PNO-II-85-109, on 851113,six Employees Received Contamination on Skin or Shoe During Scheduled Emergency Drill.Caused by Pouring Less than 1 Mci Tc-99m to Simulate Contamination. Decontamination Begun

PNO-II-85-109:on 851113,six Employees Received Contamination on Skin or Shoe During Scheduled Emergency Drill.Caused by Pouring Less than 1 Mci Tc-99m to Simulate Contamination. Decontamination Begun

ML20136F133
Person / Time
Site:	Browns Ferry
Issue date:	11/14/1985
From:	Collins T, Hosey C NRC OFFICE OF INSPECTION & ENFORCEMENT (IE REGION II)
To:
References
PNO-II-85-109, NUDOCS 8511220045
Download: ML20136F133 (2)

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. 1 November 14, 1985 PRELIMINARY NOTIFICATION OF EVENT OR UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE PN0-II-85-109 This preliminary notification constitutes EARLY notice of events of POSSIBLE safety or public interest significance. The information is as initially received without verifi-cation or evaluation, and is basically all that is known by the Region II staff on this date.

FACILITY: Tennessee Valley Authority Licensee Emergency Classification:

Browns Ferry Units 1, 2, and 3 X Notification of Unusual Event Docket Nos. 50-259, 50-260 & 50-296 Alert Athens, Alabama Site Area Emergency General Emergency Not Applicable

SUBJECT:

CONTAMINATION OF INDIVIDUALS DURING EMERGENCY DRILL Five TVA employees received skin contamination and an Alabama state employee received contamination on his shoes during an incident which occurred during a scheduled emergency drill yesterday at Browns Ferry. The incident, which occurred about one and a half miles from the plant and off TVA property, did not interrupt the drill.

Apparently because the exercise was to simulate a contaminated casualty, an Alabama state employee participating in the drill poured less than one millicurie of technetium-99m on a bandage worn by a TVA employee playing the role of the contaminated individual so there would be detectable radioactivity. The Alabama staff member also poured approximately one millicurie of technetium onto a laboratory coat. The simulated casualty, along with four other TVA employees and an Alabama employee, were contaminated in the course of handling the simulated casualty. A 200-square-foot area of ground was also contaminated. The contamination was detected by health physics personnel carrying out drill duties.

On four individuals, contamination levels were detected ranging from 800 to 40,000 counts per minute per probe area as measured with a thin window pancake Geiger-Mueller instrument.

The fifth person had contamination up to 30,000 cpm on his face and 500,000 cpm on one hand. Technetium-99m is a low energy gamma emitter with a half-life of six hours. TVA is determining all the individuals' doses, which are expected to be low.

TVA began decontamination of its five employees shortly after the incident, for which it d:clared on unusual event, in accordance with its emergency plan. Four of the individuals were successfully decontaminated, but some detectable contamination could not be removed from the fif th person. TVA is collecting urine and fecal samples and has performed whole-body couats to evaluate possible uptakes of the material. The 200-square-foot ground drea outside the plant was posted as a contaminated area by the State of Alabama (an agreementstate).

TVA announced this incident on its daily nuclear plant status report which is accessible to the media and the public.

This information is current as of 4 p.m. (EST) today.

Contact:

T. R. Collins, 242-5083 C. M. Hosey, 242-5614 i

DISTRIBUTION:

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