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NRC permits Emergency staff to be reduced at Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant: questions remain

Emergency staff to be reduced at Vermont Yankee nuclear plant Sentinel Source,  By Susan Smallheer Rutland Herald 6 Feb 15 

Staff members from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission took to the web Thursday to try to answer dozens of questions about decommissioning the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

During two webinars attended by about 125 people, the NRC staff members repeatedly dodged questions about the financing behind the decommissioning, saying the NRC’s decommissioning financial expert would be at a Feb. 19 NRC meeting in Brattleboro. The two NRC officials, Bruce Watson and Marc Ferdas, said Entergy Nuclear, the plant’s owner, is responsible financially for the plant’s decommissioning under the terms of its federal license to operate Vermont Yankee. But they didn’t give specifics on how a company would be held liable 60 years in the future if there were additional costs.

Vermont Yankee shut down Dec. 29 after more than 40 years in operation.

In a separate action, a directive approved Wednesday by the NRC gives permission for Vermont Yankee to reduce its emergency staffing from 13 to five.

With all the fuel rods removed from the reactor to the spent fuel pool, the NRC deemed it safe to cover emergency staffing with one shift manager, one certified fuel handler, one radiation protection technician and three non-certified operators, according to a news release from the NRC……..

, Entergy and the administration disagree over which activities will be financed by the decommissioning fund. The biggest and most expensive disagreement is how to pay for the handling and storage of spent nuclear fuel…….The NRC public meeting on Feb. 19 is from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Quality Inn in Brattleboro. It is open to the public. http://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/emergency-staff-to-be-reduced-at-vermont-yankee-nuclear-plant/article_e7e5de73-1ee5-5b2a-bc8c-fff250fe725e.html

February 7, 2015 - Posted by | safety, USA

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