Bruce A Unit 1 Alpha Contamination (January 2010)

On January 7, 2010, Bruce Power informed the CNSC of the discovery of alpha contamination in Bruce A Unit 1.

Bruce A Unit 1 is currently shut down for refurbishment. Workers were grinding feeder tubes and a routine airborne survey detected alpha contamination within the work area.

Alpha contamination can be hazardous if particulates are inhaled or ingested, which may have been the case here.

Preliminary monitoring of all potentially affected workers indicated no overexposures. 

Bruce Power conservatively reported the situation to CNSC since the preliminary monitoring indicated that an action level may have been exceeded.

Bruce Power has arranged for more sensitive testing to be done by a third-party firm, the results of which are expected in early February.

The contamination in question was fully contained within Unit 1 and there is no risk to the public or the environment.

A report on the incident will be made to the Commission Tribunal at its February meeting.

For more information, consult the S-99 Preliminary Report on the Bruce Power Web site (PDF).