Despite Protests, NRC Renews License for Vermont Nuclear Plant
Despite opposition by key state officials and worldwide fears over safety risks in the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted a new 20-year operating license for the Vermont Yankee atomic power plant.
Monday's approval, which capped a five-year review process, allows the plant to run from 2012 to 2032. But whether the plant will be open for another two decades remains to be seen. Vermont is the only state with authority to keep a plant from operating.
When it bought the plant in 2002, Entergy agreed to obtain a certificate of public good from the state's Public Service Board. The state Senate voted 26-4 last year against allowing the board to issue a certificate for the plant after its original license expires in 2012. Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin, who was Senate president pro tem for the vote and wants the plant shut down, believes the vote is still in effect.
"He absolutely thinks that the vote from the Legislature last year is a binding vote and it means that Yankee needs to close its doors in March of 2012," gubernatorial press secretary Bianca Slota told AOL News today.
But Larry Smith, an Entergy spokesman at the plant, said the vote only covered 2010 and is now "null and void." "There's a new legislative session," he said in an interview, adding that there are pending bills that would remove lawmakers from the state approval process.
Entergy is seeking a "constructive resolution of our issues with the state of Vermont," Smith said in a statement Monday.
Slota said the company has hinted at taking the matter to court.
"It's in Entergy's hands," she said. "The state is operating under the assumption that our vote is still what matters. The governor thinks the state can prevail in a court battle."
Smith said he couldn't comment on legal issues.
On Monday, opponents questioned the timing of the federal commission's decision, as Japan struggles to contain its nuclear complex that began leaking radiation after suffering damage in the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Shumlin issued a statement calling the action "puzzling."
"Fortunately, Vermont has taken steps to close down the aging Yankee plant, and I have urged other states with older nuclear facilities to follow our example and take control of the lifespan of their plants," Shumlin said Monday.
"It is outrageous that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has rubber stamped this old and leaking nuclear reactor for another 20 years of operation even as reactors of the same design have failed and are emitting dangerous levels of radiation in Japan," Greenpeace nuclear policy analyst Jim Riccio said, according to the Brattleboro Reformer.
The plant, in the town of Vernon, went into service in 1972.
Entergy has been criticized after groundwater tests showed elevated levels of tritium, a radioactive material said to raise the risk of cancer, The Wall Street Journal says. And some have accused the company of misleading the community by saying that no radioactive material was transported through underground pipes, where leaks were later discovered, the newspaper said.
The NRC said it would issue the license earlier this month, but after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, it put the issue on hold because it was too busy helping in the nuclear emergency, The Boston Globe said. Opponents hoped the delay would lead to further study of the plant.
The commission said the plant has been studied enough.
"The Yankee license renewal application has had more than five years of review, a safety evaluation, an environmental assessment and a hearing that lasted for several years," commission spokesman Neil Sheehan told the Brattleboro Reformer. "This application has received as much scrutiny as any license renewal proposal we have considered to date."
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Smith, the plant spokesman, said in his statement that the plant "provides safe, clean and reliable power to Vermont businesses and homes."
The NRC's decision has also been questioned by Vermont's congressional delegation: Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders and Democratic Rep. Peter Welch.
"It is hard to understand how the NRC could move forward with a license extension for Vermont Yankee at exactly the same time as a nuclear reactor of similar design is in partial meltdown in Japan," they said in a statement, carried by several news organizations. "We believe that Entergy should respect and abide by Vermont's laws and the (memorandum of understanding) signed with the state in 2002, which requires approval by the Vermont Legislature, and then the Vermont Public Service Board, for the plant to continue to operate beyond 2012."
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