfirefighter]

6. 5R annual limit for general industry

10R limit for saving major property or protecting large populations
25R limit for life saving, informed volunteers only beyond here
~100R symptomatic limit (Hair loss in 10% of population)
~200R largest dose not requiring hospitalization
~450R LD50


If you live in Washington, DC, or anywhere there's a lot of marble and/or granite, you'd recieve a 20mR dose after 1-4 months.

You'd recieve a similar dose after 18 or so hours of flying.

It's important to note that the workers in MN were exposed and did not necessarily receive a dose. Iodine is a beta emitter. Beta is blocked by paper, clothing, and dead skin. The hazard is prolonged contact, contamination of open wounds, ingestion, or inhalation. These workers were wearing protective gear, though I don't know what level of protection they were wearing. I imagine that it was at least tyvek suits and particle respirators, in which case they probably did not recieve an actual dose. Whereas if you fly, you will receive such a dose.

The operators of this plant screwed up. But they screwed up within the realm of redundant engineering controls. It's also important to note that we heard about this.

[Dead_Parrot]

9. Of course we heard about it...

Compare and contrast these two almost identical accidents:

"Kansai Electric" killed steam explosion - 182 hits
"Capital Iron and Steel Company" killed steam explosion - 1 hit wonder.

Score 10 points if you can guess which is the nuclear plant: A bonus 5 points for guessing which killed more people.

I suppose it keeps the nuclear operators on their toes - but it doesn't help with people's misconceptions, and it lets the coal industry get away with murder (figuratively, at least).

[NickB79]

12. It sounds like the safety measures worked well

They were exposed to a very small amount of radiation, were informed of what happened, and were decontaminated properly. Like the article said, it is the equivalent of a dental X-ray. Since it was radioactive iodine, you can take iodine pills to flush any radioactive iodine out of your system as well.

I wish there were a way to decontaminate the millions of people exposed to lethal coal dust, ash and soot on a daily basis.....