Vt. backtracks on nuke plant radiation rule
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Entergy officials will be testifying today at the Statehouse against a proposed rule, regarding how the gamma radiation released by Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is measured. |
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By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer - Published: September 15, 2009
MONTPELIER — The Department of Health has apparently abandoned its proposed change to state regulations regarding how the gamma radiation released by Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is measured, returning to earlier, stricter, standards.
The new rule has made Entergy Nuclear, the owner of Vermont Yankee, very unhappy, and Entergy officials will be testifying against the proposed rule today at the Statehouse. Previously, Entergy supported the new rule.
Entergy Nuclear said the new standard would cut radiation limits by 30 percent to 40 percent.
Robert Williams, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, said the state already had the most stringent radiation standard in the country.
"We have always committed to meet the state's 20 millirem limit not a 20 milli roentgen," he wrote in an e-mail, referring to the different measurements for radiation release versus radiation absorption.
"This new methodology is not based on sound science. We have worked closely with the state Department of Health and the national lab as they developed a scientifically valid means of determining the level of radiation dose over the long term at the plant boundary. We feel the independent, comprehensive study commissioned by the Department of Health, completed by Oak Ridge National Laboratories, addressed this issue and the Department of Health has endorsed this study on several occasions," Williams added.
"The 20 millirem limit is the most stringent standard in the country and it is now proposed to be reduced by 30 to 40 percent," he added.
Vermont Yankee has always released radiation into Vernon and surrounding communities, but a 20 percent boost in power production, storage of high-level waste outside the reactor and aging issues have raised concern that the plant would exceed the state's standards.
At one point during state hearings before the Public Service Board, when Entergy was seeking approval to increase power production, it said if it exceeded state radiation limits, it would reduce power production to keep radiation limits in check.
Rep. Richard Marek, the Newfane Democrat who chairs the Legislative Rules Committee, said Monday that he didn't know why the Health Department had changed its approach. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow's hearing," said Marek, noting the committee had taken the step of devoting a full day to the issue — unusual during its summer schedule. He said he was still studying the 25-page new rule.
He said the issue was a complicated and complex issue, involving technical and scientific issues that take education to understand, and he budgeted more time.
Marek said that Entergy Nuclear was scheduled to appear before the committee and had filed three or four objections to the new rule.
The biggest change, Marek said, was that the Department of Health had dropped its request for a 0.6 conversion factor for measuring the gamma radiation, which takes into account the difference between radiation that is released by the plant and the amount of radiation that is absorbed by the body.
"They've moved away from the .6," he said, referring to the so-called conversion factor.
Also missing from the final rule, according to Marek, is the so-called "fudge factor" that the department had proposed that would give regulators "25 percent, plus or minus" in interpreting the gamma radiation measurement before enforcement action — including shut down or power reduction — at the plant..
Marek said the committee received copies of the more than 700 public comments about the change, with the vast majority of the comments against the change.
"The department seemed to have potentially heard some of them," he said.
The proposed rule change, which could go into effect next year, has been a long time in formulation. The change was prompted several years ago when Vermont Yankee's regular quarterly radiation releases exceeded state standards. Entergy contested the findings.
As a result, the state and Entergy agreed to hire a consultant, Oak Ridge Laboratory, to evaluate the way the radiation is measured and evaluated. The department then adopted a new measurement standard without public or legislative comment or review, prompting the involvement of the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules in August 2008.
Vermont established its standard before the plant started operating in 1972.
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com
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