Ohio Nuke plant inadequately checked

[M Nivas <motnivas@YAHOO.COM>]

OCTOBER 16, 13:17 ET 

Ohio Nuke Plant Rapped on Radiation 



By JOHN SEEWER 

Associated Press Writer 



OAK HARBOR, Ohio (AP) — Operators of a nuclear power

plant didn't adequately check five workers who left

the facility with specks of radioactive material on

their clothing, federal inspectors said Wednesday. 



The radioactive particles were later found in hotel

rooms and homes in Ohio, Texas, South Carolina and

Virginia, according to FirstEnergy Corp., which

operates the Davis-Besse power plant. 



There was no threat to the public, said Tom Kozak, a

federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector. The

five workers are being retested for any possible

health effects, officials said. 



The plant staff did not properly assess how much

radiation the workers were exposed to inside the

plant's steam generator, Kozak said. 



The five workers and two others were performing

maintenance in February during a routine shutdown at

the plant near Toledo in northern Ohio. One of the

other workers was not contaminated; the second had to

be decontaminated. 



Akron-based FirstEnergy did not dispute the NRC

findings. 



``We did not handle the issue as good as we could,''

said Lew Myers, head of the company's nuclear

division. 



The company said it has made changes to how it judges

radiation levels inside the plant and now requires all

workers who go inside the steam generator to wear

respirators. 



Regulators have yet to determine the significance of

the problem and decide whether FirstEnergy should be

penalized. 



In an unrelated issue, the NRC is investigating leaks

that allowed boric acid to eat a 7-inch-wide hole

almost through the 6-inch thick steel cap that covers

the Davis-Besse reactor vessel. The leak was

discovered in March. 



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