Exposure at Ontario Nuclear Plant Prompts Industry-Wide Probe

"Emerging details of accidental radiation exposure at an Ontario nuclear power plant  have triggered an order to investigate the possibility of similar incidents across the country, while raising doubts about safety at Canada’s only privately owned operator.

Last Nov. 26, a routine air sample taken at Bruce Power's No. 1 reactor on Lake Huron near Owen Sound detected elevated levels of radiation. The incident is one of the most serious safety breaches at a Canadian reactor in recent memory and poses troubling questions about why Bruce executives assumed – mistakenly, it turns out – that they could send workers in to upgrade a laid-up reactor without exposing them to cancer-causing alpha radiation. "

Karen Howlett reports for the Toronto Globe and Mail June 29, 2010.