Seventeen workers exposed to radiation at Idaho lab

After reading this I didn't think there was much danger to the public, but then I began wondering if radiation did leak out into the general public, would they really tell people? Also, I was wondering that since this was a decomissioned plant, and it didn't leak out, why would this be news? Why would the Energy Department even tell the media about it if this was just a routine check? Hopefully, thats all that it was.

Seventeen workers were exposed to low-level radiation from plutonium on Tuesday at a U.S. Energy Department nuclear research lab in Idaho, but there was no risk to the public, the government said. The accident at the Idaho National Laboratory occurred inside a facility used for remotely handling, processing and examining spent nuclear fuel, radioactive waste and other irradiated materials, the lab said in a series of statements.

There were no immediate details from the lab on the precise cause or nature of the radiation release, such as whether it resulted from an equipment malfunction or human error. Lab spokesman Earl Johnson told Reuters the exposed workers were engaged in an activity and in an area that required no special protective shielding. "We certainly didn't expect this to happen," he said, adding that radiation-control technicians monitoring the area detected the low-level release. Johnson said the "zero-power physics reactor" where the accident occurred was decommissioned in 1992 and had been used to study and test technology for space and commercial nuclear reactors.

It was too early to say how serious Tuesday's accident was compared to previous mishaps "since we don't yet know what the consequences of the accident will be," said Liz Woodruff, head of a private, nonprofit nuclear watchdog group in Idaho called the Snake River Alliance.

I really hope these workers will be ok, and safe.
news.yahoo.com...;

Also, I was wondering that since this was a decomissioned plant, and it didn't leak out, why would this be news? Why would the Energy Department even tell the media about it if this was just a routine check?

Think about it this way. If the Energy Department didn't tell the media, someone else would have.
THEN people would say that the Energy Department conspired to cover it up. THEN you have a bigger mess to deal with.
Accidents Happen.