I reported many of the stories written during the bad old days at Millstone Nuclear Power Station. While none of the problems cited of late by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approach the corporate misconduct seen in the 1990s, the recent spate of NRC violations is disconcerting.

"That's at least a yellow flag, if not a red flag. Why suddenly does it look like they're having performance problems?" said Bill Sheehan, chairman of the Nuclear Energy Advisory Council (NEAC), about the rash of issues.

Why indeed?

NEAC was created in reaction to the crisis at Millstone in the 1990s. State and local officials found themselves largely in the dark back then as the seriousness of the safety problems emerged through news coverage, much of it initiated by the investigatory reporting of this newspaper and aided by whistleblowers within the company.

While documenting the problems, the NRC was initially reluctant to draw the conclusion that they collectively meant something was seriously wrong at the nuclear station. The NRC cracked down hard only after media and political pressure grew.

Recognizing the need to monitor matters and ask questions at the local level, the state created NEAC.

Northeast Utilities, then owners of Millstone, had created a culture that discouraged plant workers from speaking up about technical problems, punishing those who did point to performance errors, while rewarding those who kept such issues covered up.

Due to concerns that safety margins had been significantly eroded, the NRC closed down the Unit 1 reactor in November 1995 and the other two units in early 1996. The commission did not give the OK for Millstone 3 to restart until the summer of 1998, later followed by Millstone 2. NU took Millstone 1 permanently out of service.

The $2.1 million fine issued against NU by the NRC in December 1997 was then the largest in the commission's history. The regulatory agency pointed to more than 50 significant violations. Among the negligence was the build up of sediment at the bottom of a reactor containment vessel. Had it been necessary to pump water from the vessel floor to cool the reactor during an emergency, as designed, the pumps could have quickly clogged.

In August 2000, Dominion Resources purchased the station for the bargain price of $1.3 billion and nuclear was dropped from the name, becoming Millstone Power Station. Except for the occasional reactor going offline, changes to deal with nuclear waste storage, and routine business stories, Millstone receded from the headlines.

In the past year, however, that has changed. Recently, a Nov. 24 NRC inspection detected two security violations. Because they involved security vulnerabilities, regulators did not disclose details. Plant operators corrected the problems, according to Dominion and the NRC.

The NRC earlier cited Millstone for failing to promptly identify and correct problems with a feedwater pump that is part of the reactor coolant system. In May, the NRC subjected Millstone to a special inspection after the unplanned shutdown of both reactors. Inspectors concluded Dominion operators failed to take steps that could have avoided the reactor shutdowns.

Millstone's own internal review found no common root cause for the series of issues and no evidence the safety culture had eroded.

NEAC needs to keep the heat on. Perhaps Millstone has just had a bad run. But history cautions that assuming this is no big deal could prove to be a big mistake.

Hewett appointment

Last Sunday I wrote that Rep. Ernest Hewett, D-New London, stripped by House Speaker Brendan Sharkey of his deputy speaker post in 2013 after the infamous "snake" comment, was named an "assistant majority leader" for the current legislative session.

Speaker Sharkey's office finally got back to me last week about the change of heart.

"Rep. Hewitt (sic), reflective of his legislative experience, is an Assistant Majority Leader in the House. Speaker Sharkey looks forward to working with his entire leadership team this legislative session," read the statement.

That's not exactly enlightening, but it's all I got.

Paul Choiniere is the editorial page editor.

Twitter: @Paul_Choiniere