Nov 24 – McClatchy-Tribune Regional News – Carl Lindquist The York Dispatch, Pa.

Exelon Corp. is facing criticism for waiting hours to inform local officials about an alarm Saturday signaling increased airborne radiation at its Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.

York County Emergency Management Director Kay Carman said Exelon didn’t tell her about the incident until about 10:45 p.m., six hours after the alarm was triggered.

That’s about the same time the general public learned what happened from local media outlets.

“It was a lengthy time,” Carman said, “much longer than we would have hoped for.”

About 175 workers at the plant were sent home after an alarm sounded because of a temporary, slight increase in airborne radiation inside TMI’s Unit 1 reactor building, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Exelon.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said 19 workers tested positive for low-level radiation exposure.

Cause: Plant spokesman Ralph DeSantis said Monday an unexpected airflow change inside the Unit 1 containment building stirred up some radioactive particles inside piping and released them.

The release set off the alarm inside the building, but there was never any public safety threat, he said.

Carman said Exelon wasn’t required under regulations to notify the county of the minor incident.

But she said the plant should have made a “courtesy” call earlier so county emergency management officials could notify elected leaders and be armed with information in case people began to question unusual

activity at the plant.

She plans to bring up the late call when emergency management officials from York and other counties meet with Exelon at the beginning of next year.

Sensitive: Carman said such a late notification makes it appear Exelon wasn’t sensitive to the public.

People are naturally concerned about problems at nuclear power plants, she said, and particularly Three Mile Island because of the partial meltdown of Unit 2 in 1979.

Unit 2 was subsequently taken offline.

Although disappointed with Exelon’s response on Saturday, Carman said county emergency management officials have a strong relationship with the company and work together on a regular basis to ensure proper planning in case of an emergency.

Goldsboro Manager Lee V. Fishel said he wasn’t notified about the incident until about 9 a.m. on Sunday. He would have liked to be notified earlier, he said.

But Fishel said he wouldn’t make a big deal of the late call because the incident was minor.

President York County Commissioner Steve Chronister said he isn’t upset.

But he said the county would expect immediate notification in the event of an emergency.

Exelon’s DeSantis said the company immediately notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission but acknowledged it waited a “couple hours” before contacting public officials.

“We are always looking to see if we can do better,” he said.

The company has been working nonstop since the incident to ensure people were informed that there was no threat, he said.

-Reach Carl Lindquist at 505-5426 or clindquist@yorkdispatch.com.