Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 19

A-19 THE WESTINGHOUSE ACCIDENT PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, WW Nuclear mishap got little notice from media I i 7 5c Buy any pair of dress, v'-x more story to follow up those initial, abbreviated reports. If they had, they would have found that radioactive gas had been released into the atmosphere, and cleanup following the accident took four months and cost a cool 1 million. And if nuclear power was new, cleaning up nuclear accidents was newer. Once the radiation settled at Waltz Mill, cleanup crews, recruited from the rariks of unemployed coal miners, were brought in to do decontamination work. In addition, Westinghouse personnel from other company facilities were also assigned duty at "The Mill," swelling the normal plant complement from 1 18 to more than 200 workers.

"Cleanup was very successful, and in many cases involved nothing more than washing the reactor down with soap and water," said Andy Sabo, who has worked for Westinghouse for 36 years and is now manager of environmental and regulatory services. He was one of those brought in to help. The unemployed miners who were hired were outfitted with white cotton coveralls, plastic booties to wear over their shoes, gloves, and in some cases goggles and face masks. They were sent into the containment building to hand scrub it with a variety of cleaning compounds, including, for the difficult spots, Comet cleanser. Women's sanitary napkins were used because of their absorbent qualities to wipe down the surfaces.

Only one wipe per pad was allowed to prevent cross-contamination. "The napkins were used as rags because they were easy to use and especially absorbent," Sabo said. "They'd still be a good idea for cleanup." After the ruptured and melted fuel element was sawed out and removed, water was circulated through the reactor. This flushed out radioactive particles some two inches long and carried them throughout the reactor's primary loop, according to Westing-house's July 7, 1960, report on the accident filed with the Atomic Energy Commission. The particles were vacuumed off the reactor head in the reactor vessel, but had to be manually picked up off the bottom of the surge tank, which was used to collect overflow water from the reactor.

Water in that tank was 6 inches deep. "By sending a man into the tank and turning off all the lights, it was possible to spot individual particles by their glow," the report says. "The particles could then be picked up by long-handled tweezers and placed in a shielded cask." casual, boots, hikers or athletics and get any second pair equal value or less at Half-Pnce! Cjirent Reebok Rockport first P3t only guitar Moraine Pornie Plaza Oak Springs Square 2S7-2656 2 28-MM Hurry. Sale ends Wednesday. clSiCS Reebok EASTLAND BHffl(B convGRSE l.r.

Gear fedS Qierokee North Hill Hills Village Mall 36641020 Qraantraa Oraansburg Parkway Center Mall Westmoreland Cty. Mall 021.2810 634-6450 Southland Bathal Park-Villaga 6q. FoiChapal Four Seasons Shop Ctr (Across from Hills Vil.) Waterworks Plaza 653-6242 835-2150 72-0566 By Don Hopey Post-Gazette Staff Writer Things were simpler in 1960. The nuclear power industry was a toddler on unsure legs. Its falls and there were several were treated as rites of passage by an uncritical media.

If a mess was made, it was nothing a little Comet cleanser, thousands of women's sanitary napkins and 30 minimum-wage workers couldn't clean up. At least that the way it was 33 years ago, when the partial meltdown of a nuclear fuel element at Westinghouse's Waltz Mill test reactor near New Stanton, Westmoreland County, sent bursts of radioactive gas into the air and workers running for safe cover. Although no one was killed or in jured and Westinghouse reported no measurable radiation outside the reactor facility, a nuclear accident of this magnitude today would no doubt provoke days ot newspa per and television coverage. In I9i0, trungs were dmerent. Two days after the April 3 acci dent, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote a one-column, two-line headline "Mishap Cuts Reactor Off on a four-paragraph story that was little more than a Westinghouse press release.

It ran on Page 2. The lead story on Page 1 was about the movie, "Ben Hur," winning a record II Oscars. The Pittsburgh Press was a day quicker but no more aggressive. It ran a one-column, two-line headline "Westinghouse Denies Radia tion" on a five-paragraph story that ran on Page 2. On the top of its first page that day, the now-defunct afternoon paper ran a photo of a sunken car under the eight-column headline: "Raging Mississippi Rips Levees." Some things, it seems, never change.

Both stories about the accident quoted a Westinghouse official exclusively. In both, that company spokesman said that radioactivity was confined to the reactor piping system and that the reactor was expected to resume normal operation in "three to four days." Neither newspaper ran even one LANCOME PARIS Pittsfcurah Cranaarrv Lowar Burrall noMnaan Towna Ctr. Shop Ctr (Across From ikeal 70641745 Miracle Mile Shop. Ctr Eogewood Towne Ctr Cranberry Mall HMcrest 666-7603 371-344 772-2551 10-50! INTRODUCING NEW LANCOME lASCAM, PLUS GET 2 EXCLUSIVE FREE GIFTS I I 5 I 2 TAKE THE LANCOME MASCARA CHALLENGE Wear your current mascara to the Lancome counter. We'll remove it from ope eye and replace it with your choice of new Carecils Excellence Treatment Mascara, or Definicils High Definition Mascara.

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