San Onofre

A radiation specialist at the San Onofre nuclear power plant discovered a small radioactive particle in his home during a self-administered inspection over the weekend, officials announced Monday.

The tiny particle posed no health hazard to the employee, his family or the public, according to David Barron, a spokesman for Southern California Edison Co., which operates the power plant.

Barron said the particle, which was emitting about the same amount of radioactivity as a household smoke detector, was discovered when the worker used a highly sensitive portable radiation monitoring device to survey his home and car.

The self-imposed inspection was in line with the company’s practice of allowing qualified employees to survey their homes if they have concerns about the possibility that radioactivity might have escaped detection when they left the plant, he said.

According to Edison officials, the particle was found on a carpet at the worker’s house. They said the particle probably clung to the man’s clothing when he left the plant and then fell off at his house. The name of the employee was not released.

Barron said plant officials believe the particle probably found its way to the employee’s home sometime last year, before very sensitive automatic monitors were installed at the plant’s exit points.

On Feb. 4, a microscopic fragment of radioactive material was found on another employee’s sweat shirt when he arrived for work. The monitors alerted inspectors, who searched the man’s clothing and found the particle. A search of his home uncovered no traces of radiation, an Edison spokesman said at the time.