The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission today issued a statement confirming that workers at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in northeast Ohio evacuated the plant on April 22 after radiation levels rose as the plant was shutting down for refueling. The plant is safe, according to the NRC, and workers are not believed to have been exposed to radiation levels beyond federally-recommended limits. A special inspection team from the NRC began work on Monday, and will review the circumstances surrounding the incident. From AP:
The commission says radiation levels rose when workers were removing a monitor that measures nuclear reactions during start-up and shutdown. The nuclear reactor, owned by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp., is about 35 miles northeast of Cleveland. A FirstEnergy spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment after business hours Tuesday.
AP, WKYC Ohio, MSNBC, and here is a PDF of the NRC’s statement on the “special inspection.” The resulting report will be available online within 45 days of the inspection’s completion.