N-gas to be leaked

Press, 28 February 1980, Page 9

N-gas to be leaked

NZPA-Reuter Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Radioactive gas can be leaked into the atmosphere from the damaged Three Mile Island nuclear plant to allow repair work, Pennsylvania authorites have said. Although the safety of people could not be completely guaranteed, Lieuten-ant-Governor William Scranton said: “We fear the dangers of not venting at all are greater than controlled venting.” The Metropolitan Edison Company, which runs the plant, said the gas must be leaked to allow repair workers to reach unsafe areas. The plant has been shut down since an accident last March which brought it within an hour of a potentially catastrophic meltdown of its nuclear core. \ Its cooling system still contains more than 4 million litres of water contaminated by radioactivity. Public protests prevented the controlled leakage of gas earlier this winter. There were two accidental gas leaks earlier this month and Metropolitan Edison said there might be more if they could not carry out controlled venting. The plant’s operators want to release 53,000 curies of radioactivity compared with an estimated 20 million curies which escaped during the accident last March forcing local people to be evacuated. -