Tests at Yankee will end

Sep 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Kyle Jarvis The Keene Sentinel, N.H.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced Wednesday it will no longer dedicate extra staff hours to increased groundwater testing at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, where a tritium leak was discovered last year.

The NRC issued its latest inspections report on its review of groundwater contamination issues at the plant, and said the results did not yield any additional findings.

Neil A. Sheehan, an NRC public affairs officer, said he's confident that Vermont Yankee has put the proper safeguards in place to prevent problems down the road.

"Part of what's going on is they've (Vermont Yankee) put in additional sampling wells," he said. "They already had some wells between the plant and the river, but after the leak was discovered, they drilled dozens more.

"At this point, the (tritium contamination) levels have peaked and are going down," Sheehan said.

The NRC has devoted 1,959 hours above its normal inspections to examine groundwater issues at the plant since the leak was discovered, Sheehan said.

"Because of all the additional wells that were drilled, the conceptual site modeling that was done, the hydro-geological analysis, and information from the U.S. Geologic Survey, we have a high level of confidence at this point that Entergy has a handle on contamination; where it is, and where it's going moving forward," he said.

The lack of findings allows the NRC to exit the "Deviation Memorandum" status it has been in since the discovery of the leak, which allows the agency to devote additional resources above and beyond its normal inspections, Sheehan said.

That decision was made based on criteria met by Entergy, including the implementation of controls on wastewater discharges into surface waters such as nearby wells and the Connecticut River and environmental monitoring procedures.

The NRC also determined that those procedures will detect new or changed conditions in a timely manner, and that the procedures are sufficient to monitor remediation efforts associated with groundwater contamination.

"The bottom line is we're not done," Sheehan said. "Any new information that comes to light, we'll follow up on, and if the situation dictates we could increase oversight."