DEP is investigating a radiation incident which occurred during decontamination of buildings at the Quehanna Wild Area in Clearfield County, according to DEP Environmental Surveillance Chief William P. Kirk.
The incident occurred on state forest land operated by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), in a building which houses PermaGrain Products Inc.
"The Commonwealth's contractor was removing a piece of contaminated equipment to a shielded storage area when the radiation was released inside one part of the building," Kirk said. "There was no release of radioactive material outside the building."
Kirk said that one PermaGrain employee received surface contamination and was required to change clothes and shower before leaving the plant. Several employees of NES Inc., the Commonwealth's contractor, were slightly contaminated. As a precaution, two NES employees are being monitored for internal contamination.
All employee exposures were well below Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and state exposure limits.
"DEP is investigating the incident to pinpoint why it occurred, the extent of any contamination and cleanup measures needed," Kirk said.
When the release occurred, NES employees were following an NRC-approved decontamination plan for the removal of residual radioactivity--primarily strontium and cobalt--left over from industry operations decades ago. Decontamination of the site began July 10 and was expected to be completed by the end of 1998.
In 1955, 50,000 acres of state forest land was sold to the Curtiss Wright Corp., which developed nuclear jet engines and conducted research in nucleonics, metallurgy, electronics, chemicals and plastics. In addition to Curtiss Wright, various other industries using radiation in their manufacturing processes occupied the facility over several years.
The land was returned to the state in 1966 and now is managed as the Quehanna Wild Area in DCNR's Moshannon and Elk forest districts. Several buildings from the former industrial operations now are occupied by PermaGrain, a manufacturer of specialty wood and tile flooring.
Project management of the cleanup is a cooperative effort among the Department of General Services, DCNR, NRC and DEP, which serves in an oversight role. The cleanup is removing or stabilizing all residual low-level radioactive materials from laboratories, small pool-type research reactors, offices, decontamination areas, and waste-processing and storage areas. Removed contaminated material will be disposed of at NRC-approved sites in South Carolina and Utah.
For more information about the Quehanna cleanup, visit DEP's website (search UPDATE).
UPDATE: A new direct link for information about Quehanna is now available: http://www.dep.state.pa.us/brp/Quehanna/index.htm