June 16, 2009
from Brattleboro Reformer
By CHRIS GAROFOLO, Reformer Staff

VERNON -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency Radiological Assistance Committee gave Vermont Yankee officials and participants in the plant's evacuation exercise high scores for their work in and around the nuclear power station last Wednesday.

FEMA teams, along with emergency management teams from 18 communities in three states, tested the plant's ability to react in the event of a leak at Vermont Yankee. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission critiqued the interior actions at the plant.

During a public meeting Monday night at the Vernon Elementary School, FEMA Tech Hazards Program Specialist Robert J. Swartz said the plant performed very well during the five-hour drill. In his 13 years, this is the best performance in an evaluation drill by Vermont Yankee.

Nearly 90 evaluators were in the field examining more than 550 criteria from the Department of Homeland Security nuclear power plant exercise.

Swartz said Vermont agencies provided calm leadership, kept morale high and were able to give timely advice in a confident manner during the drill. The tracking teams also demonstrated a professional manner in the midst of the exercise.

The towns and state agencies in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire received high marks from Swartz as well.

While the review of the plant was positive overall, officials found several minor problems in a few Vermont towns.

Brattleboro and Vernon emergency teams needed to amend siren details to reflect the new procedures. Dummerston did not have significant staffing for the drill and had a few inconsistencies on its emergency forms, according to Swartz.

Mike McKenney, the plant's emergency preparedness manager, said the key to the successful exercise came in the outstanding work from the entire crew, from volunteers in each town to emergency agencies throughout the region.

"I'm just happy with the level of commitment and teamwork from the towns and the state agencies," he said.

Within the plant's fence, the NRC brought in four inspectors to review the performance in four separate categories.

James M. Trapp, chief plant support branch with the NRC's division of reactor safety, found the following information through the oversight drill:

* The Control Room Simulator crew made the proper classifications, activated the licensee's response organization and continued to diagnose and mitigate events throughout the exercise.

* The Technical Support Center provided operations, technological and radiological support for the diagnosis and mitigation of the emergency event.

* The Emergency Operations facility provided overall command and control, made the proper emergency event classifications and offsite notifications, performed rigorous projections and interfaced with offsite agencies.

* The Joint Information Center was prepared and disseminated accurate plant and event information to members of the media.

The overall preliminary findings concluded the exercise was adequate and demonstrated complacence with the NRC's cornerstone performance expectations.

The inspection found reasonable assurance that Entergy can effectively implement the Vermont Yankee Emergency Plan to adequately protect the public health and safety in the event of a radiological event, said Trapp.

The NRC inspection report is due out within 45 days for public viewing.

At the discretion of the section chief of FEMA's Region 1 RAC chairman, the public needed to submit all comments to the Boston office where the organization would consider them in the evaluation.

Vernon's Emergency Manager Annette Roydon was named the emergency manager for Vermont from the Northeast States Emergency Consortium prior to the meeting.

Chris Garofolo can be reached at cgarofolo@reformer.com or 802-254-2311 ext. 275.