8/7/2019 081110 Nuclear Freon Leak

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WB_VOICE - CVDAILY - 2 - 08/11/10 WB_VOICE/PAGES [T02] 08/10/10 23:00 SUPERIMPWB

INSIDE TODAY’S VOICE

LOTTERY NUMBERS

COMPLETE WEATHER DATA ON PAGE 39

Drilling meeting in N.Y. postponedThousands were expected to attend a stadium-stylehearing on a landmark study of natural gas drilling. Page 12

Political figure diesin Alaska plane crashAmphibious plane car-rying former AlaskaSen. Ted Stevens, four

others, crashes intomountainside. Page A1

Scranton business cutting backDiversified may shed jobs. Page A3

Out & AboutThe Wilkes-Barre Farmers Marketgoes to the kids. Page 23

ON THE COVERFormer President Bill Clinton waves tothe crowd after speaking at ScrantonHigh School on Tuesday.(JASON FARMER / TIMES-SHAMROCK)

Daily Number Day: 500Daily Number Night: 782

Big 4 Day: 6320 Big 4 Night: 9910

Quinto Day: 54369 Quinto Night: 32621

Treasure Hunt: 1, 12, 18, 22, 25

Cash 5: 13, 14, 17, 31, 37

(ISSN 1070-8626) USPS 450-590The Citizens’ Voice is published daily by Times-Shamrock, 75 N. Washington St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711. Periodicals postage is paid at Wilkes-Barre, PA. Additional mailing offices:Send address changes to The Citizens’ Voice, 75 N. Washington St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711.1-year, Luzerne County, $239.20.

INDEX

Almanac 39

Advice 16

Birthdays 17

Business A3

C lass ified A7-16Comics 20-22

Edi torial s 14-15

Horoscope 16

National A1

Publi c not ices A7

Puzzles 22

Sports 29

Stocks A4

Television 16

Town Crier 23

OBITUARIESBUTCOFSKI, Eleanor

CASCIANI, Samuel H.

KACHALA, Victoria G.

LASTOSKY, Ethel A.

LEWIS, Malvina

LICATA, Fred S.

MANCINI, Suzanne T.

Fanti

McANDREW, Cecilia A.

McGUIRE, Patricia Diane

PAYSON, Dora M.RYNKIEWICZ, Robert

John

SCAVONE, Rolland

SPERLAZZO, Angelo P.

WEST, RaynorObituaries, pages 24-26

THE CITIZENS’ VOICE FILE

Freon leak puts power plant on alertBy Patrick SweetStaff Writer 

SALEM TWP. — A Freonleak forced the partial evac-uation Tuesday of Unit 1 of the Susquehanna NuclearPower Plant.

At 9:22 a.m., plant opera-tor PPL declared an “alert”

and notified surroundingmunicipalities of the event,a c c o r di n g t o P P L a n dLuzerne County’s Emergen-cy Management Agency.

An “alert” — the second-lowest of four emergencyclassifications — means theleakwas an“actualor poten-tial” risk to plant safety butincluded very small or noradioactive material,accord-ing to the Nuclear Regulato-ry Commission’s website.

In this case, PPL said noradioactive material wasinvolved but the area con-tains “plantsafety systems.”

The Freon, a refrigerant,

l e a k e df ro m t h ec h i l l i n gsystem inU n i t 1 ’ sr e a c t o rbuilding,P P Lspokesper-sonJoseph

Scopellitisaid.Thechilling system, a glo-

rified air conditioner, isused to cool the reactorbuilding.

“Plant employees areinvestigating the cause of the leak,” Scopelliti said,“while focusing on stoppingthe leak and getting the Fre-on out of that area of thereactor buildingthroughthe

plant’s ventilation system.”N e il S h e e h a n , a N RCspokesman, said workerswith air packs were enter-ing the building to work onthe leak.

Breathing large amountsof Freon for shortperiods of time can affect the nervoussystem, causing dizziness,lack of coordination andirregular heart beat, accord-ing to the U.S. Environmen-tal Protection Agency.

