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Fire Stirs Safe Levels of Radiation
Fire Stirs Safe Levels of Radiation
RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) - The fire at Hanford nuclear reservation last
month churned up radioactive contaminants, including plutonium, but
not to levels that pose health risks, the Department of Energy said
Wednesday.
The plutonium particles were detected in an air sample from a storage
area of some of Hanford's most dangerous waste near the center of the
560-square-mile reservation.
The measurement was ``well below the level of concern'' set by the
federal government and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and did not
pose a risk to firefighters or the public, Harry Boston, DOE's deputy
manager at Hanford, said at a news conference.
Breathing the measured amount of plutonium for a year would expose a
person to 3 millirem of radiation. The limit of exposure for Hanford
workers is 100 millirem a year.
Indicators of radioactivity also showed up in 34 of 76 other samples,
most of them near the storage areas at the center of the reservation.
Those substances could not be determined.
Hanford is the most contaminated nuclear site in the nation after 40
years of making plutonium for the country's nuclear arsenal.
On the Net:
http://www.hanford.gov/hanfordfire.html
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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
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