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Minn. Nuclear Workers Exposed to Radiation
May 09 2:29 PM US/Eastern
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RED WING, Minn.

An accidental release of radioactive gas at a nuclear plant in southeastern Minnesota exposed about 100 workers to low levels of radiation last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.

The Prairie Island plant was shut down for maintenance and refueling at the time, and no radiation was released outdoors, said Jan Strasma, commission spokesman.

The workers were wearing protective gear when they were exposed to low levels of radioactive iodine on Friday, said Arline Datu, spokeswoman for Nuclear Management Co. Most received 10 to 20 millirems of radiation, about the same as a dental X-ray. They were decontaminated and allowed to go home, she said.

Nuclear Management Co., which operates Xcel Energy's nuclear plants, said residual radioactive gas in some equipment was inadvertently released without being routed through a filtering system.

The Palomares accident occurred on January 17, 1966, over Palomares, Spain, between a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 bomber and an USAF KC-135 tanker aircraft. The accident involved a mid-air collision between the two aircraft, which caused two of the four thermonuclear weapons on board to release radioactive material. This resulted in a three-month response effort to identify, characterize, remove and remediate the accident site. During the response effort, personnel were exposed to airborne dust and debris contaminated with plutonium. Approximately 1,600 individuals participated in the clean-up effort, the majority of whom were active duty Air Force personnel.

Following the completion of the clean-up in 1966, the U.S. and Spanish Governments have continued to conduct medical surveillance of the Palomares residents and environmental monitoring of the site. Concentrations of plutonium and americium have been monitored in air, soil, and food products. No radiation-related cancers have been detected in the Palomares residents.

The Thule accident occurred on January 21, 1968, when a B-52 caught fire. A "bail out" command was issued and the aircraft crashed into a sea of ice in the Wholstenholme Fjord approximately eight miles west of Thule Airbase. The crash caused the high explosives in the unarmed nuclear weapons to detonate, dispersing plutonium and tritium into the surrounding air, snow and ice. Subsequent surveys confirmed that most of the plutonium and tritium were confined in a blackened area of ice and snow in an oval pattern from the impact point. This significantly reduced the potential for plutonium and tritium residues to become airborne and inhaled by response personnel.

The response to the Thule incident to find, safeguard, recover, and return weapon's contents to the United States, and to assess and mitigate effects on the local populace and ecosystem required over 700 active duty Air Force personnel for a period of nine months. Contaminated ice was removed in February and March 1968, and the remaining ice melted in the spring of 1968. Environmental contamination was studied by scientific expeditions in 1968, 1970 and 1974, finding no significant exposures to plutonium.

~28,800: The total number of intact nuclear warheads retained by the United States and Russia.

~30,000: Number of intact nuclear warheads throughout the world. 17,500 of these are considered operational.

128,000+: Estimated number of nuclear warheads built worldwide since 1945. All but 2 percent of these nuclear warheads have been built by the United States (55 percent or 70,000+) and Russia (43 percent or 55,000+). ¹

10,729: Total number of intact U.S. nuclear warheads (274 warheads are awaiting dismantlement)

10,455: Total warheads in the U.S. stockpile

7,000: Approximate number of operational strategic U.S. nuclear weapons

~5,000: Component parts ("strategic reserve" or plutonium pits) in U.S. nuclear arsenal

1,600: Approximate number of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons (~800 of these are operational)

8,400: Total number of operational nuclear warheads in Russian arsenal

5,000: Approximate number of Russian strategic nuclear weapons

3,400: Approximate number of operational Russian tactical nuclear weapons (total tactical arsenal said to comprise as many as 10,000+ weapons)

3,500: Approximate number of strategic U.S. nuclear weapons, year 2003 under START II.

3,000: Approximate number of strategic Russian nuclear weapons, year 2003 under START II.

1,500-2,000: Approximate number of strategic nuclear weapons suggested as the ceiling for the United States and Russia under START III agreement.

1,700-2,200: Maximum number of deployed strategic nuclear weapons that will remain in the U.S. and Russian arsenals by 2012 as agreed to by The Treaty of Moscow (also known as SORT) signed by U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in May 2002.

10,000: The number of warheads the United States will retain in 2012 (essentially the same number as today) if the reductions laid out in the Treaty of Moscow are completed by transferring warheads from active delivery vehicles to either a "responsive force" or to "inactive reserve." The active force will consist of approximately 3,500 warheads. (500 ICBM+ 1,680 SLBM + 1,376 bomber)

$3.5 trillion: Amount the United States spent between 1940 and 1995 to prepare to fight a nuclear war.

$27 billion: Amount the United States spends annually to prepare to fight a nuclear war.

$2.2 billion: Cost for one B-2 bomber (21 were authorized by Congress).

$2.5 billion: The lifecycle cost of each B-2 (RDT&E, procurement, operations, maintenance, and support).