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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThree Mile Island Accident 1979 6D /The Houston Post/ Sun,. Apra 1,1919 ~ ■ 1 r r -at ccl ent s ors nom er o uestlons a out ra lotion p q IBstight-Bidder Newspapers the sun, you are feeling one kind of Beta rays are somewhat stronger. Q) Where Ices radiation come from? outside the plant would not be able to plant are much, much smaller. , radiation, thermal radiation. Light rays They travel a few feet in the air and A) About 0 varieties of chemical ele• tell. - ' Even`though you may not be aware of are also a form of radiation. These forms penetrate slightly into the body. U these menu give off radiation natm~ally, by Q) Where will the radiation from the it, you are surrounded by radiation al- are relatively harmless. particles get inside the body, they can continuousb decaying into new ele• Q) Is radiation the same as fallout? power plant go? nTOSt continually -cosmic rays from But nuclear power involves a paten- particularly affect the bones and the menu. Scienists have produced another A) Nat exactly. Fallout is produced A) East, with the prevailing winds. space, rays from the uranium in the con- Bally more dangerous kind of radiation, thyroid. 200 radioactie forms artificially. after a nuclear explosion. It is a combi- Health officials in New York state, for ante of buildings, X-rays at the dentist's the high-energy particles and rays emit- When officials in Pennsylvania advise In a nuclar power plant, radiation is nation of the radioactive materials pro- example, are stepping up their tests of office, rays emitted from your television fed from the core or nucleus of an atom. doted by the explosion, and the particles milk samples for radioactivity. Although set. This radiation is called "ionizing," which neighbors of the Three Mile Island plant produced whn particles of uranium, a of dust, dirt and debris sucked up in the no indications have been founds the Usually people do not pay much often- means it can tear apart atoms, including to stay indoors, they are counting on the naturally ralioactive element, are hit hot gases of the blast. Particles can health commissioner has advised New Lion to such radiation. But in the case of those in the human body. walls of their houses to block the alpha with a higl-speed neutron and split range in size from fine dust to snowflake- York farmers to feed their cattlrLon food an incident like the accident at the Three There are three kinds of ionizing and beta rays. apart. size ash. stored indoors, rather than letting them -Mile Island nuclear plant, a number of radiation. Alpha rays travel in the air The third kind of ray, gamma rays, Although both fallout and material in graze. ' a . i questions arise. only a [ew inches before being stopped. are the strongest, extremely short, high- Q) Can yn see radiation? Smell it? a nuclear power accident produce ratlia- The xenon gas that has been released • They cannot penetrate the skin. How• energy waves similar to X-rays. Comma Feel it? lion, according to George C. Summer- so far is inert and will not combine with Q) What is radiation? ever, if a person breathed in the parti• rays penetrate the body easily. Nuclear A) The arwer to each is "no." Even field, professor of nuclear engineering at other particles. On the other hand;;radia A) It is the emission of energy in the ties, the effect of the radiation inside the reactors use thick walls of concrete to if a melt-drun were to occur at the the University of Michigan, the levels of active iodine which also was relgased in form of rays. When you feel the heat of body could be dangerous. block the gamma rays. Three Mile ]land plant, people standing radioactivity released from a power the accident can get into the food chain. Cover-u chance he' l htened ~ , , ..w~x: _ F t~ It irm as , . at its y ~.erc , Y 8y SAUL FRIEDMAN "The utilities have the government - suggesting the crisis was passing and the That led 4~iday to a recommendation Knight-Bidder Newspapers and us - in a sort of blackmail situation. reactor was coaling, Joseph Hendrie, the from Pennsyvania Gov. Richard Thorn- "The government doesn't really have head of the NRC said it .might be "pro- burgh that pregnant women and young WASHINGTON -Federal officials, for the expertise about the plant and its dent" to evacuate a quadrant 10 to 20 children leae the area. And President ~.x. N the first time, virtually have taken over idiosyncracies. Only the company em- miles downwind of the power station. Carter sent iarold Denton, the top NRC ~ a a troubled nuclear power plant - Tfuee ployees can be used to work on the prob- NRC officials also disagreed late safety man, o the plant site to supervise