Bruce Power to test workers for radiation

Bruce Power alpha radiation testing expands worker screening after reactor vault contamination, assessing fuel handling staff for alpha dose. Nuclear safety checks now complement beta and gamma monitoring per Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission guidance.

An Ontario power station will test additional workers for exposure to low levels of radiation as a precautionary measure, a spokesman revealed.

A memo sent to workers of Bruce Power on June 18 and obtained by the Canadian Press informed employees that due to alpha contamination discovered last year, the company would test other workers.

“We’re looking at some of our long-term employees,” confirmed Bruce Power spokesman John Peevers.

Last November, contamination was discovered in the reactor vault where up to 563 people had been working, spurring an industry-wide investigation across the sector.

The company eventually concluded that 195 workers had been exposed and ordered testing.

However, after tests, the findings revealed the levels did not exceed the safety standards prescribed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

As a result of that experience, the company said it will be testing 40 other employees at one of its stations, Bruce A, noting that exposure results could take months to process.

The memo said the highest probability of exposure to alpha was fuel handling, and the company has started to assess the dose that those workers might have received.

An initial result for one longtime fuel handing worker indicated that a dose attributable to alpha had been received, the memo said.

Based on this discovery, additional employees will be tested.

Peevers said the company normally tests for beta and gamma radiation levels in nuclear plants, and it had previously assumed certain amounts of alpha based on those results.

“The assumptions, we have learned, were not accurate, and the levels of alpha were higher,” said Peevers, referring to last year’s incident.

“We learned a lot,” he added.

Peevers said The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has been made aware of Bruce Powers plan.

In a separate matter, a code of conduct probe at Bruce Power led to dozens of firings earlier this year, officials said.

Alpha radiation contamination can cause sickness if there are high rates of exposure.

“We work with radiation all the time, even as some workers say the plant is unsafe based on their experiences, our employees are very familiar and very aware of the potential hazard,” said Peevers.

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