Nuclear plant declares state of emergency

O N TA R IO , N.Y. (A P ) — A tube ru p tu re d in a c o o lin g system at the Ciinna nuc lea r p o w e r p lan t yeste r­ day, e m itt in g rad io a c tive steam in to the a tm osphere and leaking thousands o f ga llons o f w a te r in to the rea c to r ’s c o n ta in m e n t sum p be fore the p lan t was s tab ilized, o f f i­ cia ls said. The rea c to r o f the p lan t, 18 m iles northeast o f R ochester, N ew Y o rk ’s th ird largest c ity , was shu t d o w n a u tom a tica lly and was doused w ith w a te r to keep it fro m overhea ting , said Gary Sanborn, a spokesm an fo r the N uc lea r R egu la tory C o m m is ­ sion. He said the p lan t “ appears to be fa irly s tab le . ” N cm en M . T erc , an NRC e m e r­ gency preparedness analyst, said there was no damage to the rea c to r core . The re a c to r ’s fue l e lem ents w ere never uncovered , said Ebe McCabe, NRC reg iona l reac to r p ro je c ts section ch ief. H aro ld D en ton , d ire c to r o f the NRC, said in W ash ing ton tha t “ it m ig h t be expens ive fo r the o p e ra to r to clean up, b u t in te rm s o f p u b lic hea lth consequences it w asn ’t ve ry serious.” O ffic ia ls said the rea c to r was be ing co o le d d o w n w e ll b e lo w o p e ra tin g tem p e ra tu re and the c o o lin g d o w n process was expec ted to be co m p le te d by today o r to m o r­ row . R ichard de Young, d ire c to r o f the NRC’s o ffice o f e n fo rcem en t, said it w o u ld he "a n u m b e r o f w eeks” be fore the p lan t is back to norm al. D e n to n id e n tif ie d the gases released as rad ioac tive xe n o n and k ryp to n . The ra d ia tio n release — described by one o ffic ia l as no h igh ­ e r than w ha t c o u ld be expec te d in na ture — was e m itte d in five -second puffs, to ta lin g th re e m inutes, w h ile the w in d was b lo w in g fro m the n o rth w e s t at 14 m ph, o ffic ia ls said. Snow was fa llin g o v e r Rochester. O ffic ia ls said none o f the w o rke rs at the p lan t w e re exposed to rad io a c tiv ity . Non-essentia l pe rson ­ nel, m ost o f G inna ’s 250 w orkers , w e re evacuated to an on-s ite ra in in g cen te r, said u t i l i t y spokesman John O berlies, bu t no res iden ts o f th e area w ere evacuated. Local schoo ls and a large X e ro x p lan t near the nuc lea r p lan t w e re n o tif ie d o f the e m e r­ gency, said M on o re C o u n ty P ub lic R elations o ff ic e r C la rence Bassett. A bou t 45 ,000 peop le live w ith in 10 m iles o f the p lant. R ochester has a p o p u la tio n o f 300,000. O ffic ia ls dec la red a “ s ite em er­ gency,” the second m ost serious o f fo u r em ergency classifica tions, w ith in 75 m iu tcs o f the tube ru p tu re at 9:25 a.m. NRC o ffic ia ls said the in c id e n t m arked the f irs t use o f tha t em er­ gency c lass ifica tion s ince the M arch 28, 1979, acc iden t at the T hree M ile Island p la n t near H arrisbu rg , Pa. T M I was the n a tio n ’s w o rs t co m m e rc ia l nuc lea r acc iden t. The p lan t rem ains shut. By m idday, Bassett said the leak was “ iso la ted and te rm ina ted . ” A c c o rd in g to Barbara ThomasN ob le o f the state H ealth D epa rt­ m ent, in d u s try o ffic ia ls measured the rad ia tio n at the p la n t’s boundary at 1.5 m illire m s . O ffic ia ls estim ate a