I served in the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power program from Sept. 1972 until Sept. 1979. After completing my schooling and training I served on the nuclear powered cruiser USS South Carolina, CGN-37. After being honorably discharged in Sept. 1979 I got a job at the P.H. Glatfelter Paper Co. paper mill in Spring Grove, PA. I worked as a steam plant machinery mechanic until I retired from there in May 2017.

When I first started working at the paper mill, I took a lot of teasing and “hardassing” about being a “NUC”. I was used to working to very high technical standards on machinery and equipment on a nuclear power plant, and I kept being told…..”we don’t need that here, this is good enough”. That all changed on March 29, 1979.

the volunteers went up the street to the Spring Grove fire house and dug out the old Civil Defense radiation kit

The shop that I worked out of had a York County Control radio monitor. When a call would come in employees that were volunteer firemen would answer the call on paid company time (as a public service) and then just return to work when they were done. So on March 29th, 1979 when they heard that something was going on at TMI the volunteers went up the street to the Spring Grove fire house and dug out the old Civil Defense radiation kit, which had not been done in a long, long, time.

Nobody knew what was in the box, or what to do with all if it.

Nobody knew what was in the box, or what to do with all if it. So they brought the box back to the paper mill, spread the contents out on a workbench table in the shop, and came looking for me where I was working in the paper mill. They hauled me back to the shop and put me in front of the table. Everybody started asking questions at once. I just stood there. In a couple of minutes they all calmed down and stopped talking. I looked at them and said……”Ever since I started working here all you have wanted to do is make an “ass’ out of me for being a “NUC”. Why should I tell you anything? Now because I know something about this you expect me to bail your ass out.” They all stood there rather sheepishly with nothing to say.

I held a class on the four types of radiation (alpha, beta, neutron & gamma). I explained what they could do, and how they could be shielded. I explained what exposure limits are, and what effects show up in the human body because of radiation exposure. I told them that I was a qualified reactor operator, qualified power plant operator, qualified steam plant chemist, and a qualified radiological controls technician. That meant I knew how to contain and clean up radioactive spills and leaks, and to do radiation surveys and monitoring. I showed them how to calibrate the radiation meter (commonly called Geiger counter) and how to calibrate and use the little personal radiation dosimeters in the box.

I was then asked if we were in any danger.

I was then asked if we were in any danger. I calibrated the meter and took  a reading outside on the sidewalk. I showed them that the meter indicated nothing more than normal background radiation. I explained that even if anything was released by TMI that by the time it traveled almost 20 miles to Spring Grove it would be so diluted in the atmosphere by distance that it probably would not show on the meter.

I was then asked when they should start to worry. I told them that when I leave town they could start to worry. I never did leave town, and until the TMI incident was declared over I had to answer a lot of questions, because I was the one person that had knowledge and hands on experience with nuclear reactors. I also never had to put up with any more “hardassing” about being a “NUC’.

Ivan