Maine Yankee to Brief NRC on Decommissioning Work on Nov. 9

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	NRC NEWS U. S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGION I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406
	CONTACT:	Diane Screnci (610)337-5330/ e-mail: dps@nrc.gov Neil A. Sheehan (610)337-5331/e-mail: nas@nrc.gov

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I-98-122

November 4, 1998

MAINE YANKEE TO BRIEF NRC ON DECOMMISSIONING WORK ON NOV. 9

Representatives of the Maine Yankee nuclear power plant will provide Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff with an updated overview of decommissioning work at the permanently shutdown facility on Monday, November 9.

The meeting will begin at 1 p.m. in the former Energy Information Center at the Wiscasset, Maine, plant. It will be open to the public for observation. Among the topics to be discussed will be a proposed schedule for the completion of the work.

The plant's owner, the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company, voted on August 6, 1997, to permanently cease operations at the pressurized-water reactor. Subsequently, in accordance with NRC regulations, the company submitted a Post-Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report to the agency outlining plans for terminating the facility and cleaning up the site.

Since then, Maine Yankee has hired Stone & Webster Engineering Corp. to handle the decommissioning project.

Maine Yankee has decided to use the DECON option for decommissioning the site. DECON is the alternative under which the equipment, structures and portions of the facility and site containing radioactive contaminants are removed or decontaminated to a level that permits the property to be released for unrestricted use once the removal/cleanup work is finished. Maine Yankee intends to complete the decontamination and dismantlement of the majority of plant structures within approximately seven years of the cessation of operations.

Members of the public will have an opportunity to ask questions of the NRC and Maine Yankee at the end of the meeting.