But Yankee Rowe has apparently reached that point, and the analysis has not been performed.

By today's standards, 31-year-old Yankee Rowe is a diminutive plant.

But Yankee Rowe's significance to the atomic power industry far exceeds its size.

Some of Yankee Rowe's fuel is among the oldest in the country, but some was used as recently as 1991.

Companies that build and operate reactors had high hopes for Yankee Rowe's future.

A 20-year extension might make the same true for Yankee Rowe.

Yankee Rowe, the nation's oldest nuclear plant, has been shut down 38 times in its 31 years of operation, he said.

Yankee Rowe's license does not expire until 2000, but that is close by the standards of utilities, which take years to build replacement plants.

The agency did find possible problems with the reactor vessel at Yankee Rowe, the nation's oldest operating nuclear power plant, which opened in 1960.

Yankee Rowe's owners plan to apply in the next few months for a 20-year extension of its operating license, which expires in the year 2000.