WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) U.S. authorities investigating a radiation leak at the nuclear plant in Three Mile Island, Pa., said Monday that the leak has been contained and the impact is not significant.

    John White, an investigator at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), told reporters that the leak was contained quickly and it didn't exceeded or even approached regulatory limits.

    After a small amount of radiation leak was detected at the plant Saturday afternoon, some 150 plant employees was sent home on an airborne radiological contamination alarm.

    The employees were being evaluated but a handful of them who had contamination have been decontaminated, according to the NRC. No public health risk was announced.

    The plant near the Pennsylvania state capital of Harrisburg became famous worldwide in 1979 when one of its units partially melt down.

    No nuclear power plants have been built in the United States since then for security reasons.