Pipe-cutting led to radiation incident at TMI

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Amid renewed criticism from Gov. Ed Rendell for a five-hour delay in telling emergency officials of a weekend radiation incident, Exelon Corp. said its Three Mile Island nuclear plant was "back to normal" yesterday.

Ventilation fans probably caused the release of a small amount of radiation inside one building on Saturday afternoon, Exelon officials said.

They said the ventilation system has since been modified, and that the 150 workers stationed in the building had all returned to work.

"Things are back to normal," site vice president Bill Noll said yesterday. No contamination was found outside the containment building, and the event never posed a threat to the public, company and federal officials reiterated yesterday.

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