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Re: radiation exposue at st lucie



At 07:46 PM 10/12/2002 -0400, Norman Cohen wrote:







> > Radiation Exposure at Nuclear Plant

> >

> > ASSOCIATED PRESS

> >

> > HUTCHINSON ISLAND, Fla.- Federal officials are investigating

> > how 28 nuclear power plant workers were exposed to radiation

> > during a maintenance operation.



That's all very interesting, Norman, but it doesn't tell us WHAT the dose was.



What dose were these workers actually exposed to?



Was it as much as a transcontinental flight?



Was it as much as a dental X-ray?



Are they glowing in the dark?



ALARA is a great goal, but if it wasn't ALARA did it do any harm?



Forwarding popular press articles to a technical list is of limited utility 

in my opinion. Press articles with mis- and dis- information, especially 

when the most egregious of these are aggregated, are a major cause of some 

of the unwarranted fears we have of nuclear technology.



I would hope that while the UNPLUG SALEM campaign has a very obvious stated 

goal, accurate reporting of technical details should not be sacrificed to 

your goal.



There are some warranted fears of the technology, and Davis-Besse and the 

management and regulatory failures are good examples of what can 

organizationally go wrong, but this was a step to correct that, as I read 

between the lines.



Thanks!



Richard



> >

> > Florida Power & Light, owner of the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant,

> > said plant employees and several outside contractors inhaled

> > radioactive particles Oct. 6 during maintenance work on one

> > of the plant's two units.

> >

> > The radiation was at a "very low" level, and none of the

> > workers reported feeling sick, the company said.

> >

> > FPL officials expected some radiation to be released during

> > the operation, and two workers who were pressure-cleaning

> > beneath the top part of the reactor in the 230-foot-tall

> > building were wearing protective suits. However, the 28

> > workers 62 feet above them were not wearing any protection.

> >

> > "The dose is expected to be kept as low as reasonably

> > achievable, and in this incident we're not sure that's what

> > occurred," said Len Wert, an Atlanta-based branch chief for

> > the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which supervises

> > inspectors at Florida's nuclear plants.

> >

> > In August, the NRC ordered 69 of the nation's 103 nuclear

> > reactor facilities to test certain reactor heads after

> > inspections revealed corrosion and cracks at two plants in

> > South Carolina and Ohio. This was the first such cleaning at

> > the St. Lucie plant.

> >

> > Federal inspectors are investigating whether FPL followed

> > government guidelines, said NRC spokesman Roger Hannah.

> >

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>--

>Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr

>Ave., Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8583 or 609-601-8537;

>ncohen12@comcast.net  UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE:

>http://www.unplugsalem.org/  COALITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE WEBSITE:

>http://www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org   The Coalition for Peace and

>Justice is a chapter of Peace Action.

>"First they ignore you; Then they laugh at you; Then they fight you;

>Then you win. (Gandhi) "Why walk when you can fly?"  (Mary Chapin

>Carpenter)

>

>

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