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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.
[email protected], 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