Maine Yankee Pres. Ousted

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>]

Below is an article from Reuters. Interesting observations can be 
drawn:

1. The Board decided that new leadership was needed after many 
problems at the plant. One "positive" point .. they asked for the 
resignation of the President, and not a few hundred more good hard 
working power plant personnel. Now they should start removing some of 
the Board,  for haven't they been in power and need to assume some 
accountability for the way the company operates.

2. The board wants the next president to be from outside of New 
England and ``a bigger organization,'' Yup, that always seems to be 
the Utility answer to all problems. Sometimes individuals from 
"bigger organizations" bring bigger problems and bigger egos with 
them!

3. NRC says the utility has "created and environment where 
controlling costs became more important than safety." Really .. what 
a surprise, and I suppose this is unique to Maine Yankee .. NOT!

4. The NRC is questioning possible "misrepresentations" regarding 
computer codes and power upgrades from the late '80s. If I recall, 
the NRC is mandated the overview and licenses the plant. This is very 
much like the Millstone fiasco. NRC residents familiar with the plant 
came down hard when the fuel offloading process was evaluated, even 
though they had been using the same procedures for many years. Seems 
that the NRC is once again attempting to delegate away 
accountability.

Other observations are evident .. but they can be drawn by each 
individual.

 PORTLAND, Maine  - The president of the troubled  
Maine Yankee nuclear power plant was ousted in the first step of a
management reorganization, the plant's directors said Friday. 
  Maine Yankee President Charles Frizzle agreed to step down  
after a series of unscheduled shutdowns at the 24-year-old plant in
Wiscasset, Maine, and criticism from regulators who said management
had created an environment where controlling costs became more
important than safety. 
  ``(The board) decided that Maine Yankee needs new leadership  
to deal with deep-rooted cultural issues, a changing regulatory 
environment and unprecedented financial pressures,'' said David 
Flanagan, president of Maine Yankee's board of directors. 
  Flanagan, chief executive officer of Central Maine Power  
Co., said that a broad restructing of Maine Yankee's management 
was being considered and that additional changes were likely in 
early 1997. 
  Maine Yankee is 38 percent owned by Central Maine Power  
Co.,with New England Electric System and Northeast Utilities 
each owning 20 percent, 7 percent held by Bangor Hydro-Electric 
Co., 5 percent by Maine Public Service Co. and 10 percent by 
other New England utilities. 
  Flanagan said the utilities would spend an additional $30  
million on maintainence in 1997 and $7 million on capital 
projects after an inspection by federal regulators found a 
variety of equipment problems. 
  Among the ideas being considered was a proposal that  
management of all independently operated nuclear plants in New 
England be consolidated under a single corporation, Flanagan 
said. 
  The 910-megawatt Maine Yankee plant has been forced to go  
off-line repeatedly for the past two years because of equipment 
problems ranging from cracked steam tubes to missing wires in 
key reactor safety systems. 
  The plant's latest outage began Dec. 6 when engineers  
discovered several control room electical cables were improperly
installed. The plant may not return to operation until early February,
spokeswoman Maureen Brown said Friday. 
  The inspection was requested by Gov. Angus King after an  
investigation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission raised 
questions about whether Maine Yankee's emergency core cooling 
system was properly licensed during a power upgrade in the late 
1980s. 
  The Justice Department is also investigating allegations  
that Maine Yankee misled the NRC about a computor code used to 
test the systen. The plant has denied wrongdoing. 
  The plant has been restricted to 90 percent capacity while a  
new computor test was being reveiwed. Gov. King has said he 
thinks it is unlikely the plant will be allowed to return to 100
percent capacity. 
  Frizzle, who has held his post since 1989, will remain with  
the company until a successor is selected in early 1997. The 
board wants the next president to be from outside of New England and
``a bigger organization,'' Flanagan told reporters. 

Sandy Perle
Director, Technical Operations
ICN Dosimetry Division
Office: (800) 548-5100 Ext. 2306 
Fax: (714) 668-3149

E-Mail: sandyfl@ix.netcom.com    

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