On this day in labor history, the year was 1981.
That was the day at least eight workers at Sequoyah I nuclear reactor in Tennessee were exposed to radioactive coolant.
The reactor was part of the vast Tennessee Valley Authority that provided electrical power to the region.
Sequoyah I had just been commissioned and was already off to a bad start.
First, on January 19, 1981, a generator tube malfunctioned, forcing a complete shut down.
Then on February 11, an operator error triggered an emergency alert.
An Auxiliary Unit Operator was working his first day on the new job without proper training.
He inadvertently opened the wrong valve during a safety test.
The operator misunderstood his instructions and recognized his mistake immediately.
But when he tried to alert the control room, they were too busy responding to the developing crisis to answer his call.
Reactor water sprayed for 10 minutes before it was finally shut off.
As many as 14 workers were contaminated by the coolant.
Some scientists contend that the release of reactor vessel water was inadvertent and part of the design of the cooling system.
Others argue that, in order to cut costs, management had decided to use radioactively contaminated water as emergency coolant rather than the more expensive fresh, uncontaminated water.
Steam leaks, tube malfunctions and overflowing drainage tanks were just some of the reported failures at the plant in the following years.
Between 1985 and 1988, Sequoyah was forced to shut down again after an independent review concluded that the plant did not comply with current safety standards.
Today the plant supplies electricity to more than 1.3 million homes.
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November 9 - Remembering Philip Murray
November 8 - Dorothy Day is Born
November 7 - Eisenhower Wields Taft-Hartley
November 6 - The Fight for Equality
November 5 - The Everett Massacre
November 4 - Will Rogers is Born
November 3 - The Greensboro Massacre
November 2 - Sixteen Tons
November 1 - The Deadly Consequences of Scabbing
October 31 - Happy Union Made Halloween
October 30 - Wall St. Lays an Egg
October 29 - Alice Doesn’t Day
October 28 - The Pony Express
October 27 - The 1948 Donora Smog
October 26 - America’s Florence Nightingale
October 25 - NY Daily News On Strike!
October 24 - Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for What We Will!
October 23 - John Sweeney is Elected
October 22 - Pretty Boy Floyd Is Gunned Down
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