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Radiation threat from Florida blast low, official says

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A fire official said workers at the Florida plant site may have had minor radiation exposure.

(CNN) -- An explosion Monday at a company in Jacksonville, Florida, that makes airplane, helicopter and military parts injured one person and may have exposed up to 44 others to minor levels of radiation, Jacksonville Fire Rescue spokesman Tom Francis said.

The explosion was caused by a gas canister used to make airplane ignition systems at Unison Industries, spokesman Wayne Moles said.

He said the gas contained a low level of radiation that was dispersed in the area where the ignition systems are made.

According to Francis, the level of possible radiation exposure was low -- approximately equivalent to an X-ray.

But employees who were in the vicinity of the explosion were being decontaminated as a precaution, he added.

Francis said there was no threat to people living in the area.

One person "slightly injured" in the explosion was taken to a hospital, Francis said.

A company Web site said Unison makes alternators and generators for various types of aircraft and ignition control generators for Tomahawk cruise missiles.

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