Radioactive Steam Leaks Near NYC

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Fairly good article.. Several comments made that should never have 
been made, since they beg for further questions and answers. 
Something that anyone who had had media training should have known. 
For example:

(1) No plant workers were exposed to radiation above the level they 
would experience in a normal workday, Quinn said. (Con Edison vice 
president). 

This now will prompt for what does one normally receive every work 
day? That is obviously based on the type of job and whether or not 
there is an outage or non-outage occurring. They would have been 
better to equate the estimated dose to other known comparisons.

(2) ``All radiation measurements around the plant and in the 
community are within normal readings,'' he said. 

OK, now he's gone beyond the plant area and brought in the community. 
What are the typical radiation measurements in the community? Do they 
have instrumentation out there?

(3) Quinn estimated about 1 cubic foot of gas had escaped into the 
air outside, constituting a ``completely immeasurable'' amount of 
radiation. 

OK,, what does this mean to the media and general public? What 
constitutes a completely non-measurable amount of radiation?

(4) The emergency sirens surrounding the plant were not sounded 
because the steam escape was so small, the utility said. 

Would have been better to detail when a siren is sounded .. and that 
this does not generally occur at an Alert Stage .. that it might at 
Site Area Alert, and will definitely be sounded at the General 
Emergency classification.

All in all,, still a good article, and information from the NRC was 
good.

Radioactive Steam Leaks Near NYC

BUCHANAN, N.Y. (AP) - A small amount of radioactive steam leaked from 
a Hudson River nuclear plant just north of New York City, prompting 
the first alert in the plant's 26-year history, but officials said 
today that workers and residents were not in danger. 

Soon after the leak was detected Tuesday night, plant officials 
declared an alert - the second-lowest of four emergency 
classifications for nuclear plants - but no evacuations were ordered 
and none was expected, police said. 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said today that plant operators 
``have stabilized the plant and are in control of all systems'' after 
manually shutting down the reactor. It said the operators 
successfully isolated the generator where the leak occurred. 

``Radiological monitoring by the company at this point indicates 
there have been no measurable releases of radioactivity from the 
plant,'' the NRC said in a statement issued from the agency's 
headquarters in Rockville, Md. 

The agency said NRC inspectors were monitoring the response at the 
Indian Point 2 plant in northern Westchester County, about 25 miles 
north of the New York City line. The plant is operated by 
Consolidated Edison. 

``There is no danger to the health and welfare of the general 
public,'' Steve Quinn, Con Edison vice president, said today. 

No plant workers were exposed to radiation above the level they would 
experience in a normal workday, Quinn said. 

``All radiation measurements around the plant and in the community 
are within normal readings,'' he said. 

A preliminary investigation indicated the radioactive steam escaped 
after a small leak developed in a steam generator tube. 

The tube is used to carry hot, radioactive, high-pressure water 
through a pool of cooler, non-radioactive water. The heat within the 
tube makes the cooler water turn into steam, which turns a turbine 
and generates electricity. 

Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC, said the tubes - made of a 
steel alloy called inconel - ``have been known to develop leaks from 
time to time.'' It was not immediately known when they were last 
inspected. 

``There was never a question of losing enough water that the nuclear 
fuel would be in jeopardy,'' Sheehan said. 

Some steam was automatically released through a vent in the roof of 
the containment building, the sealed concrete building that holds the 
reactor, at 7:29 p.m. Tuesday. A monitor in the vent detected 
radioactivity and sealed the vent after just a few seconds. 

Quinn estimated about 1 cubic foot of gas had escaped into the air 
outside, constituting a ``completely immeasurable'' amount of 
radiation. 

The emergency sirens surrounding the plant were not sounded because 
the steam escape was so small, the utility said. 

Despite reassurances from the company, some residents expressed fear 
and anger that they weren't warned. About 250,000 people live within 
10 miles of the plant and 15.5 million within 50 miles. 

Salvatore Simone said regardless of what happened, officials should 
have notified residents. ``I might have gotten into the car with my 
family and gotten away,'' he said. 

Regina Ervin, who lives just four doors from the plant entrance, 
said: ``I'm afraid to brush my teeth. I'm afraid to make the 
coffee.'' 

The alert was expected to be lifted by late afternoon once the water 
in the system drops to below 200 degrees. Quinn said the building was 
accessible but nothing could be done inside until the temperature 
dropped. 

The plant was shut down after the leak and is to remain closed for 
maintenance for at least a week. Power will be provided by other 
plants in the region. 

``It's not something we want to rush,'' Quinn said of reopening. 
``Something unusual happened.'' 

The plant produces about a seventh of the power Con Edison supplies 
to its 3 million customers, but there was no loss of power. 

The four classifications for emergencies at power plants, in 
ascending order of importance, are: an unusual event, an alert, a 
site-area emergency and a general emergency. Only one general 
emergency has ever been declared at a U.S. nuclear plant, after the 
March 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. 

Mindy Landau, an NRC representative, said there typically are three 
or four alerts at the nation's 103 operating reactors each year. 
Between 1994 and 1999, the NRC counted 23 alerts. 

Con Edison appeared to followed proper procedures in notifying the 
NRC, state, county and local authorities, Sheehan said, but added, 
``it's something we'll be looking at further.'' 

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
ICN Biomedicals, Inc.				E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          
Costa Mesa, CA 92626                                      

Personal Website:  http://www.geocities.com/scperle
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com

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