NRC: ‘70s to blame for tritium

[bananas]

http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_16333637

NRC: ‘70s to blame for tritium
By JOSH STILTS / Reformer Staff
Thursday October 14, 2010

BRATTLEBORO -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission states the leak of tritium at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is a nearly four-decade problem.

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s inspection report, released Wednesday, "The failure to satisfy early construction and housekeeping standards during the 1970s, as well as the lack of corporate emphasis and commitment to the timely implementation of a buried piping inspection and remediation program, are what ultimately resulted in the tritium contamination in 2009/10."

Ray Shadis, technical advisor for the New England Coalition, said the NRC’s inspection report reads more like an extracurricular testimonial than an actual inspection report.

The Root Cause Evaluation Report "is something of a dark joke because it does not identify a root cause, that is, it does not point out the design or physical defect or human error that actually caused the chain of events resulting in the pipe leak," Shadis said.

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[Confusious]

1. It'll be interesting to see what happens when it closes down. nt