Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 11, 1990                   TAG: 9004110512
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

NUCLEAR WORKERS AT HIGH RISK, GROUP SAYS

It said some agency other than the Nuclear Regulatory Commission - perhaps the Department of Health and Human Services - should set the level.

Power plant employees are exposed to average radiation equal to roughly 20 chest X-rays a year more than the public is exposed to, said Ken Bossong, executive director of an energy research project of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group.

Virginia Power Co.'s Surry 1 and 2 plants were among the 20 the consumer group says were worst at exposing workers to radiation in 1988.

Public Citizen released a study Tuesday showing more nuclear power plant workers than ever before were exposed to measurable radiation in 1988, albeit at a larger number of plants than ever before.

The study found 105,265 instances of worker exposure to measurable radiation at the 107 commercial nuclear reactors in 1988.

It said its study, based on documents from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, found 104,511 such incidents in 1987 and 100,992 in 1986.

The industry-sponsored Council of Energy Awareness, in a written response to the report, said "the total number of exposed individuals increased only because, according to Public Citizen's figures, there were 10 more nuclear energy plants in operation than the year before." Actually, Public Citizen said there were nine more plants.

In any case, the industry group pointed out that Public Citizen's own numbers show that "in 1988, the year on which they report, the number of workers per plant who were exposed to any measurable radiation declined to an all-time low, down 22 percent in the five-year period, 1984-1988."

There were 98 plants operating in 1987, nine fewer than in 1988.

Public Citizen's report acknowledged a decrease in the average collective radiation dose of each reactor's work force. It also said the average number of workers exposed per plant and the average dose of exposure had gone down by 7 percent between 1987 and 1988.

Experts on both sides agree that the greatest exposure to workers comes during reactor maintenance work, mostly on older reactors.

Public Citizen said the United States eventually should stop using nuclear power, but suggested that as long as the plants continue to operate the NRC should lower the limits of worker radiation exposure.

The NRC radiation exposure limit is 5.00 rems per year per worker, with 2.4 times that much permitted for workers whose jobs keep them close to the reactor. The accepted limit for the population is 500 millirems, or one-tenth the amount for nuclear plant workers, the group said.