g ' Mile Island No. 1. )ems and avoid smelt-down. Saturday with the company's assertion Met Ed's oPrations. ~ ° _ . , But Metropolitan Edison (Met Ed), "But you can't depend on what the that repeated venting of radioactive White HUSe press secretary Jody ~ _ ~ Y ~ e ' the leader of the private power comps- company people say, because we know gam had reduced the size of a danger- Powell care4lly told reporters that while t i ~ ~ ' ~ ; ~ Y ~ ' • ' nies that own the plant under a federal they've not told us or the Nuclear Regu• ous gas bubble at the top of the reactor. Denton had he authority of the president ' a ~ ' s s ' ~ license, continues to be legally responsi- latory Commission (NRC) people every-. The NRC said the bubble did not appear and atomic t7ergy laws to take over the ' a ~ ~ ble and liable for what has happened and thing. The company has a priority inter- to have changed significantly. plant, "the icettsee (Metropolitan Edi- S k~. - for the damages of possible disaster. est in protecting itseU from legal action. plant spokesmen have minimized the son) would continue to have primary , f y ~ ' ~ > That means the federal and state gov- That's the heart of the regulatory and danger from leaking radiation. Even as a responsibilit;." ~ ~ ~ ~ x ernments and the frightened, confused safety problem." nuclear insurance claims office was "It's Possyle that the plant operators ' public they represent are faced with a The law provides a maximum of =560 being opened in the area Saturday, a have violate) the laws," said Franchot. a potentially dangerous dilemma, a million in insurance for the plant opera- plant spokesman said the radiation from "I'm certainthat there will be an roves- ~ ~ ~ r "Catch-22" of the nuclear age. tors. But federal officials say smelt- the reactor was "no more than the dos- ligation and awsuits against the comps- 9 s Federal nuclear regulators and ex- down of the nuclear core and the result- age of a chest X-ray." try to uncove those violations if any." s ~ ~ ' F s ~ ts, who blame the unlit tom nies ing radiation and [ire would result in at P ~ ~ ` per y pa Federal and state health officials, In the at, some reactor operators, ~ _ y Y x ~ in part for what has happened, do not least $1 billion in damages, with the however, say they don't know how much have been fled by the NRC for violating have the know-how to run the plant and company liable for the uninsured radiation might have escaped in the regulations. tut no plant has come close ~ ~ 3 p~'~~ must depend on the company to operate amount: early hours after the accident or whether to the ultim2e accident -melt-down - 9 ~ ~ ~9 I~ ~ ~ ~ w; ~ it and avert catastrophe. From the beginning, before dawn persons in the area suffered overdoses. It and the gavt•~ent has had not reason ~ r ~ , i k ' - Yet the company, because it may be Wednesday, there have been examples of was not until late Friday that federal to take over; plant. ' ~ y~~~ ~ ; liable for millions of dollars in damages, seeming reluctance by the company to Environmental Protection Agency equip- "The lawclearly gives the govern- ~ r S' would be inclined to protect itself legally acknowledge the gravity of the problem, ment and experts were dispatched to ment the riht to monitor, supervise, ' and minimize problems -and lawsuits. and there have been disagreements be• take accurate and complete readings of take over any even shut down a plant for One way the company could do so, tween the company and government radioactivity around the plant. the sake of health and safety," said f critics of the nuclear industry have officials. Met Ed officials neglected to tell Franchot. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ charged, is to cover up responsibility, Franchot and federal officials note federal and state authorities in advance "The trou~le is that the government ~ aa~ r ~ ~ ~ ~ errors and radiation levels, the effects of that plant employees did not notify that they would relieve dangerous steam doesn't havens much expertise as the ~ ~ s x ~ ~ , which may not appear for years. proper federal and local officials of the and gas pressure in the plant by dump- company," h said, "and we've got to ~ ^~'1 f~ ~ ~ ~ Thus Peter Franchot, a staff attorney crisis in the reactor until three hours ing the radioactive water into the depend uponthe private company to do Y ~ , , ~ , ' with the Union of Concerned Scientists - after the 9 a.m. accident Wednesday. Susquehanna River and the gas into, the the right thig in a situation where no x~ . ` ` an anti-nuclear organization -said: On Saturday, as plant spokesmen were air. one really krnws the right thing to do." ~ ~ ~ u ~j~ • ~ ' b W Inds o ear blow across Mtid-Atlantic states ~ ~ Knight-Bidder Newspapers