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Panel raises Yankee radiation issue: Rutland Herald Online

Panel raises Yankee radiation issue November 22, 2008 RUTLAND HERALD By Susan Smallheer BRATTLEBORO — Members of the Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel said Thursday evening they felt left in the dark over the controversy over how the state has changed how it measures radiation coming from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant………………….before the Department of Health changed the way it calculated the radiation, Yankee was dangerously close to hitting that limit.

Vermont Yankee is emitting more radiation into the atmosphere for a variety of reasons: It boosted power production by 20 percent 2-1/2 years ago, it is now storing low-level radioactive waste in Vernon, it stored high-level radioactive waste in concrete casks outside the plant, and operational methods aimed at reducing the wear and tear on the plant.

Entergy Nuclear protested the way the radiation was calculated, and the state and Entergy hired a nuclear laboratory, Oak Ridge Universities Laboratory, to review the process. The result was a recommendation that the state re-calculate the radiation dose, as opposed to radiation exposure, which would in effect cut the rate to just over half the current rate, 0.6.

Panel raises Yankee radiation issue: Rutland Herald Online

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, radiation

November 23, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized