Notice of Violation Issued to CT Yankee Facility in Haddam Neck
The violation does not impact a proposed merger that is currently under consideration by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Photos
On Friday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a “Notice of Violation” to the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company. The violation, according to a report in the Hartford Courant, was issued due to the discovery that the fuel rod facility is partially owned by two foreign companies. The foreign ownership is a violation of federal law.
The NRC uncovered the ownership details in a review process for the approval of a merger where Northeast Utilities (NU) would take control of the former nuclear power plant in Haddam Neck. NU states that the citation will not impact the merger.
In addition to the Haddam Neck facility, the violation also applies to two other decommissioned nuclear plants owned by the Yankee Atomic Power Company. The other two facilities are Yankee Rowe in Massachusetts and Maine Yankee.
NU is the parent company of Connecticut Light & Power and the merger would give NU the majority ownership of the site with a minority ownership to NStar.
The NRC, which monitors and oversees the spent fuel rod facility on the Connecticut River, recently approved an application to transfer the license for the fuel rod facility to NU, pending the proposed merger.
The Haddam Neck nuclear power plant ceased operation in 1996 and was decommissioned in 2007. The plant had operated for 28 years. The only radioactive material remaining on the site are just over 1,000 spent nuclear fuel rods that are held in a five-acre containment facility. The rods are being kept there, under the license the NRC oversees, until the U.S. establishes a spent fuel rod disposal facility. Policy makers, and residents, for more than 30 years have debated about where that facility should be located, with Yucca Mountain in Nevada a leading contender for it.
Gene Bartholomew
9:34 am on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Hey, as long as there's a profit involved get off our backs---sarcasm
Pro Death
10:07 am on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The casks the spent fuel is stored in are built like brick sht houses. It would take a military grade bomb to damage one.
Gene Bartholomew
10:18 am on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
yeah well I know of several terrorist organizations that have those and want to use them against us
the safest place for the rods was in the pool in the dome, the casks are not safe and were just a cost saving measure, something that should not be considered when radiation poisoning is concerned which during the 60's we were all told how responsible they were going to be and how cheap electricity was going to be,,ooopps the profit factor crept in
its all bull, Nuke plants are not safe and are not run responsibly, they are also not efficient, it takes $$$$$$$$$$$ to build them and when rods use 10% of their heat they are no longer hot enough to make enough steam to turn the turbine, they are then put in the pool and called "spent rods", well they are not spent, they are still 90% hot
HOW CAN YOU CALL 10% EFFICIENT????????????
and the repubs want to bury GREEN and buld more plants, we should all be putting solar and wind on our homes and businesses, that is what an intelligent efficient society would do
Corey Fyke
10:56 am on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
I think there's a real problem in this country with how to store the spent fuel rods. I'm a believer in nuclear fuel, but we're playing with fire (no pun intended) with how we've chosen to dispose of the rods. And it's only going to get worse.
Barbi Batchelder
3:35 pm on Wednesday, February 1, 2012
"Location-Location-Location"...I will always be amazed about the area that was chosen to even build a facility of this nature in the first place, an area well known for it's seismic activity, and basically right on top of the epicenter? Well, seriously close-by anyway. And the recent visits from our legendary 'Moodus Noises' doesn't make me any less concerned! I am one that would certainly like to have that radioactive material far away from my backyard...and wish it was never here in the first place. I'm posting a photo of a closer view of the storage casks from the website:
http://www.connyankee.com/index.html
They gave the following description of the photo I'm posting:
There are 43 dry storage casks on the 100 by 200-foot, three-foot-thick concrete pad. Forty of the casks contain spent fuel assemblies and three store sections of the reactor vessel internals that is classified as high level radioactive waste (Greater Than Class-C waste) Each concrete cask has a three and a half-inch steel liner surrounded by 21 inches of reinforced concrete. Each storage cask, when loaded with the storage/transportation canister, weighs 126 tons. The entire dry storage process -- procuring materials, fabricating the fuel containers, constructing the storage facility, and transferring the fuel -- took approximately three years to complete.
Keep the river front for all of us
9:37 am on Saturday, February 4, 2012
I remember when there was a riverside restaurant and small airport on that site........it was taken by eminent domain from my father-in-law-----"for the benefit of the public". It certainly isn't doing anything for the benefit of the public, now. I had told the story to my children when they were young and one of them recently joked, and asked if the family might be able to get the property back...........now that the public is definitely not " benefiting" any longer. We laughed about it...........but it really still hurts that the government can come in a just take what it wants.
