Missing Yankee Nuclear Fuel Rods Found

From the Champlain Channel WPTZ-TV
Fuel Rods Found In Pool At Plant

POSTED: 8:21 pm EDT July 13, 2004
UPDATED: 9:24 am EDT July 14, 2004

VERNON, Vt. -- Two highly radioactive pieces of spent nuclear fuel reported missing three months ago appear to have been where they were supposed to be all along.

A spokesman for the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Vermont Yankee has told the NRC it found the fuel rods in the spent fuel pool at the plant. Vermont Yankee officials said last week they had found records at a General Electric laboratory in California that appeared to provide a key clue as to the fuel pieces' whereabouts.

Workers found the spent rods inside a cylinder that was sent to Vermont Yankee by GE specifically to hold the fuel segments. Searchers found the canister at the bottom of the spent rod pool and opened it up, discovering the rods late Tuesday afternoon. Vermont Yankee said it has updated its records to make sure something like that doesn't happen again.

Yankee Nuclear Powers Up Once More...Er, Hold That Thought

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- There was another scare Thursday morning at Vermont Yankee. This, after the nuclear power plant had just resumed full power Wednesday night following a fire that forced a 19-day shutdown.

Officials said an excess of oil caused black smoke to blow out of a furnace inside a building on the grounds Thursday morning. An onsite fire brigade shut off the furnace switch a little after 4 a.m. A representative for the plant's parent company said there was no damage or injuries from the incident.

I don't know about you, but I'd feel a little leery of uprating an old plant with repeated "problems" like this...and they still haven't found the missing two pieces of fuel rod.