A couple pieces of Good News.                 5/9/13

1.Based on the permanent closure of two reactors this year,

Crystal River in FL, and Kewaunee in WI,  the US total number of reactors is 102.

2. UBS Financial analyst Dumoulin Smith stated in an AOL energy article from last week that after the closure of a number of fossil fuel fired reactors in the midwest last year, this year 6 nuclear reactors in the northeast are due to close

Let us hope VY is included in the 6.

The demise of nuclear energy is upon us.

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NRC returns to Brattleboro BUHS (high school) 5:30 TIL 8:00 PM,

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct a public open house, followed by a question-and-answer session, on April 30 to discuss the agency’s annual review of safety performance at the Vermont Yankee atomic power reactor.

The open house is scheduled for 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room at Brattleboro Union High School, at 131 Fairground Road in Brattleboro, Vt. It will provide an opportunity for attendees to hold one-on-one discussions with NRC staff members about the plant’s 2012 performance and the agency’s oversight of the facility. Then, beginning at 7 p.m. at the same location, the NRC staff will hold a group question-and-answer session regarding plant performance and oversight topics. There will be a security bag search for all attending.
Overall, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is coming to Brattleboro to pat itself on the back for another year of licensee supplied data reviews on Vermont Yankee, which is a single boiling-water reactor located in Vernon, Vt. According to the NRC, VY operated safely during 2012. According to state law agreed to at the time of the sale, Entergy was required by VT law to not operate the reactor after March 21,2012.  At the end of the fourth quarter of 2012, the plant did not have any inspection findings that were greater than green (rising to the level requiring additional NRC oversight) or any performance indicators that were other than green (exceeding the threshold for the indicator and requiring additional NRC oversight). As a result, Vermont Yankee will continue to receive the NRC’s normal level of oversight during 2013. Really, so what the exhaust fans didn’t work. That issue wasn’t found in 2012 and was only found when the secondary containment pressure didn’t vent properly during the last refueling outage.

Plants that meet criteria set out by the NRC receive the normal level of oversight, which still consists of a detailed regime involving thousands of hours of inspection. In 2012, the agency devoted approximately 5,780 hours of inspection to the Vermont Yankee plant, which is owned by Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
“When the time comes to evaluate a plant’s performance for the previous year, we take a fresh look at any and all issues that might be of concern. We then adjust our plans for assessing the facility accordingly,” NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean said. “As we map out our inspection plans for the remainder of 2013, we remain focused on ensuring that safety is the foremost objective for all plant operators.”

NRC NEWS
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region I

Contact: Diane Screnci, (610) 337-5330
Neil Sheehan, (610) 337-5331

Do you think the NRC regulated Vermont Yankee well last year?

The NRC is here to hear from us.

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Shots fired at TVA Watts Bar Nuclear Plant

Plant officials said the incident didn’t threaten the plant’s security.

If this doesn’t concern plant security … what does?