BRATTLEBORO, August 21, 2009 -- Mechanical problems at Vermont Yankee can be fixed, said a member of the public oversight panel tasked with reviewing a reliability assessment of the power plant in Vernon.

"But we have concerns that the global and cultural problems -- not mechanical -- are a real enormous nut to crack," said Arnie Gundersen. "Issues with management are cultural, hard to change and hard to measure that they have been changed."

Entergy, which owns and operates Yankee, simply does not spend enough money or invest enough time to assure the power plant is maintained, said Gundersen.

He called Entergy "penny wise and pound foolish."

It's a corporate attitude that needs to be changed, said Gundersen.

Three Entergy employees told investigators they had gone to Entergy management and asked for more time and more money to conduct tower inspections but were turned down, said Gundersen.

"The employees are asking. They know the right thing to do."

The report can't be much of a reassurance to Entergy, said Rep. Sarah Edwards, P-Brattleboro, adding it would be much easier dealing with the mechanics of the plant rather than having to change the managerial culture.

"Many of these concerns are long term and not easily remedied," she said. "They will not be able to solve these problems overnight."

A spokesman for Vermont Yankee said Entergy was satisfied with the audit results and the oversight panel's report. "The bottom line of all these safety and reliability inspections is that we have a very good combination here of good people, good processes and good equipment," said Rob Williams, spokesman for Yankee. "And most importantly we have demonstrated that we are a learning organization and we thrive on good suggestions."

Entergy has affirmed a number of times that Vermont Yankee is an excellent candidate for relicensing, said Williams.

"To back that up, we now have formal, positive reviews on reliability and safety completed," he said.

"The Legislature and Vermonters have been well served by the panel's efforts. We now look forward to further progress on a final legislative decision which will enable the Public Service Board to complete their detailed review."

Entergy can make all the promises it wants to, said Ray Shadis, a board member of the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution, but that doesn't mean they will follow through on them.

"There is no credible system in place to make sure Entergy fulfills its commitments," he said.

Another nuclear activist said the audit and the panel's report confirmed what people have known for a while.

"Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee is not safe, clean or reliable," stated Ed Anthes of Nuclear Free Vermont 2012. "VY has a higher level of worker injury, is dirtier than other reactors and is facing expensive, time-consuming repairs."

Another anti-nuclear activist was unhappy with the scope of the audit. "It's nice that the state did this reliability inspection but it pales in comparison to the safety assessment that the regulators could perform," said Clay Turnbull, member of the coalition.

Anthes was also unhappy with the scope of the audit, especially with the amount of time spent conducting the review.

Nonetheless, he said, "Even this abbreviated inspection found that Entergy Nuclear should not extend its license and cannot run reliably after 2012 without spending significant time, effort and money."

Area residents should also be concerned about Yankee's high employee turnover, high level of inexperienced staff, high level of vacancies in critical departments, and impending retirement of remaining experienced staff, stated Anthes.

A spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it was reviewing both the audit report and the oversight panel's review.

"The state's review was focused on plant reliability while the NRC concentrates on nuclear safety," said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The results of the NRC review of the assessment will be documented in the agency's first-quarter integrated inspection report for Vermont Yankee, said Sheehan.

Similarly, the NRC will review the Oversight Panel's report to ensure that no questions have been raised with regard to nuclear safety at the plant.

"If any nuclear safety issues are identified by such audits/reviews, we can act on those areas where we have jurisdiction," said Sheehan. "It was understood that if any issues surfaced involving nuclear safety, they would be immediately reported to Entergy, which would in turn notify us. No such issues have been reported to us."