feed their cattle on hay stored indoors said people shouldn't get more than 170 they can gel into cow's milk and other ~ rather than fresh grass. He said he was mi]]irems a year. Many Americans get food. yµ~~ R, WASHINGTON -The fear of radioac- "very much concerned." almost that much in background ratlia• Someone vho drank contaminated ~ ~ ~ five fallout, a nuclear dragon that was New Jersey environmental officials lion from outer space and minerals in milk would offer from a concentration ~ z ~ k supposed to have died with the Cold War, dispatched workers with extra-sensitive the ground. A chest X•ray gives about 25 of iodine inhis thyroid gland which returned to the Middle Atlantic states monitors to sample air and milk. They millirems, from one-fourth to one~ighth would reman there until the iodine Saturday. found everything normal. the total radiation the average American decayed. Evhy eight days, there is halt Suddenly everyone seemed to care "The wind is not blowing this way, receives in a year. No one Saturday as much radpactive iodine remaining as which way the wind was blowing. which is goad for New Jersey," said could calculate the precise danger from before. Withxenon, the haU•life is five With Geiger counters, helicopters and George Tyler, the state's chief environ- the stricken plant's nuclear seepage. _ days. fishnets, radiation experts from New mental official The soil, rater, fish, milk and grass ~ York to West Virginia hunted the invis- Officials say the main radioactive gar- samples now~eing taken are designed to ible radioactive poisons from the Three Helicopters circling Three Mile Island bage seeping from the plant is a gas call- detect iodine So far, officials said Satur- found slight increases of radiation as far ed xenon. In smaller amounts a related Mile Island nuclear plant in as 16 miles away. At the northeast edge gas called krypton also has been found. day none ha:been found. Pennsylvania. of the plant, the highest readings detect- Both are inert, which means they cannot The feder2 tests, though, have been Health officials could find no sign that spotty. radiation had spread beyond an 18•mile ed Saturday were 8 millirems an hour. combine with other chemicals. U you The Burem of Radiological Health radius around the installation on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials breathe in radioactive xenon, you and the Foa and Drug Administration Susquehanna River near Harrisburg. at the site called the Saturday figure a breathe it right back out. are in r-harg~ of testing soil, water and low reading. The subject of concern blew silently in The greater danger to humans and food. But all ~ samples must be shipped <,<;,~, a 10-mile-an-hour southwesterly wind in But Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Ralph Nader's animals, though, is from radioactive to- air freight U a laboratory near Boston the genera] direction of the New York chief health official and an outspoken nu- dine. Its tiny particles join with other for analysis. y ~ metropolitan area. All along the Eastern clear industry critic, pointed out in an radioactive elements to make up the fall- Federal rqulations allow workers to Alone bicyclist takes a ride down a Goldsboro, Pa., seaboard officials took samples of air interview that a person getting 8 mil- out clouds from nuclear bombs. Unlike receive up to5,000 millirems a year. But street with the Three Mile island Nuclear Plant in the ' ~ ' and water. liretns an hour receives 192 millirems a the radioactive gases, which disperse a recent Brtish study found genetic background. Many residents have fled the town as a Dr: David Axelrod, New York State's day. quickly, they settle in water and in the damage in rockers who had received precautionary measure. - AP Wirephot0 • health commissioner, advised farmers to The National Academy of Sciences soil and an grass with rain. That is how 2,000 millirem, per year. ' ' ~ ~ ~ `Herman' the robot at scene to aid emer enc teams I Melt-down begins when fuel rods ~ ~ ' °re exposed by toss of water in reactor NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A robot- calory, said Vayne Range, information "Once, in Rochester, N.Y., we sent it like a tank, and is attached by ~4h`ds to a like device dubbed "Herman" has been director of th Department of Energy's into a room where some radioactive ca control trailer, Range said. - iC 6 Presumed Vapor Bubble sent from Oak Rid e, Tenn. to Harris- OakRid eoflce. ' 2 E■tremely hrgh hear develops. g g halt was stuck in a piece of pipe. Using "It can move under its owvtl..power, burg, Pa., to augment emergency teams Range saidhe was uncertain how the its mechanical arm, it got the cobalt un- using two TV cameras as eyes while it - • ' The reactor's uranium monitoring radiation levels at the trip- device would re used, but he noted it can stuck. Then, a couple of years ago, we ! Reocror core goes into vncontroned led Three Mile Island nuclear )ant. o into area where radioactive levels used it again at Sewanee, Tenn., when a Performs a variety of tasks with its me• 'Vessel .:;:Heotr•d,.:. reaction and the core meUs P P g ehanicalarm. . . ..water - . The robot arrived Saturday at the would be harT,ful to humans. radioactive source fell out of a container " i, .