PPL evacuated thereactorbuilding, but not the entire

plant.“There have been no inju-ries,” Scopelliti said. “Allplant workers have beensafely accounted for.”

About 10 p.m., MiriamMylin, spokeswoman for theSusquehanna plant, said“work is going well.”

“The leak has been signif-icantly diminished,” shesaid in a prepared release.

PPL transitioned to its

back-up chiller system oncethe leak was identified. Theback-up is a 100 percentredundantsystem, Scopellitisaid, meaning it can operateidentically to the main unit.

The backup chilling systemallows PPL to continue oper-ating Unit 1 at full power.Unit 2 was not effected bytheFreonleak.

Stephen Bekanich, emer-gency management coordi-nator for Luzerne County,said the situation is similarto an event on Oct. 27, 2008.

In that event, high nitrogenlevels forced plant employ-ees to evacuate Unit 2’spump room. The amount of nitrogen created an oxygen-deficient environment.

Tuesday’s “alert” cameonly six days after PPLbrought Unit 1 back onlineafter flooding shut it downforroughly 20 days.

The NRC was monitoringPPL’s response to Tuesday’s

Freon alert.

K ENT JACKSON, staff writer, con-tributed to this report.

psweet@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2117

Court notes 27

FOR THE RECORD

Mega Millions results appear on page 8.

TODAY’S FORECAST

WILKES-BARRE EXTENDED FORECAST

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2010

Sunshine and some cloudstoday. Winds north 4-8 mph.Partly cloudy tonight. Windseast 3-6 mph.89 63

82 65

Average normal highs/lows for the week: 81/61: A thun-derstorm in the area tomorrow afternoon. Winds south 4-8mph. Clouds and sun Friday. Winds east-southeast 6-12 mph.Sunshine and patchy clouds Saturday.

T

HURSDAY

A t-storm inspots

Lastyear: 83/65

78 62

FRIDAY

Clouds andsun

80/65

83 66

SAT

URDAY

Mostlysunny

83/63

85 66

SUNDAY

T-stormspossible

85/63

85 64

MONDAY

A t-stormpossible

88/63

Delivered live to thepagers, cellphonesand e-mail of read-ers moments later.

NEWS FLASH

Tuesday @Tuesday @10:38 a.m.10:38 a.m.

FIRST REPORTED

CITIZENSVOICE.COM

Inmate in prison beating remains in critical conditionBy Joe McDonaldStaff Writer 

Fourmonths before Nicho-lasPintowas nearly stompedto death at the LackawannaCountyPrison, a priestwrotea letter to the county com-missioners warning hefeared for the safety of theinmate awaiting sentencingon federal pornographycharges, who he said hadbeen sexually assaulted andwasa “likely target.”

On Sunday, the Rev. Wil-

liam B. Pick-a rd ’ s f e a rsturned into

reality insidethe protectivecustody sec-tion of DeltaUnit.

Inaflashof v i o l e n c e

inflicted by another inmate,Pinto’s head was repeatedlystomped, leaving him in theintensive care unit at Com-munity Medical Center,where he remained in criti-

cal conditionTuesday.

P i c k a r d ,

k n o w n f o rchampioningthe rights of inmates at thecounty pris-on, held hishead in his

hand and his eyes began totear Tuesday when he talkedabout Pinto andhis letter.

“I did all I could do,” hesaid, referring to the letterdatedMarch 30.In the letter,

Pickard said, “Please seri-ously consider transferringthe victim of mistreatment,

Pinto, to another correctionalfacility. His outspokennessmakes hima likely target of severe institutional retalia-tion.”

No charges had been filedin the assault on Pinto andcity detectives were stillinterviewing prison staff andinmates on Tuesday in whatauthorities have described asan attempted homicide case.

Pinto Simonson

The PPLSusquehannaSteamElectric Station inSalem Town-

 ship as seenfrom BellBend Road.

 A Freon leak on Tuesday

forced thepartialevacuation ofUnit 1 of theSusquehannaNuclearPower Plant.

SEE PRISON, PAGE 262

    –

THECITIZENS’VOICE

WEDNE

SDAY ,AUGUST11 ,2010