Town wants nuclear plant safety review Westport selectmen worried about Maine Yankee security

WESTPORT – With the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks fresh on their minds, selectmen have called on federal regulators to begin a thorough review of safety and security at the closed Maine Yankee nuclear power plant.

The three selectmen sent a letter to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission urging it to “promptly and thoroughly review all engineered safeguards, together with safety and security procedures” for the spent fuel storage site at the plant, which is undergoing decommissioning.

Westport is an island community separated from the plant by a narrow stretch of the Back River. The letter was sent to NRC Chairman Richard Meserve, and copies went to Gov. Angus King and Maine’s congressional delegation.

The letter was the result of discussions about the storage of spent fuel on the site, which will be stored indefinitely in storage casks.

The letter states that people in Maine were told that the dry-cask storage of spent fuel was “so safe as not to require armed security.” But then came the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

“It is obvious that assurances based on old assumptions regarding adequacy of engineered safeguards and security will not stand,” the letter states.

Maine Yankee produced more than 1,400 spent nuclear fuel assemblies during its 25 years of operation.

The fuel assemblies will be placed in stainless steel containers that will be dropped into 28-inch-thick, steel reinforced concrete casks before being placed on concrete pads surrounded by razor wire fences and surveillance cameras.

The temperature of the casks will be monitored from an adjacent security building fitted with bulletproof glass.

Maine Yankee, which has been on a heightened state of security since Sept. 11, has initiated an internal review of all security procedures and is in regular communication with the NRC, said spokesman Eric Howes.

“Maine citizens can be assured that Maine Yankee takes security seriously,” Howes said. “No potential threat to Maine Yankee has been identified, but we have gone ahead and taken some precautions in keeping with the heightened security at all nuclear power plants.”