Keene Sentinel: Hodes calls for VY oversight bill
Posted 02/09/2010 by Anita Clark
VERNON, Vt. — In the wake of a radioactive leak at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, U.S. Rep. Paul W. Hodes, D-N.H., has announced he’ll draft federal legislation to give New Hampshire officials a say in the plant’s oversight.
“The folks in Hinsdale, the folks right across the river, are deeply involved in this, as are people up and down the Connecticut River,” Hodes said at a news conference at Vermont Yankee Monday. “When there’s a health and safety problem in a nuclear plant, the lines we may draw between states don’t mean much.”
Hodes viewed test wells being drilled at the plant to locate the source of the tritium leak Monday morning. He was joined at the news conference by Sen. Molly M. Kelly, D-Keene, who toured the facility last week.
Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen produced naturally in the upper atmosphere and also through nuclear weapons explosions and nuclear fission.
“Exposure to very small amounts of ionizing radiation is thought to minimally increase the risk of developing cancer, and the risk increases as exposure increases,” according to a fact sheet from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Water discovered last month at a monitoring well about 30 feet from the Connecticut River was contaminated at the level of 17,000 picocuries per liter — 3,000 picocuries shy of the federal drinking water limit. That level has wavered above and below the federal threshold, and higher tritium quantities have also been found elsewhere at the plant.
Recently, groundwater tritium levels registered at 2.7 million picocuries per liter in a plant sump pit.
After his tour Monday, Hodes said he’s satisfied the investigating teams are “working almost 24/7 to determine the source of the contamination.”
Hodes and Kelly’s latest visits to the site follow a tour they took together in 2008 after a leak in one of the plant’s cooling towers.
“We were very clear about changes we wanted to see in terms of communication and, in fact, that has improved over the past year,” Hodes said, describing how New Hampshire officials are in the loop about the tritium leak on a daily basis.
Still, he said, “I want to make sure that beyond the voluntary efforts and the cooperative efforts, that it’s simply required that New Hampshire officials be notified in the right way, immediately, about any potential safety issue.”
Laurence M. Smith, Vermont Yankee’s manager of communications, said Monday afternoon that he hadn’t heard the specifics of Hodes’ proposal.
“We are certainly communicating with folks and I don’t think it needs to be in regulation,” he said. “We’re doing it now because we should and because we want to.”
The New Hampshire communities of Chesterfield, Hinsdale, Richmond, Swanzey and Winchester — which are within Hodes’ and Kelly’s districts — also are located in Vermont Yankee’s 10-mile emergency planning radius.
Hodes said he envisions his legislation applying not only to Vermont Yankee but to other nuclear plants and the states that border them.
He didn’t elaborate on what expanded oversight could look like for New Hampshire officials.
“Because I’m in the drafting stages, I don’t want to get too deep into the particulars of the legislation at this point,” he said.
The Democratic congressman also stopped short of weighing in on the nuclear plant’s bid for a 20-year extension after its operating license expires in 2012.
“What I’m most concerned about today is knowing that there is a problem that is being addressed responsibly, as quickly as possible, with the best scientific work that can be done and that the problem is going to be fixed,” he said.
However, he said the radioactive leak raises the level of concern about the plant’s future.
Kelly also didn’t weigh in on the plant’s relicensing but emphasized the need to protect public safety.
“There are really two issues. We’re talking about, ‘What are we dealing with today?’ ” she said. “Then we look at, ‘Does that have an impact on what were’ thinking about on this plant for tomorrow?’ ”
“The folks in Hinsdale, the folks right across the river, are deeply involved in this, as are people up and down the Connecticut River,” Hodes said at a news conference at Vermont Yankee Monday. “When there’s a health and safety problem in a nuclear plant, the lines we may draw between states don’t mean much.”
Hodes viewed test wells being drilled at the plant to locate the source of the tritium leak Monday morning. He was joined at the news conference by Sen. Molly M. Kelly, D-Keene, who toured the facility last week.
Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen produced naturally in the upper atmosphere and also through nuclear weapons explosions and nuclear fission.
“Exposure to very small amounts of ionizing radiation is thought to minimally increase the risk of developing cancer, and the risk increases as exposure increases,” according to a fact sheet from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Water discovered last month at a monitoring well about 30 feet from the Connecticut River was contaminated at the level of 17,000 picocuries per liter — 3,000 picocuries shy of the federal drinking water limit. That level has wavered above and below the federal threshold, and higher tritium quantities have also been found elsewhere at the plant.
Recently, groundwater tritium levels registered at 2.7 million picocuries per liter in a plant sump pit.
After his tour Monday, Hodes said he’s satisfied the investigating teams are “working almost 24/7 to determine the source of the contamination.”
Hodes and Kelly’s latest visits to the site follow a tour they took together in 2008 after a leak in one of the plant’s cooling towers.
“We were very clear about changes we wanted to see in terms of communication and, in fact, that has improved over the past year,” Hodes said, describing how New Hampshire officials are in the loop about the tritium leak on a daily basis.
Still, he said, “I want to make sure that beyond the voluntary efforts and the cooperative efforts, that it’s simply required that New Hampshire officials be notified in the right way, immediately, about any potential safety issue.”
Laurence M. Smith, Vermont Yankee’s manager of communications, said Monday afternoon that he hadn’t heard the specifics of Hodes’ proposal.
“We are certainly communicating with folks and I don’t think it needs to be in regulation,” he said. “We’re doing it now because we should and because we want to.”
The New Hampshire communities of Chesterfield, Hinsdale, Richmond, Swanzey and Winchester — which are within Hodes’ and Kelly’s districts — also are located in Vermont Yankee’s 10-mile emergency planning radius.
Hodes said he envisions his legislation applying not only to Vermont Yankee but to other nuclear plants and the states that border them.
He didn’t elaborate on what expanded oversight could look like for New Hampshire officials.
“Because I’m in the drafting stages, I don’t want to get too deep into the particulars of the legislation at this point,” he said.
The Democratic congressman also stopped short of weighing in on the nuclear plant’s bid for a 20-year extension after its operating license expires in 2012.
“What I’m most concerned about today is knowing that there is a problem that is being addressed responsibly, as quickly as possible, with the best scientific work that can be done and that the problem is going to be fixed,” he said.
However, he said the radioactive leak raises the level of concern about the plant’s future.
Kelly also didn’t weigh in on the plant’s relicensing but emphasized the need to protect public safety.
“There are really two issues. We’re talking about, ‘What are we dealing with today?’ ” she said. “Then we look at, ‘Does that have an impact on what were’ thinking about on this plant for tomorrow?’ ”
