While things appear to be in control at Three Mile Island, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will be in full force at the facility to find out more about the minor radiation leaked that occurred over the weekend.
On Saturday officials from the Three Mile Island nuclear facility reported that one of the plants nuclear reactors may have malfunctioned and at least 20 workers were exposed to radiation. While residents of nearby surroundings have been worried, the NRC had downplayed the incident and given assurances that the leak was minor.
Said Ralph DeSantis of Exelon Energy to “Good Morning America” on Monday, “…. that the cause of the leak still remains a mystery but the leak appears to be minor.” In any case, at 150 workers at the facility were asked to leave for fear of airborne exposure.
“It happened when workers were cutting through pipes and also using a vacuum type device that may have blown radioactive particles up into the air,” DeSantis said.
The unfortunate incident was discovered at around 4 pm on Saturday. The building in question has been shut down.
All the 150 workers were taken to a nearby medical facility but only 20 tested positive for radiation exposure. The worst exposure recorded was the equivalent of 3 chest x rays. Most hospital patients in North America undergo at least 1-5 X rays a year without any undue harm.