[NukeNet] FW: [Know_Nukes] Top nuclear engineer favors closing of Oyster Creek

[Norm Cohen]

-----Original Message-----
From: Know_Nukes at yahoogroups.com [mailto:Know_Nukes at yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Jim Hoerner
Sent: Sunday, February 25, 2007 9:16 AM
To: Know_Nukes at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Know_Nukes] Top nuclear engineer favors closing of Oyster Creek

Top nuclear engineer favors closing of Oyster Creek plant
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 02/25/07

BY NICK CLUNN
STAFF WRITER

The state's top nuclear engineer, who has inspected the Oyster Creek nuclear

power plant numerous times and has reviewed classified documents about its 
operation, says the Lacey plant should close after its operating license 
expires in two years.

The plant's obsolete design, its vulnerability to a 9/11-style attack, and 
the chaos that would ensue if the public near the plant had to evacuate from

a radioactive release top Dennis Zannoni's list of reasons - even if they've

been heard before.

Citizen activists and environmental groups have championed those concerns 
for years, but Zannoni is not your everyday renewal opponent.

In addition to his special clearances, Zannoni has 20 years of experience 
with the state Department of Environmental Protection and four-year degrees 
in nuclear engineering and mathematics from the University of Maryland.

Zannoni said he has also tracked the plant through a federal review it must 
pass to have its license renewed for an additional 20 years, though he was 
ordered to stop that work on Jan. 31 after being reassigned pending an 
investigation of a complaint against him.

The performance of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission during that 
review bolstered Zannoni's negative stance on the future of Oyster Creek.

But regulators say they've taken a serious look at the plant, and have 
placed dozens of conditions on the renewal - in the form of additional 
inspections and tests - if the renewal is approved.

Zannoni said his once-productive relationship with the NRC began to sour 
after the agency launched the renewal assessment two years ago.

Three months into the nearly three-year review, Zannoni called the NRC to 
complain about how some of its officials had " "berated" members of the 
public during a contentious renewal meeting at the Lacey Municipal Building.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said he would not comment on that accusation, but

said that the agency expects its staff to treat members of the public with 
respect. If that does not happen, he said, citizens are encouraged to notify

NRC management, or the agency's inspector general.

Zannoni said he complained again in May 2006 after the NRC barred two state 
nuclear engineers from participating in important meetings related to the 
plant's drywell liner, a steel radiation barrier that rusted and became 
thinner some 25 years ago.

State engineers, he said, were "specifically being excluded from all 
activity and documentation related to the drywell, which completely blew us 
away."

After receiving a telephone call from one of the state engineers who was 
barred from the meetings at Oyster Creek, Zannoni drove there from his 
office in Ewing to ask that his engineers be included.

Zannoni said NRC officials acknowledged they had made a mistake, and allowed

the state engineers to participate, though several days of meetings had 
already passed.

They were included just in time for the inspection of the drywell, in which 
water was found where it wasn't supposed to be.

AmerGen had not checked several jugs meant to catch water leaking from an 
upper portion of the plant, as it had promised.

The NRC told AmerGen that the oversight raised doubts about AmerGen's 
ability to meet commitments, but said the water did not pose a safety 
threat.

Sheehan said the NRC would not comment on what Zannoni said about the 
drywell meetings.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070225/NEWS/702250386/1070/N
EWS02

--
Hold the door for the stranger behind you. When the driver in the adjacent 
lane signals to get over, slow down. Smile and say "hi" to the folks you 
pass on the sidewalk. Give blood. Volunteer.

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