NARRAGANSETT, R.I.—Federal regulators have launched a special inspection of a Rhode Island Atomic Energy Commission's research reactor after one of its workers was exposed to radiation.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday said the reactor reported the potential overexposure.
Regulators say an employee entered the facility's dry gamma exposure room to calibrate a radiation probe as part of an experiment the facility was conducting.
The reactor's assistant director for operations Jeff Davis says the amount of radiation the employee was exposed to is less than what is transmitted by a chest X-ray.
Davis says it occurred when the worker went inside the radiation room to take a temperature reading while on his way to lock the room's gate.
Inspectors will seek to determine circumstances surrounding the incident and its probable causes.