•;;:~.Iclosed Three Mile Island plant along with a "We've usd it at least twice before in at the University of the South and it had "We call it a robot but the people who system CONTAINMENT half-dozen technicians and health physi- emergency siuationS," Range said in a to be bottled up again." use it regularly here at Oak Ridge call it ' ' ~ ~ STRUCTURE Gists from the Oak Ridge.National Lobo- telephone in?rview from Oak Ridge. The device moves about on tracks, 'Herman,' " he said. ' . ~ Steam Generator 3. The mass of rodioochre motion \It metal burns through protective ~ ~ 7 ~ devices of contornment d ua t t Re°cror Radlat~on effects de en on n i Core structure and enters earth ~ ~ J R9 KEVIN MCKEAN annually by esidents of Denver, where The four plant workers who have been could be killed or made violently ill. It is " ~ AP Selena Writer the high altiude exposes people to in- exposed since the accident to more than usually said that a dose of 500 reins (500,- - ~ creased level of radiation from cosmic three reins (3,000 millirems) have ex- 000 millirems) or more is fatal. HARRLSBURG, Pa. -The possible ef- rays. tootled the NBC's limit of three reins per Such an accident would release radio- 4 fects of radiation from the Three Mile Is- Harold Detton, director of operations quarter year, but not the limit of an active isotopes that would linger in the land nuclear accident depend heavily on for the U.S. Ntclear Regulatory Commis- average of no more than five reins a food chain for years. These include io• Reactor oolont Pump how much radiation is released. Sion, said the radiation released in the year during an employee's working dine 131, which collects in the human At low doses, radiation can sometimes first three dax of the accident would, on lifetime. thyroid gland and causes tumors, and - , cause lingering genetic defects or can- the average, at be enough to cause even There is a debate among scientists as strontium, the radioactive element in a ~ cer. At high doses, it can be fatal. one cancer toinyone outside the plant. to whether ex sores at that level should fallout, that collects in the bones and can d• D ~ • 5 steam rises to the But if radiation releases remain as low U such a ;ancer were to occur, it be permitted. cause bone cancer. • • • surloce carrying at the plant as they have so far, it is un• would be yeas before it appeared. The Conventional wisdom holds that it There also would be genetic effects ' . ~ radiation cloud likely any damage to people outside the quickest-devEOping cancer aman the takes doses of from 50 to 100 reins to dou- that could lama a sub - • ~ • g g sequenG.genera• - - - - - plant will ever be measured. Japanese A•bmb survivors was leuke- ble a person's chances of getting leuke• lions, although the evidence :j'~'om A• State and federal officials have said min, which poked six years after the min. One investigator, Dr. Irwin Brass of bomb survivors is not conclusive on the the worst exposure a plant neighbor blasts. Roswell Park Memorial Institute at size of this danger. could have received so far is less than And there ; no way to differentiate a Buffalo, N.Y., has calculated that it may The extent of damage from' major • 100 millirems. A millirem is one-thou- radiation•caued cancer from cancers take only five reins to double the risk. accident would vary widaly dPnand;nn tie sandth of a rem a radiation measure. that have othC causes. But other scientists have criticized his the type of melt-down that occurred, Natural background in the area is An increas in cancer of such a low calculations. what form the radiation was released in about 84 millirems a year. Thus, the level would a;o be next to impossible to All bets are off if there is a core melt- and how the wind was blowing. 4 Heat hits the water table and steam develops most heavily exposed plant neighbor detect statisically, as roughly 17 of down and great amounts of radiation are Damage could be confined to within a ®S1`~, might receive 184 millirems this year. every 1,000 Anericans die of leukemia released. few miles of the plant or it could spread That is roughly the amount received from causes Ober than radiation. In this case, people in the vicinity over dozens of counties.