By Martin Roberts
MADRID (Reuters) - Up to 800 people are being examined forcontamination after a leak of radioactive material at a nuclearplant in northeast Spain last November, the nuclear watchdogsaid on Monday.
The Nuclear Safety Council (CSN) said it had so farexamined 579 out of between 700 and 800 people who had beenthrough the Asco I nuclear plant in Tarragona since the leakand none had been found to have been contaminated.
The CSN said it was considering sanctions against theplant's operators for not providing it with enough informationabout the leak, which it considered to be more serious thanoriginally classified.
The CSN was not advised until April 4 of the leak, whichoccurred during refuelling at the 1,000 megawatt Endesa-ownedPlant.
The leak was first made public by environmental groupGreenpeace on April 5 and confirmed shortly afterwards by theCSN, which sent inspectors to the site.
In a statement the CSN said it had raised its rating of theleak to 2 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) for"inadequate control of nuclear material and for supplyingincomplete and deficient information to the regulator".
The CSN said it would demand those responsible be found.
"From the sequence of events it may be deduced that theoperator knew on April 9 that the information on total activityspilled was not correct and not forwarded to the CSN," it said.
The watchdog added that the plant's management nowestimated that a maximum of 84.95 million becquerels (Bq) ofradioactivity had been leaked, which compares to a figure of235,000 Bq published on April 8.
"The radiological impact derived from the new data is stillof very little significance to the population around theplant," the CSN said.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Manuel Rodriguez, head of radiological protection, toldSpanish state radio that those who had passed through the plantwere being checked for contamination as a safety precaution.
"In the same way we are taking measures outside the site,"he said.
In an earlier statement, the CSN said its inspectors hadfound radioactive materials including cobalt-60.
Cobalt-60 is produced when materials like steel absorbradioactivity from reactors, according to the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency. It has medical uses, likeradiotherapy, but can be dangerous as it emits gamma rays,exposure to which over time can cause cancer.
CSN president Carmen Martinez has asked to give evidence toparliament.
The Asco I plant was shown as working normally on the CSNWeb site.
Greenpeace called for the plant's operation to besuspended.
Asco I has a pressurised water reactor (PWR) and is ownedby Spain's second largest utility Endesa. It came on stream inAugust 1983 and its operating permit is due to expire in 2011.
Spain's recently re-elected Socialist government haspledged to phase out the country's eight nuclear plants andstep up electricity generation from renewable energy sources.
(Reporting by Martin Roberts and Sarah Morris; Editing byElizabeth Piper)
