Vermont Senate Wants Reactor Shut

The Vermont Senate voted 26-4 on Wednesday to close Vermont Yankee owned by Entergy Corp by 2012.  If the vote holds up, it will be the first power reactor to be shut down in 20 years. The older reactor began operations in 1972 and is the subject of controversy since radioactive tritium was discovered leaking into the groundwater near the plant.{2.18.10} Vermont is the only state with laws that allow the legislature to grant or deny nuclear reactor licenses. Entergy told Reuters that it intends to seek a twenty year license renewal despite the vote.  The development is a blow to the administration's efforts to rekindle nuclear power plant construction as a method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. So far the NRC has received 28 new reactor permit applications since 2007. Tritium, an isotope of hydrogen, is found naturally in the environment in minute amounts. Authorities do not consider the leak at Yankee to be a threat to public health. Leaks of tritium have been a problem at other plants. The NRC has investigated leaks at Oyster Creek, New Jersey; Braidwood, Illinois; Indian Point and Fitz Patrick in New York.

One of the license applications pending approval and slated for loan guarantees is expansion of a two unit reactor at Calvert Cliffs, Maryland.  The plant recently experienced an automated shutdown, apparently caused by snow melting through a leaky roof and causing electrical shorts.  Even Forty-four admits that nuclear power suffers from "serious drawbacks". He could not have been pleased with the report from the University of Delaware's Center for Carbon-free Power Generation. The Center found that 67% of Maryland's power requirements could be provided by abundant offshore winds along the Atlantic coast. Wind power could provide as much as 179% as technology matures, allowing the state a valuable exportable resource. The report was sponsored by the Abell Foundation of Baltimore. Of course wind power does not produce greenhouse gases and does not produce hazardous waste. It does pose a problem for avian wildlife. An avian authority advised the researchers that any wind power projects in Maryland avoid an area within one mile of the coast which is the route of the Atlantic flyway. Because of possible objection to turbines spoiling sea views, the report recommends an eight mile exclusion zone for the entire coastline.

[photo courtesy: www.dnrec.delaware.gov]