(Host) Legislative leaders have picked a nuclear engineer and a veteran utility regulator for a panel that will oversee the inspection of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.

But the Douglas Administration immediately criticized the appointments. The administration complains that the two are critics of nuclear power.

VPR's John Dillon reports:

(Dillon) Next year, the Legislature will decide whether Yankee can operate for another 20 years after its scheduled shutdown in 2012.

To help with that decision, lawmakers ordered a detailed inspection of the plant, a review that will be overseen by a new state oversight panel. Governor Douglas has appointed a former nuclear industry executive to the panel.

House Speaker Gaye Symington named Peter Bradford, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And Senate President Peter Shumlin selected Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer who was also a licensed reactor operator. The Douglas Administration was not pleased.

(Wark) ``These two people are anti-nuclear.''

(Dillon) Steve Wark is spokesman for the Department of Public Service, which represents ratepayers in utility cases. He says the two legislative appointees are strong critics of the industry.

(Wark) ``This discussion is supposed to be about safety and reliability of Vermont Yankee, and not a referendum on nuclear power. So bit of a surprise with these appointments, but we still think we can move forward and get to a positive place where we have a positive picture of the safety and reliability of Vermont Yankee.''

(Dillon) The two appointees say they're not against nuclear power, but they describe themselves as experts with a healthy skepticism of the industry.

Peter Bradford says that when he was on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal panel approved 20 nuclear plant licenses. He's also served on utility commissions in Maine and New York.

(Bradford) ``You know, I've been skeptical about presentations that the industry's made. I've been skeptical about presentations that consumer groups have made and environmental groups have made during 25 years as a regulator.''

(Dillon) Bradford says he'll bring the same level of scrutiny to the Yankee oversight panel. Bradford says Steve Wark, the administration spokesman, was wrong to pre-judge the panelists.

(Bradford)``Fundamentally I think Mr. Wark is talking through his hat. He doesn't know me. I'm certainly not going to take the fact that the governor's appointee worked for most of his career for a nuclear reactor builder as indicating he has any biases or pre-dispositions.''

(Dillon) Arnie Gundersen, the other legislative appointee, says he raised concerns about Vermont Yankee that turned out to be well-founded. He called attention to shortfalls in Yankee's decommissioning fund, and says he predicted last summer's cooling tower collapse.

(Gundersen) ``So if that makes me anti-Vermont Yankee, I don't understand why it should. Making correct, technical decisions that Vermont Yankee didn't get themselves shouldn't make me anti-Vermont Yankee in my mind.''

(Dillon) Senate President Peter Shumlin said the two appointees are well qualified. And he accused Governor Douglas of tilting toward Entergy, the Louisiana company that owns Vermont Yankee.

(Shumlin) ``When the executives in Louisiana say jump, the governor says how high. What the Speaker and I wanted to ensure was to actually have objective Vermonters who knew the nuclear industry and were going to look out for Vermonters' interests.''

(Dillon) The three-person panel will now choose its chairman, and it has the option of expanding by two more members.

For VPR News, I'm John Dillon in Montpelier.