NRC vetoes lone commissioner’s safety concerns

By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian

Posted May 31, 2006

Four of the nation’s top five nuclear regulators have overruled a move to stay the Vermont Yankee (VY) power boost until appeals about its safety are resolved — action that could have altered the way the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviews some power uprates.

In a decision dated May 25, four of the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) disagreed with Commissioner Gregory Jaczko, who in a March 8 memo to his colleagues expressed concerns about the way the NRC staff approved a controversial 20 percent extended power uprate (EPU) at Vermont Yankee.

Jaczko is a former aide to Sen. Harry Reid, D-NV, who opposes plans to build a high-level nuclear waste facility at Yucca Mountain, and nuclear critic Rep. Edward Markey, D-MA. The commissioner is seen as the panel’s most safety-conscious member.

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