Buchanan

Indian Point officials are looking into how a contract worker was overexposed to radiation during a scheduled reactor refueling earlier this month.

Jim Steets, a spokesman for the nuclear power plant in Westchester County, said an employee received a dose of 474 millirem May 4 while replacing a steel sleeve at the bottom of the Indian Point 2 reactor. The amount was 58 percent higher than health and safety officials had anticipated for the job.

"There were no health or safety consequences from it," Steets said of the exposure. He did not identify the employee. "We're looking into certain work practices that would have ensured he would only have received the 300 as planned."

Nuclear power plant employees are carefully monitored for radiation exposure. Steets said Indian Point employees cannot receive more than 5,000 millirem in a given year.

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/05/17/brf253.htm Greg Bruno