nuclear-news

Radiation risks for nuclear plant workers

Nuclear plant balks at regulator request to test all employees for radiation Globe and Mail , Jun. 23, 2010 Federal regulators at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission have asked the operator of an Ontario power plant to test hundreds of its workers by this Friday for exposure to cancer-causing alpha radiation, but the company is balking at the request………..

The request by the commission was issued to Bruce last week and was followed on Monday by a letter to senior officials at the country’s three other nuclear plant operators — Ontario Power Generation, NB Power, and Hydro-Québec — telling them to investigate their plants for possible alpha radiation hazards and implement controls to mitigate potential worker exposures.

The call by the CNSC for what amounts to mass testing at Bruce and the actions at other plants is an indication of serious concern about potential radiation hazards within the power stations…………..

The actions by the commission are some of the most sweeping it has undertaken regarding possible radiation exposure to workers at Canadian nuclear plants. It follows the discovery that last November workers refurbishing a reactor at the Bruce site on the shores of Lake Huron near Port Elgin had been in an area containing unexpectedly high levels of alpha radiation. Inhalation of the radiation is a lung cancer risk and its finding indicates the presence of radioactive waste particles.

June 24, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, health | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, reactors