Eight problem areas revealed in Yankee drill

By SUSAN SMALLHEER Southern Vermont Bureau

BRATTLEBORO — The first federal report card on Vermont Yankee’s emergency preparedness drill has revealed eight problem areas, ranging from failed telephones and fax machines to untimely information for drill participants.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the first of two federal agencies to evaluate the April 8 exercise, said many of the problems were the same problems from the 2001 exercise, but it said the problems were not so serious that they constituted a violation of federal law.

“The inspectors identified a finding of very low safety significance, that is also a non-cited violation,” the NRC report stated.

The NRC noted that many of the problems were holdovers from 2001.

“Eight problems identified during the 2003 exercise were repetitive from drills conducted in the past three years,” the NRC report stated. “Therefore Entergy’s corrective actions were inadequate and did not prevent recurrence,” it concluded.

Those problems included non-functioning telephones, inoperable air radiation monitors, inspectors sent to the wrong location for a field test, and public announcement speakers which were inaudible.

“Challenging questions were not posed at the news media center, which resulted in the news center having to re-demonstrate this objective,” the NRC stated. People acting as reporters, often Entergy Nuclear staff, asked the questions.

“The NRC would say Chernobyl was not a big deal,” said Raymond Shadis, staff activist for the New England Coalition, an anti-nuclear group based in Brattleboro .

Albert Lewis, Vermont ’s chief of emergency planning, said the NRC report was preliminary and he was satisfied with the recommendations.

“If we were perfect, there would probably be no reason to have a drill,” Lewis said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, the lead federal agency in the exercise, is expected to release its report in early July.

Diane Screnci, spokeswoman for the NRC’s Region One headquarters, said there was one finding by NRC inspectors and it didn’t rise to the level of a safety violation.

Robert Williams, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, said the company had already taken steps to address the NRC’s concerns about the stubborn problems.

“Since that exercise, we’ve put more resources and more management oversight on correcting the minor items identified in previous drills,” Williams said.

While there were problem areas identified, Williams said the overall goals of the exercise were met.

“We’ve found areas where we can improve,” he said.

Shadis said the lack of clear communication was a dangerous sign in his mind. The country’s worst commercial nuclear accident at Three Mile Island reactor in 1979 was largely a problem of miscommunication, Shadis said.

“Communication is the foundation of them all,” Shadis said. “Whatever they did before, didn’t fix the problem.”

Lewis said the state had the option of asking the NRC for a clarification of concerns raised. “We have a chance to respond.”

Meanwhile, Lewis said, legislators in the state budget conference committee were likely to approve a $800,000 budget toward emergency planning for Vermont Yankee. The budget is funded by Entergy Nuclear.

Lewis had asked for a $300,000 increase to $1.1 million, but he said legislators had cut that amount. He said he hopes a compromise will be made to make the additional money available later in the year.

Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com.