Notice of Violation Issued to CT Yankee Facility in Haddam Neck

On Friday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a “Notice of Violation” to the Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Company. The violation, according to a report in the Hartford Courant, was issued due to the discovery that the fuel rod facility is partially owned by two foreign companies. The foreign ownership is a violation of federal law.

The NRC uncovered the ownership details in a review process for the approval of a merger where Northeast Utilities (NU) would take control of the former nuclear power plant in Haddam Neck. NU states that the citation will not impact the merger.

In addition to the Haddam Neck facility, the violation also applies to two other decommissioned nuclear plants owned by the Yankee Atomic Power Company. The other two facilities are Yankee Rowe in Massachusetts and Maine Yankee.

NU is the parent company of Connecticut Light & Power and the would give NU the majority ownership of the site with a minority ownership to NStar.

The NRC, which monitors and oversees the spent fuel rod facility on the Connecticut River, recently approved an application to transfer the license for the fuel rod facility to NU, pending the proposed merger.

The Haddam Neck nuclear power plant ceased operation in 1996 and was decommissioned in 2007. The plant had operated for 28 years. The only radioactive material remaining on the site are just over 1,000 spent nuclear fuel rods that are held in a five-acre containment facility. The rods are being kept there, under the license the NRC oversees, until the U.S. establishes a spent fuel rod disposal facility. Policy makers, and residents, for more than 30 years have debated about where that facility should be located, with Yucca Mountain in Nevada a leading contender for it.