A radiation monitor at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant showed faulty readings last week, a continuation of a problem that has plagued the plant several times this summer.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission told state officials that a monitor experienced “spurious spiking” on Aug. 19. The NRC said the device showed false high levels, similar to incidents involving other monitors in June and July.
NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said no radiation was released and that Yankee technicians have replaced some of the equipment.
“The problems involving the monitors was resulting in false indications of spikes in radiation. So obviously that puts an unnecessary burden on the operators, so we expected the company to go ahead and get that repaired,” he said. “They’ve done that and we’ll continue to keep an eye on it to make sure there aren’t further problems.”
The NRC told the state in a letter that the most recent incident involved a radiation detector that was replaced in the last month.
