A SHEEPISH HUNT FOR MISSING FUEL RODS

[Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>]

A SHEEPISH HUNT FOR MISSING FUEL RODS
from The New York Times

WATERFORD, Conn., Jan. 6 - If they could enlist the public in their
high-pressure search, officials at the huge Millstone nuclear power
plant here would be forced to post a sign saying something like this:
"Lost: two spent nuclear fuel rods, 12 feet long and slender as a pinkie
finger. Last seen in April 1980. Highly radioactive. May have been
mistakenly shipped to South Carolina or Washington. Reward."

It may sound like a scene from "The Simpsons," but Millstone's
predicament is quite real and, federal regulators say, unprecedented in
the nation's highly regulated atomic energy industry. While there is
virtually no risk to the public - wherever they are, the rods are almost
certainly stored safely, officials say - their misplacement has both
alarmed people who live near Millstone and highly embarrassed the
plant's operators.

The episode is the latest black eye for Millstone, which is about to be
sold and has been trying to rebuild its reputation after garnering one
of the worst safety records of any nuclear power plant in the country.
In in the mid-1990's, all three of the reactors at Millstone were closed
for safety violations; units 2 and 3 have since reopened. Officials
decided it was not cost effective to reopen Millstone 1. And in 1999,
the nuclear subsidiary of Northeast Utilities, which owns Millstone,
pleaded guilty to 23 federal felonies and was fined a record $10
million.

For the full story, see:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/08/nyregion/08NUKE.html>
-- 
.....................................................
Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee
                       -----                       
A schedule of meetings on DOE issues is posted on our Web site
http://www.local-oversight.org/meetings.html - E-mail loc@icx.net
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