Vermont Yankee

Vermont Yankee
Senator from Vermont blocked efforts Entergy Corp. to win a 20-year license renewal to the curse of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, an action that could encourage opponents of nuclear energy in other states.

Senate vote, which was from 26 to four, is the first time to renew the license has been frustrated, and it paves the way for the factory closed in 2012, when the license expires.

View full image
Entergy
Associated Press

Brief L. Hebert Jr., executive vice president of Entergy Corporation at a news conference in the Legislative Council building in Montpelier, Vermont on Tuesday. The state Senate voted against the company to renew the license.
Entergy
Entergy

The vote was remarkable because the state depends on the plant for a third of its electricity needs. In the past, license has been renewed routine, and allow energy companies to put pressure on the lives of more than plant aging. So far, the Norwegian Refugee Council has been renewed licenses 59 reactors, 19 are still pending.

Vote, which reflects the safety concerns following the leak of radioactive material tritium found in the plant last year, is a blow to Entergy, which had planned to spin off six reactors, including the (Vermont Yankee), in the position of the nation's first and only nuclear power company called Enexus Energy

Entergy also plans to build new reactors in Louisiana and Mississippi, two of the four countries, where Entergy operates the facilities.

Vermont officials had to say in the process of renewing the license was something of a coincidence. Safety issues are monopolized by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but the state negotiated a role for himself in 2006 as a condition to allow Entergy to store spent fuel in dry drums in Vermont Yankee), after having spent at the gas station to fill the pool.

Senate action is also contrary to a tendency on the part of federal officials to pave the way for a new generation of nuclear stations. Obama administration has said the plants necessary to reduce dependence on coal and reduce pollution, the Government has proposed up to $ 54.5 billion in loan guarantees ederal for the establishment of new factories.

Vermont Yankee opposition was galvanized the discovery of leaks of radioactive tritium data are incorrect statements Entergy officials about the presence of pipes that are now supposed to be responsible for those leaks.

At least five staff the factory had been relieved of their duties, and one of the senior managers charged with providing false information to officials in the State.

Tritium, a radioactive isotope that accumulates in the cooling of the reactor, can be harmful if it gets in drinking water.

A spokesman for the Norwegian Refugee Council said on Tuesday that a committee to review the information submitted to the agency by Entergy, which was used as the basis for the initial permit extension of approval granted to the factory in Vermont in 2008.

"There is some possibility that they were not accurate and correct, as it may come to light in the state of Vermont," said spokesman Scott Burnell Norwegian Refugee Council.

NRC also said it continues the process of Entergy in license applications for the renewal of the Vermont Yankee and two other plants. On Wednesday, after the vote, Vermont, and said it would require Entergy to provide information under oath, referring to fears the State of Vermont Yankee and the uncertainty in the requirement of a "culture of safety."

Entergy CEO, Wayne Leonard, said the company had contracted with an outside firm to conduct an independent investigation.

Entergy bought the plant from the state of Vermont facilities in 2002, when nuclear plants were sold for very low prices. Entergy and other companies which bought the nuclear power plants, including Exelon Corp., and raised the operational performance of the plants they bought, and make it more valuable. Spinoff Enexus designed to capture some of this value.

Entergy said in a statement that the battle is "not over yet," suggesting he may try to get the state of Vermont in the Senate to reverse itself. She said she "will continue to focus on resolving the issue of tritium, to operate the plant safely and securely and reliably, and to winning back the trust and confidence of citizens in the state of Vermont."

But the state of Vermont to work and the opposition of the New York Public Service Commission to the spinoff of its Indian Point reactors in Buchanan and the Fitzpatrick plant in Oswego can remove half of the reactors from Enexus, which makes it doubtful that the spinoff would go ahead.

Alternatively, panel-oriented organizational staff refers to conditions that could be imposed on the spinoff, to move forward, including the boundaries of religion, or perhaps to extract favorable prices of power coming from plants.

New York, other state officials also challenged the license extensions for the Indian Point reactors, which expires in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Fitzpatrick station received a 20-year license renewal in 2008.

"This is a huge closing the door on Entergy", said James Moore, director of clean energy for the public interest and Vermont research team, who opposed the license application. "States that are looking to have a voice, and Vermont can show them how to find it."

Entergy's chief executive said that the Administration would consider other options to the spinoff at a resort on the board next month.

Entergy Enexus unveiled a plan in late 2007. But was postponed inspired by the collapse of the credit markets and, more recently, through the distance from New York and Vermont. Establishment of the Foundation Enexus located on Entergy's ability to borrow at least $ 3.5 billion, and debt that will be uploaded to the company's new nuclear.

Peter Shumlin, and temporary chairman of the Senate in Vermont, led the charge against the extension of the license. He said state officials fear there may be other age-related problems, which Entergy did not disclose or who may be unaware.

"It was always assumed to extend the license, it would be a no-brainer," he said. But he added that "Vermonters lost every confidence" in the Entergy based on the belief that the company either lied to officials in the State or in fact did not know it was pipes that could leak out tritium.

Although Vermont has traditionally trends of political liberalism, can encourage the work of the opposition in the states of more moderate. So far, most of States have concluded that they have a limited number of reasons that a challenge to efforts to re-license.

But the war waged in the state of Vermont, along with the opposition in New York by the staff of the Public Service Commission to the spinoff of its reactors, New York, indicates that States may be able to pick the larger roles for themselves by focusing on merit and the economy.