NRC probes particles from FirstEnergy Ohio reactor
Date: 19-Apr-02
Country: USA
The NRC is investigating the incident in which Davis-Besse radiation protection personnel were notified on March 22 that radioactive particles were found on a worker's sleeve at the Onconee nuclear facility in South Carolina. That worker had last worked at Davis-Besse.
During the mid-February shut-down at the 25-year-old plant in Oak Harbor, Ohio, Davis-Besse engineers discovered deep corrosion on the top of the reactor vessel.
"The licensee's investigation to date has determined that a total of 13 discrete particles were recovered from four individuals, their clothing, residences and hotel rooms in Ohio, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia," the NRC said in a statement issued Wednesday.
The four people had worked on steam generators at Davis-Besse, which shut down in mid-February for a refueling outage.
The particles, according to the NRC, "are believed to be byproducts of the fission process with relatively low levels of activity." Preliminary findings by FirstEnergy, the NRC said, indicate there should be no adverse health effects from the particles.
FirstEnergy has presented the NRC with a plan to spend $16 million to patch the 150-ton reactor vessel head capping the 925-megawatt power plant.
During an April 10 hearing, NRC officials raised concerns, noting that such a repair job has never been attempted on a nuclear power plant.