Radiation Detected at Three-Mile Island

(AP)  The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the small amount of radiation detected at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant is not significant.

Specialist John White has told ABC News on Sunday that there is no indication that radiation at the plant exceeded or even approached regulatory limits.

The commission sent investigators to the central Pennsylvania plant after a small amount of radiation was detected.

About 150 employees were sent home Saturday afternoon, but officials say there is no public health risk.

Exelon Nuclear spokeswoman Beth Archer says the radiation was quickly contained.

The unit has been shut for refuelling and maintenance since Oct. 26. Workers are being tested for radiation exposure.

[BM454]

AnneEmu
you should take a space walk,or a trans continental flight,you'd pick more dose than 98% of Rad workersons on an outage.Safe levels are relative,if you flew on a trans continental flight,you picked more than I did working for nine months!!

[pjk12354]

The amount of radiation was declared insignificant because that was the amount that no one has any idea how it was released. Again, our government has failed us..............

[mon2929]

Time to get some more Nukepills to protect against radioactive iodine. Potassium Iodide tabs, a.k.a. Nukepills, were FDA approved 1982 because of the 1979 leak from TMI.

[dakotaclark]

On Sunday, the various news media had coverage about this, and all the so-called "experts" denying there was any radiation leak, that everything was perfectly contained.

The other shoes will be dropping soon and in the next few days, more than likely.

[charlie1447]

Any and all energy is going to be dangerous. Thats why they call it energy.. It either explodes, spins, electrocutes, gets hot, or blows up. Thats just the nature of the business.

[charlie1447]

Yer about.. 30 years too late, 3 mile. They already made the movie..

[tmittelstaed]

The civilian nuclear power industry is a farce. Power generated by nuclear is highly subsidized since the government pays for maintainence of disposal sites - not just for high level (yucca mountain - which is still not finished yet) but for low-level disposal. And, medical use of radioactive isotopes does not require large-scale nuclear reactors to create these medicines. The only reason that the civilian nuclear power program exists at all is to generate high-level nuclear waste that can be reprocessed into plutonium, so that we can make fission and fusion bombs. And, the US already has a huge oversupply of plutonium as a result of disarmamenent treaties.

There are no new civilian nuclear power plants being planned and never will be - and the existing ones that were built and are operating are being shut down over the years as they reach the end of their lifespan. It's not economically sensible to keep them running when they wear out.

Within another 50 years, wind generation will have replaced the power we obtain by nuclear, and the civilian nuclear power industry will have gone into the history books.

[charlie1447]

Nuclear reactors are safe. Fer decades, the military has been operating nuclear powered ships, under military conditions of all things. We have the technology mastered. Why do ya just wanna throw all that experience away? Its cheap, its clean, and it lasts practically forever. And the waste can be diluted with sand, and stuck back in the ground.

[chevyhotrod]

tmittelstaed,
What happens when the wind dies down or better yet no wind? The wind does not blow 100% of the time.

You are clearly not thinking of all the different possibilities of what could go wrong with alternative technologies.

Did you not think the best engineering in the world have not thought about this, and if so, if possible, would have already made much of these alternative technologies possible?

You should do some research on what the power industry calls base load. 24/7 power generation base load, without interruption.

Solar & wind has constant interruptions. They do not supply a constant stream of power 24/7.

No sun, no power. No wind, no power. It's that simple. Even the most laymen can figure this out with common sense.

Until the technology comes along to store this energy in large quantities this technology will only be able to cover peak demand not base loads.

[AnneEmu]

Head the words of Australian Aboriginal Elders -
"The Poison - Leave it!"

As long as there is a nuclear industry there will be nuclear accidents... it is just a question of how often and how bad!
Unfortunately such a waiting game is very dangerous as there is NO SAFE LEVEL OF RADIOACTIVE EXPOSURE...!

The nuclear industry is not safe, never was, never will be... there are clean safe alternatives which do not expose users, workers or our environment to "radioactive accidents", ie solar, wind (see http://windpods.com), tidal, wave and geothermal; even hydro is a safer alternative to nuclear. Coal is the slow cooking death of our environment and must be phased out but heading towards nuclear adds to the danger of instant death of those nearby an accident or long term exposure of those nearby, in the industry and is a lot more insidious in the long term as there remains NO SAFE METHOD OF STORAGE OF THE LONG LIVED NUCLEAR WASTE!

- Leave uranium in the ground
- Shut down these dinosaur "energy" industries
- there is NO NEED for futher nuclear weapons as we can already blow up the planet 100+ times over
- Regarding nuclear weapons - almost all "rouge states" have them already or are in the process of acquiring them... and we CANNOT USE THEM! Any form of retaliation means instant death to those hit and no matter who is "hit" we all SHARE THIS PLANET!

The nuclear industry is a dangerous, polluting, nuclear weapons creating waste of tax payer dollars!
we do NOT NEED IT...

EVEN FOR MEDICINE!.. Cyclotrons (particle accelerators) can replace medical isotopes - and these same isotopes remain poisonous for very short periods of time.

Time to take some positive steps in the right direction - into clean, safe, alternatives.

Towards a positive future for those to come
Anne

[rf35]

The only thing wrong with nuclear power is the process the United States uses in storing spent fuel. Other nations have developed effective recycling programs that reuse the nuclear waste. The world's demand for clean energy is too great for the current alternatives to supply more than a fraction of what is needed. I'm not saying these alternatives should not be explored and developed as much as possible. I'm just saying that a robust nuclear energy industry is the only way the planet can get off the fossil fuel train to oblivion. Whether or not you subscribe to man-made global warming (I don't), the fact remains that coal, gas, oil, etc is not a viable long-term energy solution. It's dirty, inefficient, and comes with a host of poisons besides CO2. Nuclear is the best clean energy answer we have at the moment. With proper safeguards and recycling, it can power us for a long time. That will buy time to perfect other energy generation technology and reduce the consumption of fossil fuel. Most importantly, it will get America off the Middle-East oil teat and create jobs here at home. It is the frightened, knee-jerk whining of the uninformed that has stopped America's nuclear power program. It's time for cooler heads to prevail and get our country back on track for clean, safe nuclear energy.