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.

Vermont Yankee Plant to Remain Offline Indefinitely

Following a recent transformer fire at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, officials have decided to keep the facility offline for more thorough investigation.

From the Champlain Channel:

UPDATED: 10:40 am EDT June 24, 2004

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Vermont Yankee remained off-line Thursday after two fires there on Friday, but Entergy now says the plant's safety system didn't respond the way it should have.

Vermont Yankee officials said the accident was far less serious than originally feared, but critics charge it's the pattern they're concerned about. It's just one safety lapse after the next, they said. "A fire at a nuclear plant is a big deal," one customer said. Five days after the fire there, critics call the accident more serious -- and more telling -- than first believed.

"Powerplants have what's called a bathtub curve," said longtime nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen. "They fail a lot when they're new. They fail a lot when they're old. In between though, they don't fail a lot. I have been saying that they're on the upslope of the bathtub curve, and we should see more of these failures as the plant gets older." Gundersen cites three forced shutdowns in nine months due to broken valves and pumps.

Vermont Yankee turns 32 this year, but marks the year with a series of embarrassments: cracks in the steam dryer, a pair of missing fuel rods and, most recently, the transformer fire. Public service commissioner David O'Brien sent the state nuclear engineer to Vernon this week for a closer look. "We've got to find out what caused it," Public Service Commissioner David O'Brien said. "Was it a problem with the equipment? Was it a problem with maintenance? We've got to find that out first."

Officials hope to find out what caused the accident within a week. The plant will remain off-line indefinitely. The NRC, meanwhile, still plans to assess Vermont Yankee for its proposed uprate later this summer.

Vermonters Protest Proposed 20% Yankee Nuclear "Uprating"

The embattled, aging Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon (which recently made headlines when two highly radioactive pieces of fuel rod were reported missing) is expected to be given a 20% power boost - or "uprating."

This doesn't sit very well with many residents of this characteristically "back-to-nature" region. From today's Brattleboro [VT] Reformer:

BRATTLEBORO -- Flashing placards, more than 125 nuclear power protesters marched downtown on Saturday, calling for a cease to "uprate" proceedings and, moreover, for Vermont Yankee's closing. The group, which made its way from the Brattleboro Food Co-op to the Common, held placards saying, "Stop Vermont Yankee," "Not Another Chernobyl," and "Does Vermont Matter?" A child in a stroller had a sign which said: "Protect My Future."

Doug Wight, of Shutesbury, Mass., yelled, "Not in my backyard, not in country, not in my world," as he walked toward the Common, where demonstrators listened to anti-nuclear speakers.

The event was organized by Citizen's Awareness Network in Shelburne Falls, Mass., an anti-nuclear energy activism group. The demonstration was supposed to protest the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's unwillingness to perform a comprehensive, independent assessment of the Vernon nuclear power plant before its power output is upped 20 percent. But the NRC announced last week that it would conduct an independent engineering assessment.

Another demonstration to shut down Vermont Yankee down is scheduled for May 15 in Greenfield, Mass. Demonstrators are to meet up at Greenfield Common at 11 a.m. and march through the city to Energy Park.

The 33-year-old plant is among the oldest in the United States, which leads nuclear opponents to say it cannot withstand a 20 percent power boost. Vermont Yankee officials maintain that the plant is inspected regularly by the NRC and has not had any significant problems.

The missing fuel rods from Vermont Yankee are still AWOL, and the Providence Journal (registration reguired) reports officials are planning a search of waste sites in South Carolina and Washington State in an effort to track down the pieces.

Entergy Corp. website [VY parent company]
Google News on "Vermont Yankee Nuclear"
Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC] and the NRC's Student Resource Pages
Citizen's Awareness Network [CAN]