Seventeen workers exposed to radiation at Idaho lab

The accident at the Idaho National Laboratory occurred inside a facility used for remotely handling, processing and examining spent nuclear fuel, radioactive waste and other irradiated materials, the lab said in a series of statements.

The so-called Materials and Fuels Complex is located near the edge of the sprawling 890-square-mile laboratory site in the high desert in eastern Idaho about 38 miles from the city of Idaho Falls.

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At least 17 employees were working inside a decommissioned research reactor when "a container was opened for normal, scheduled work, resulting in low-level worker exposure to plutonium," the statement said.

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The exposed workers underwent initial decontamination procedures at the complex before they were taken to a medical facility elsewhere on the lab grounds for "further evaluation," the lab said. Details of their condition were not immediately provided.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/us-nuclear-lab-idaho-idUSTRE7A77QW20111108