Maine Yankee cited for safety violations

WISCASSET – Operators of the shuttered Maine Yankee nuclear power plant have been cited for three instances of willfully failing to follow government procedures during a safety survey conducted in August 2000.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the three incidents occurred during the plant’s final safety survey, which involves taking soil and other samples around the site and determining whether they are radioactive.

In one instance, workers failed to follow the policy for checking instruments used to monitor the Wiscasset site for radiation, according to documents and a commission official. The commission will hear Maine Yankee’s response before issuing an enforcement action, said Ronald Bellamy, an assistant to George Pangburn, director of the NRC’s Nuclear Materials Safety Division.

Maine Yankee spokesman Eric Howes disputed the NRC’s finding that the incidents were willful, but an anti-nuclear critic said the violations are yet another example of problems at the plant.