1 yr, 12 issues

January 20, 2006

* Connecticut - technologists didn't need physician order to give 4.1 mCi I-131 to patient sent for diagnostic whole-body scan

* Conn Yankee - 3 cups-worth of oil spilled by excavator

September 3, 2004

* CY - diesel fuel oil spill contained during decommissioning

March 29, 2004

* Connecticut - 5 R/hr beta / 250 mR/hr gamma Sr-90 source found next to house in East Lyme

March 11, 2004

* Connecticut - up to 10 uCi spilled on I-84 in courier vehicle crash (West Hartford)

August 19, 2003

Millstone spent fuel - town zoning commission sez go slow

Millstone expects to eventually need more than 200 dry casks for onsite storage of spent fuel. The owner of the three Millstone units plans to apply this month to the Connecticut Siting Council for permission to build 135 bunkers. Meanwhile, local zoning officials in the town of Waterford have recommended limiting the plant, for the time being, to 19 bunkers and casks. "We need to keep this thing to a manageable level," Planning Director Thomas Wagner said in presenting a five-page draft of recommendations to commissioners. "If they can justify more, they can reapply." The state council can modify the local recommendation only if two-thirds of the state council members agree to an alternative.

The recommendations specify that the storage bunkers be used only for spent fuel from Millstone 2. Written status reports are required every five years on construction, bunker installation, continued need and other changes.

Zoning commissioners also said that Millstone's owner, Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, should provide "a good faith and detailed examination of alternatives" that the company rejected before choosing this type of storage facility. That includes a summary of the financial analysis that contributed to the decision.

The town of Waterford's conservation commission wants to see a groundwater and surface-water monitoring plan to annually assess whether any radionuclides or volatile organic compounds are released into water resources on site.

[Source: Associated Press, "Waterford officials seek to restrict Millstone's waste storage", WFSB TV-3 (Hartford CT),ÊAugust 19, 2003 (Copyright 2003 The Associated Press)]

July 3, 2003

Conn Yankee ISFSI wins big in Federal Court of Appeals

In a ruling released yesterday by federal appeals court, Connecticut Yankee's dry cask storage plan was upheld, and a lower court's $170,000-plus contempt fine assessed to the intervenor's lawyer was also upheld. The plant says "We're pleased..." The fined attorney stressed that the ruling, if upheld by Supreme Court, means that folks in small towns must give up such rights as enforcing their zoning laws and free speech too when a nuclear facility is involved. Nuclear.com would gladly tell you dear readers how it views the balancing performed by the courts, but how can one not be chilled from speaking freely when fines such as this are imposed. Nuclear.com will note that the notion reportedly upheld by the court, that an intervenor must live adjacent to the site to have standing, seems to be quite counterintuitive when there's radiation involved. That using these casks is, in nuclear.com's best judgement, safer than just about any activity a business might perform, doesn't make us any less sympathetic to letting folks have full and fair hearing, including in court.