The Local NRC and the Local Earthquake

It's been an exciting two days at Vermont Yankee.

Yesterday Vermont Yankee managers held a meeting to release a report on the root cause analysis of the tritium leak. A blocked pipe was the main cause of the leak, and more aggressive groundwater monitoring should have been implemented.

Last night, the NRC held a meeting about the 2009 operations evaluation of Vermont Yankee. They gave the plant a clean bill of health, while local activists claimed it was run more badly than a hot dog stand. I admit to being annoyed when a long-time activist is identified as a person who simply "lives near the plant." They mostly live about twenty miles away in Massachusetts. Still, the weather is far too lovely for me to be angry about this.

But is it earthquake weather? Today there was an earthquake, felt from Canada (the center) to New York City. Due to the earthquake, Vermont Yankee had to file a report to the NRC stating that an "unusual event" had taken place. VY stayed at full power. As an article today notes,, the plant suffered no damage.

Lots of excitement, but the plant is running, the earthquake didn't affect it, and the tritium leak is over.

Perhaps we can just enjoy the long days of summer for a while. My daylilies are doing well. Thank you for asking.

Daylily photo from Wikimedia.