NEWPORT, Mich. - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said yesterday it found no evidence of external radiation from a small fire that broke out about 2 p.m. Tuesday inside the decommissioned Fermi 1 nuclear plant.
The fire began in the basement when residual liquid sodium made contact with air. That occurred as a pipe holding the material was moved by workers outside the plant who were doing an inspection with remote equipment, John Austerberry, a DTE Energy spokesman, said.
Liquid sodium is highly reactive and burns when it makes contact with air. Mr. Austerberry said most of what had been inside Fermi 1, an experiment reactor, was removed with the plant's spent fuel in 1973, a year after the reactor was shut down.
Viktoria Mitlyng, an NRC spokesman, said the fire was presumed radioactive because liquid sodium was used to cool the plant's reactor. External monitoring continues, she said.
One employee was on another floor but did not pick up radiation from the fire, Mr. Austerberry said.
The decommissioning project has been temporarily suspended, pending an evaluation. He said the utility is on schedule to have the site dismantled by 2012."We have temporarily stopped the decommissioning work but will resume that," Mr. Austerberry said.
Fermi 1 is on the same complex as Fermi 2, the nuclear plant that succeeded it. But the fire did not affect Fermi 2. The NRC's Web site showed it operating at full power yesterday.
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