BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (AP) – State and local officials say they’re hoping to avoid a repeat of the last meeting between the public and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

That’s why they’re limiting the number of people who will be let into the hall for another session set for 6 p.m. Thursday, and limiting audience members’ speeches to three minutes. The time limit may seem tight to some speakers, given the complexity of the items on the agenda.

NRC officials will be reporting on how the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant lost track of highly radioactive spent fuel that was said to be missing in April, only to be found several weeks later in the plant’s spent fuel storage pool.

They’ll also report on an engineering assessment of the plant done in connection with the 20 percent increase in power output its owner, Entergy Nuclear, wants to get from the 32-year-old reactor.

David O’Brien, commissioner of the Department of Public Service and chairman of the Vermont State Nuclear Advisory Panel, which is hosting the session at Brattleboro Union High School, says he wants to avoid the rancor of the March 31 meeting.

“I want something quite different than that. It was raucous and confrontational,” said O’Brien. “We should be able to do this without problems.”

Signs on sticks will be prohibited. Tickets will be issued at the door to keep track of people entering the auditorium and the gymnasium, where an overflow crowd will be seated. A significant police presence is expected.

The concnern voiced by some officials about the upcoming meeting drew a bit of satire from Raymond Shadis, a staff member with the anti-nuclear group New England Coalition, which has been Vermont Yankee’s most consistent critic over the years.

Shadis provided a description of the March meeting different from O’Brien’s in an e-mail to members of his group and the media.

“While no disruptions occurred, emotions ran high as residents accused NRC of lying, failure to regulate, and covering for the nuclear industry,” Shadis wrote.

He added that, “Local officials concerned about security in the community would do well to search (Vermont Yankee) premises for the presence of a large nuclear “dirty bomb.’ … We are uncertain about the best way to deactivate it. We have been trying for years.”