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Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant Evacuated after Radiation Leak

by Jordan Yerman | November 23, 2009 at 07:38 am

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The Three Mile Island nuclear plant was evacuated on Saturday after a minor radiation leak. Investigators from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, just south of Middletown, PA, today to determine the cause of the leak. 20 out of the 150 evacuated workers tested positive for low levels of radiation. (Three Mile Island map) This brought back popular memory of Three Mile Island in 1979, when TMI2 (Three Mile Island's #2 recator) was destroyed after a cooling unit failed only a few months after opening. Robots handled much of the cleanup. TMI2 never reopened after the incident.

Three Mile Island lies in the Susquehanna River

"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.

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snuffysmith

at 09:46 on November 23rd, 2009

NRC investigates radiation incident at Pa. nuclear plant
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is probing the cause of radiological contamination inside the containment building of Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, but the agency said there was no danger to the public. An estimated 150 workers were inside the structure when the contamination was detected, and some were exposed to low radiation levels, an NRC spokesman said. Reuters