ML052790635
| ML052790635 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Vermont Yankee File:NorthStar Vermont Yankee icon.png |
| Issue date: | 04/23/2004 |
| From: | Neil Sheehan NRC Region 1 |
| To: | Gagner S Office of Public Affairs |
| References | |
| FOIA/PA-2004-0369 | |
| Download: ML052790635 (4) | |
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. NeP Sheehan - Fwd: KRSPOUNZ
- Anotner News Mrudie va clv r
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Sue Gagner 4/23/04 11:43AM Fwd: RESPONSE -Another News Article Note that Markey is criticizing us for saying the missing segments are "somewhere." I have yet to see that in any of the stories, but it just goes to show that whether it's South Carolina or a Congressman, its hard to please all of the people all of the time.
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71l Neil Sheehan - RESPONSE -Another News Article Page 1 I I I Neil Sneehanl 1U b
nohrNw 1I~~l'g From:
Michael Weber To:
Betsy Keeling Date:
4/23/04 11:16AM
Subject:
RESPONSE -Another News Article Thanks for the heads up on the article. I understand that acting Chairman Merrifield specifically discussed this concern with the Governor of Vermont on Wednesday, and he allayed the Govemor's concern. When I last discussed this with our staff yesterday, we did not know whether and, if so, how much nuclear material was in the rod segments. No indications of any foulplay.
>>> Betsy Keeling 04/23/04 07.35AM >>>
CQ HOMELAND SECURITY - WEAPONS April 22, 2004 - 7:46 p.m.
Markey Says Missing Nuclear Fuel Could Be Used in 'Dirty Bomb' By Martin Edwin Andersen, CQ Staff Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., a member of the House Select Homeland Security Committee, is demanding an investigation into the disappearance of two small segments of spent nuclear fuel rods from a Vermont nuclear plant.
Officials at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week that they could not account for two spent fuel rod segments that had been kept in a storage pool at the power plant since 1979.
The fuel rods are filled with pellets of enriched uranium. One of the fuel rod segments is about the size of a pencil, the other is about 17 inches long and about as thick as a pencil.
"Once again the material that could be fashioned by terrorists into a 'dirty bomb' has disappeared from a secure nuclear facility right here in the United States," Markey said in a statement.
The Associated Press reported that engineers were preparing to use remote-control cameras to search the pool in which spent fuel is stored.
According to a Reuters report, Entergy, which owns and operates Vermont Yankee, said in a statement that the plant "has an extensive system of radiation monitors and, due to the radioactive nature of the material, the segments could not have been inadvertently removed from the pool in anything other than a container specifically designed... to contain radioactive material."
Markey said the NRC is not taking the situation seriously enough.
"The NRC continually responds to such cases of missing radioactive materials with a laissez-faire attitude, telling the public that they're probably lying around 'somewhere.' When will the NRC realize that
'somewhere' could end up being in a dirty bomb detonated in the middle of an American city?" Markey asked.
He said he will call on the NRC to "conduct a full inventory of the nation's legacy of spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive materials and to report to Congress regarding what is missing and what is not" In 2002 the Millstone 1 nuclear power plant in Waterford, Conn., was fined $288,000 after losing two spent fuel rods.
That fuel, which is believed to have ended up in a commercial disposal facility, was never officially accounted for.
Source: CQ Homeland Security
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, I Nell hneenan - KLRSPUNSE - Another News Article
~'-'- Page2' CC:
Beth Wetzel; Brian Holian; Daniel Dorman; David Mcintyre; Glenn Tracy; Hubert J.
Miller; Jim Dyer; Margaret Federline; Martin Virgilio; Neil Sheehan; Paul Krohn; Ralph Way; Roy Zimmerman
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