The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently completed its 2012 performance review for the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
In a letter dated March 4, NRC Branch Chief Ronald Bellamy told Chris Wamser, site vice president of Vermont Yankee, that the plant's safety was up to par.
“The NRC determined that overall, Vermont Yankee operated in a manner that preserved public health and safety and met all cornerstone objectives,” Bellamy wrote.
This finding comes after former Public Service Department Commissioner Liz Miller sent the NRC a series of letters asking why the NRC was not strengthening its oversight of the plant in light of a string of human performance errors in 2012.
As the NRC's letters stated then and the annual assessment letter stated this month, those incidents are considered by the regulatory commission to be “green” or of “low safety significance.” Such incidents included a missing risk analysis, a missing flood seal and a poorly installed condenser.
The Vernon plant shut down last Saturday night to begin a scheduled refueling for its 31st operating cycle.
In a press release, plant officials hailed the reliability of the plant since its most recent refueling in November 2011.
“Running for 493 consecutive days is a testament to the condition of the plant and the safety focus of our workforce,” said Wamser. “During this refueling, we will take the time necessary to carefully perform testing, maintenance, and capital improvements which will position the plant for safe and reliable operation for years to come.”
Vermont Yankee's staff are being supplemented during the refueling by other workers, including Entergy employees from other nuclear plants, radiation protection technicians, engineers, inspectors, millwrights, electricians, pipefitters, boilermakers, welders, painters, equipment operators, insulators, carpenters, and laborers.
Plant officials say that the influx of maintenance workers during the outage creates about $2.5 million of economic activity in the region through local purchases of goods and services.