Maine Gets Tough on Power Plant Closing.The Maine Legislature has passed two companion bills that give the state some of the strictest radioactive cleanup standards in the nation for "decommissioning Decommissioning is a general term for a formal process to remove something from operational status. Some specific instances include:
"This is a big deal because the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), an independent U.S. government commission, created by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 and charged with licensing and regulating civilian use of nuclear energy to protect the public and the environment. (NRC NRC abbr. 1. National Research Council 2. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Noun 1. NRC - an independent federal agency created in 1974 to license and regulate nuclear power plants ) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and (EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. ) have been unable to reach an agreement on the background level of radiation that can remain when the site is released for other uses," says Senator Sharon Treat. The decommissioning process, which will be put into action for the Maine Yankee Nuclear Plant, reduces the radioactivity levels in the land, water, buildings and equipment to standards that allow the property to be used again. It also protects the public from residual radiation hazards. The NRC oversees the process of closing down nuclear plants. It currently is watching the decommissioning of 18 power reactors in 10 states (California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin). The Maine Legislature has scrutinized its decommissioning process closely. The laws provide the state with added authority to inspect and monitor the plant while also establishing a standard for how much radiation can be left on site. The legislation directs that the soil and the building foundations will be cleaned up to a low (10 millirem mil·li·rem n. Abbr. mrem One thousandth (10-3) of a rem. ) level of background radioactivity. Groundwater will be cleaned up to an even lower (4 millirem) standard. This is the most stringent regulatory standard in the United States: The NRC relies on a 25 millirem standard while the EPA uses a 15 millirem standard for background levels of radiation. |
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