Possible mass radiation exposure under investigation at Lake Huron nuke plant

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is investigating the apparent radioactive contamination of hundreds of workers at Canada’s only privately operated nuclear plant, the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, which sits on the eastern shore of Lake Huron in Kincardine, fifty miles from Michigan.

The Globe and Mail reports that as many as 217 workers may have been exposed to alpha radiation from a damaged fuel bundle during maintenance activities in November. The Bruce complex generates 20 percent of Ontario’s electricity.

The CNSC said the workers were exposed to alpha contamination, a dangerous form of radiation that, if breathed in or ingested, poses a risk of cancer. Preliminary dose calculations indicated that an “action level for inhalation of airborne radioactivity may have been exceeded,” the CNSC said.

Ottawa allows atomic workers to receive up to 50 millisieverts of radiation per year on the job, an amount 12.5 to 25 times the natural background radiation Canadians are exposed to from such sources as solar radiation, building materials and radioactive elements in soil

One millisievert is the radiation a person would get from approximately 10 chest X-rays.

Nuclear power has received increased attention in recent weeks as a result of the Obama administration’s pledge to increase public financing for new plants.