The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says former Gov. Howard Dean and other Vermont officials violated federal law by releasing secret protection plans for its nuclear power plant in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The NRC's charge had Vermont officials scrambling to impoundtop-secret nuclear documents the Democratic presidential front-runner wrongly made public.
Some of the documents regarding the Vermont Yankee nuke plant include so-called ``safeguards information,'' which is to be released under ``need to know requirements and . . . not publicly releasable,'' said NRC spokesman Scott Burnell.
The documents are included in files Dean made public - even as he opposes the release of other records on the grounds that they may include similar security or personal information.
``They have been made aware that these documents aren't supposed to be publicly available,'' said Burnell. ``They have assured us that steps are being taken to remove the documents from public availability.''
Burnell said visible warnings on the records weren't heeded by Dean's office, the Vermont secretary of state and the state archivist - making civil or criminal charges a possibility.
``If warranted, there is going to be an investigation,'' Burnell said.
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