ML100780269

Email from Diane Screnci, Rv to Ronald Bellamy, Ri Et Al. on TMI Event of Potential Public Interest

ML100780269
Person / Time
Site:	Three Mile Island
Issue date:	11/21/2009
From:	Diane Screnci Office of Public Affairs Region I
To:	Barber G, Bellamy R, Collins S, David Lew NRC Region 1
References
FOIA/PA-2010-0118
Download: ML100780269 (2)

Text

Bamford, Peter From: Screnci, Diane (P Sent: Saturday, November 214 2 09 11:43 Igyk (ni' To: (t-)Bellam .Ronald; Collin' e a arp*, Scott; Bran avier; Kerh,0avid;

- Newpor, hristopher; BamfthPeter; Spin P', David Cc: McNamara, Nancy; McKinley, Raymond; McDermott, Brian; White, John; Roberts, Darrell; Hayden, Elizabeth

Subject:

RE: TMI Event of Potential Public Interest I've copied the press release from TMI here:

FYI -- The following news release will be distributed at 11:30 p.m. EST:

Employees Sent Home After Small Amount of Contamination Found Inside Three Mile Island Reactor Building No threat to public health and safety Londonderry Township, Pa. (Nov. 21, 2009) - About 150 employees working inside the shut-down Three Mile Island Unit 1 containment building were sent home about 4:00 p.m.

EST Saturday after an airborne radiological contamination alarm inside the reactor building sounded.

The unit has been shut down since Oct. 26 for refueling, maintenance and steam generator replacement.

No contamination was found outside of the containment building. Radiological surveys showed that the contamination was confined to surfaces inside the containment building.

The event posed no threat to public health and safety.

A monitor at the temporary opening cut into the containment building wall to allow the new steam generators to be moved inside showed a slight increase in a reading and then returned to normal. Two other monitors displayed normal readings.

"Workers were sent home because work couldn't continue until we clean the area," Exelon Vice President Bill Noll, the senior executive at TMI, said. "We hope to be able to resume activities tomorrow."

Exelon technicians Saturday night were checking employees who had been working in the building at the time for possible unusual radiation exposure. One worker was found to have received 16 millirem of exposure, and other workers have received contamination of lower levels. The annual occupational dose limit for nuclear workers at Exelon Nuclear plants is 2,000 millirem. No Nuclear Regulatory Commission limits were exceeded for personnel contamination.

Numerous work activities were going on in the building at the time the alarm sounded, and Exelon engineers are working to determine the cause the incident. The NRC, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and local elected officials were notified of the event.

From: Bellamy, Ronald Sent: Saturday, November 21, 2009 11:37 PM To: Collins, Sam; HOO Hoc; Lew, David; Barber, Scott; Brand, Javier; Kern, David; Newport, Christopher; Bamford, Peter; Spindler, David Cc: Screnci, Diane; McNamara, Nancy; McKinley, Raymond; McDermott, Brian; White, John; Roberts, Darrell

Subject:

TMI Event of Potential Public Interest PRELIMINARY INFORMATION61 (/

61

At about 1600 today Saturday Nov 21, TMI experienced alarms inside the containment due to high airborne contamination levels. TMI is shutdown and replacing their steam generators. The containment was evacuated of approximately 175 workers. Several of the workers were not able to clear the portal monitors due to the contamination levels and have been whole body counted. So far, about 8 workers have shown internal contamination from a few mrem to 16 mrem. Other workers are awaiting to be processed through the whole body counter. Work has been stopped inside containment as radpro techs with respiratory protection equipment survey the building and try to understand the cause of the contamination.

Cutting was being performed to support removal of the "B" steam generator along with some welding. The "A SG, although cut and off its pedastel, remains fully inside the containment, although there is a cut of the containment to support SG movement which presently has a plastic covering. Surveys for contamination at the containment cut and just outside the cut have shown no levels of contamination.

A call through the HOO was held to understand our next steps (licensee outage manager provided us an update). Diane Screnci is available to respond to media calls, Nancy McNamara has reached out to Pennsylvania, and the HOO is making contact with DHS, indicating no need for a federal reaction. There has been media interest and calls from other federal agencies. Next steps include John White assessing possible specialist support onsite, Javier Brand will obtain additional information as it becomes available from Exelon, and DRP will review the status Sunday morning.

Ron Bellamy, Branch Chief PRELIMINARY INFORMATION 62