Gene Bartholomew
10:55 am on Saturday, February 4, 2012
Barbi, yeah and they only have to stay there for 300 years, gee nuke power is such a bargain---sarcasm
Keep- , sad to hear that, I'd go search the original deed, perhaps there is something there
Keep the river front for all of us
11:35 am on Saturday, February 4, 2012
Gene............oh, we probably have some "options", but who wants all that contaminated land now????? The cost to "clean" the property and legal fees .......as far as I am concerned it is 500 acres of waste land now.
Pro Death
2:04 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
They pretty much dug to China cleaning up but I still wouldn't eat anything grown on or any animal that grazed on the property.
Barbi Batchelder
2:17 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
Hey there 'Keep-The-River'...recently, my own Mother had land here taken by 'eminent domain' for a lot less than it was appraised for.....words and numbers on paper, right? And so the sad saga of the 'taking of the land from the natives' continues. As far as the contaminated land in Haddam.....the land will heal, with our help or without it. It seems to be a blessed area, as far as I can understand...
And Gene...you are something! Your honesty, willingness to share, and determination never fail the 'Patch Family'. Besides the 'factual stuff' which sincerely sparks my interests, is fun to research on the internet, and makes sense...(most of the time)....you are hysterically entertaining. Many times when I've tuned in to Patch after a difficult day and read your postings, I've laughed so hard my 'laughing muscles' hurt! If laughter is the best medicine, you are a fine 'Medicine-Man'. Question, though. What happened to our 'Jeb Nocmather' and 'Darrell Lucas'....seems like they disappeared after the 'Mountain Lion' story....Uh-Oh...should we issue an alert?
Gene Bartholomew
5:22 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
glad there are some who "get it"
wasn't it our founding fathers who said "never trust any of us, we'll **** you" ???
Keep the river front for all of us
3:24 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
Pro...........I may just be an old pessimistic lady but I have come to the conclusion that I don't take much credence in what our "experts/politicians" tell us anymore. $$$$ talks today..............I don't care if they dug to China............I still sometimes have concerns that I live across the river from this "burial ground"..............NO nuclear plants should have been built in the US (until there was a place to store these spent rods). I actually believe in nuclear power BUT only when EVERYTHING is in place to do it SAFELY.
Gene Bartholomew
5:25 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
its kind of sad, I mean if we did all the wind and solar we could and still had a shortage I'd say maybe, but when these companies are spendign billions to squash clean energy again by utlilizing their stupid masses it.........just amazes me, why not just go into that business??? seems like a smarter business move but they are so against actual investing
Pro Death
8:30 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
Keep... I don't believe what the say either but I was there and I know for a fact that many had a lot to gain by finding any trace of contamination or radiation above background levels, It was job security and many took that seriously. I too live across the river about three miles as the crow flies, the only thing that concerns me would be someone blowing up the storage pad. I do agree Feds need to get a move on, keep their end of the deal and find a permanent location for the waste.
Keep the river front for all of us
3:27 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
Barbi..........what was the "good of the public" reason why your Mother's property was taken ?
Barbi Batchelder
5:50 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
'Keep-The-River'...the land that was taken from my Mother is actually being used in a way that honestly does benefit a great number of people. But I strongly believe that land should never be 'taken' from anyone. There is no good reason that I can think of, that things couldn't have been 'negotiated' in the first place. Or...a different piece of land could have been found to satisfy the same purpose.
Gene Bartholomew
9:05 am on Sunday, February 5, 2012
It seems that the issue is no matter what anyone tries no place is a good place for this stuff.
Yucca mountain was found to have underground streams which would become contaminated and there was no telling where it would come out.
Then there's the issue of moving all of it if a suitable place is found, now you have to truck and/or rail it across the nation and hope that some idiot doesn't hit the truck while texting or watching tv on their stupid latests and greatest phone which should then be used as a suppository ( I think that would be the greatest deterrent to using the phone in any way, when the caught the officer shoves it up your Bangkok)
So now that it is apparent and true that nowhere is a place to store this crap the argument for new plants becomes null and void.