Vermont Yankee (Nuclear Power Station)

Vermont Yankee is a nuclear power station owned by Entergy Nuclear. It is located in the town of Vernon, Vermont and generates 640 megawatts (MWe) of electricity.

Thanks to energy market deregulation, Entergy purchased the plant in 2001 "for a mere $180 million. That's about half the price it would cost to build an equal-sized coal plant or wind farm."

Contents

License extension

In March 2008, the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards suggested to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission that Vermont Yankee's operating license be extended from the current 2012 limit to 2032. "This summer there will be a hearing on the issue and the commission will likely reach its decision by late this year or early 2009. ... Vermont has a requirement that the state Legislature vote to give approval if Yankee is to keep operating," reported Vermont's Rutland Herald.

In April 2008, at "the last of four public meetings held by the [Governor Jim] Douglas administration on the future of the nuclear reactor," two officials with Vermont's Department of Public Service were "peppered ... with questions," reported Vermont's Rutland Herald. "People appeared to be the most upset when [state engineer Uldis] Vanags talked about the high-level radioactive nuclear waste produced at Vermont Yankee, and the fact that it would remain deadly for thousands of years. ... While the vast majority of the comments were against any future for nuclear power in Vermont, there was a small contingent of pro-nuclear residents, some of whom were employees from the nearby reactor."

Funds for closing the plant in doubt

What one Vermont paper called the "contentious debate" over whether Entergy has sufficient funds set aside to go through the process of closing, or decommissioning, the Vermont Yankee plant heated up in April 2008. That's when Entergy "asked for federal permission to use the plant's decommissioning fund to pay for storage of waste rather than for taking the plant apart." The Yankee plant fund "needs roughly to double from its current $420 million to pay for dismantling of the plant and it was discovered that the fund actually has shrunk recently by about $17 million." Entergy "responded that -- since it is seeking permission to continue beyond the 2012 expiration of its operating license -- there may be more time for the decommissioning fund to grow before it is needed."

Safety concerns

In 2006, Entergy "received approval to increase power output at the plant by 20 percent. This 'uprate' means the plant operates with 20 percent more pressure, heat and flow," wrote Christian Parenti. "In just one year it earned Entergy $100 million in profits. Over the last decade, almost all US nuclear power plants have received uprates, but few match Vermont Yankee's full-throttle, 120 percent capacity."

"Just after the uprate, one of Vermont Yankee's twenty-two cooling towers collapsed. ... Entergy officials said the collapse 'baffled' them. The plant's spokesman, Rob Williams, admitted that 'our inspections were not effective enough.' Reached by phone, Gregory Jaczko, a commissioner at the NRC, admitted that the collapse 'didn't look good.' But he went on to reassure the public that the plant is essentially safe."

SourceWatch resources

• Entergy
• Vermont Energy Partnership

External links

References

Articles

• Christian Avard, "Activists roam state to shut down Vermont Yankee", Vermont Guardian, March 29, 2007.
• Terri Hallenbeck, "Report: Nuclear power paying less in tax," Burlington Free Press (Vermont), December 17, 2007.
• Susan Smallheer, "Longtime anti-nuke activist signs off," Rutland Herald (Rutland, Vermont), March 17, 2008.
• Dave Gram, "NRC takes 32 years to respond to petition on radiation," Associated Press, April 1, 2008.
• "Nuke waste move leads to mishap at Vermont Yankee," Associated Press, May 17, 2008.

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