MONTPELIER, Vermont (AP) -- Two pieces of a highly radioactive fuel rod are missing from a Vermont nuclear plant, and engineers planned to search onsite for the nuclear material, officials said Wednesday.
The fuel rod was removed in 1979 from the Vermont Yankee reactor, which is currently shut down for refueling and maintenance. Remote-control cameras will be used to search a spent fuel pool on the property, officials said.
"We do not think there is a threat to the public at this point. The great probability is this material is still somewhere in the pool," said Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan.
But Sheehan said it was possible the spent fuel was mixed in with a shipment of low-level nuclear waste and ended up at a repository in South Carolina, or a facility in Washington state. He said it was also possible it was taken to a nuclear testing facility run by General Electric, which designed the plant.
The material would be fatal to anyone who came in contact with it without being properly shielded, Sheehan said. Spent nuclear fuel also could be used by terrorists to construct so-called dirty bombs that would spread deadly radiation with conventional explosives.
The NRC is helping plant officials in the search. The rod was part of the fuel assembly used to power the reactor. One of the missing pieces is about the size of a pencil. The other piece is about the thickness of a pencil and 17 inches long.
"It would be very difficult to remove this material from the site without somebody knowing about it," Sheehan said. "It would set off radiation monitors."
Sheehan cited the heightened awareness of the need to control nuclear material that followed the September 11 terror attacks. "We don't want this falling into the wrong hands," he said. "This is something we would never take lightly."
Gov. James Douglas, after speaking Wednesday afternoon with the head of the NRC, said he was "very concerned" about the missing fuel at the plant, run by Entergy Nuclear.
"This situation is intolerable," he said in a statement.
In 2002 a Connecticut nuclear plant was fined $288,000 after a similar loss. That fuel was never accounted for.
Vermont Yankee is located in the southeastern town of Vernon, on the border with Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
The state's Public Safety Department and Homeland Security Unit also were notified of the missing fuel.
Ever watch the intro to The Simpsons where Homer gets the glowing green rod down the back of his shirt when the shift change whistle blows? Think about that...
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- Margo Timmins
When it becomes serious, you have to lie
- Jean-Claude Juncker
Remember the rod was removed in 1979. Ever wonder where Doc Brown got the plutonium to power his DeLorean?*
*Of course if that was actually explained in the movie I'm screwed
'Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me. Real hard.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
Batman wrote:Remember the rod was removed in 1979. Ever wonder where Doc Brown got the plutonium to power his DeLorean?*
*Of course if that was actually explained in the movie I'm screwed
Your fucked, you seem to has missed the TV new report at the beginning talking about a mssing plutonium shipment and the entire Libyan terrorist thing which was a vital part of the entire plot.
"This cult of special forces is as sensible as to form a Royal Corps of Tree Climbers and say that no soldier who does not wear its green hat with a bunch of oak leaves stuck in it should be expected to climb a tree"
— Field Marshal William Slim 1956
Sea Skimmer wrote:
Your fucked, you seem to has missed the TV new report at the beginning talking about a mssing plutonium shipment and the entire Libyan terrorist thing which was a vital part of the entire plot.
Blast. Oh well, another day, another disgraceful defeat... World's greatest detective my...posterior.
Just remember who signs your paycheck.
'Next time I let Superman take charge, just hit me. Real hard.'
'You're a princess from a society of immortal warriors. I'm a rich kid with issues. Lots of issues.'
'No. No dating for the Batman. It might cut into your brooding time.'
'Tactically we have multiple objectives. So we need to split into teams.'-'Dibs on the Amazon!'
'Hey, we both have a Martian's phone number on our speed dial. I think I deserve the benefit of the doubt.'
'You know, for a guy with like 50 different kinds of vision, you sure are blind.'
"The fuel rod went missing from the shift with the Section 6 crew, sir. That's Homer Simpson's group."
"Simpson, eh...?"
When ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there can be no successful appeal back to bullets.
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People pray so that God won't crush them like bugs.
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Oil an emergency?! It's about time, Brigadier, that the leaders of this planet of yours realised that to remain dependent upon a mineral slime simply doesn't make sense.
—The Doctor "Terror Of The Zygons" (1975)
