The announcement that Vermont Yankee, one of the nation's oldest nuclear power stations will be closed down and decommissioned beginning in 2014 was made at the end of last month. The GE Mark I reactor is the twin of the destroyed Fukushima reactors. It began operating in 1972. The announcement of the decision by owner Entergy Corporation delighted activists who spent years protesting the plant's operation. The State of Vermont Senate finally listened to its residents and
voted to shut the plant down in 2010, but despite the wishes of the state legislature the NRC granted a license renewal until 2032. The regulatory conflict lead to litigation over which authority had the final say over Yankee's continued operation. The state lost the latest round of the litigation. So, the closure announcement was welcomed by state leaders, but some objected to the company's plan to "SAFSTOR" the facility for up to 60 years while its radioactive components cool down before removal. The company said its closure decision was driven by the economics of cheaper fuel sources such as natural gas and high operating costs. Entergy spent $400 million since 2002 to keep the single, aging reactor up to modern standards of safety and reliability.
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| Valley Advocate: fire in 2005 |
Anti-nuclear activists cited the company's record of legal obstruction to keep the plant open with the support of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Plant critics say the company lied under oath about buried leaking pipes, and the plant experienced a string of damaging accidents
[photo]. It is also contributing to the thermal pollution of the Connecticut River. Entergy ramped up power production 20% at Yankee after buying the plant from New England utility companies in 2002. Entergy operates 10 other nuclear facilities with an installed capacity of more than 10,000 megawatts. However, in recent months four other nuclear plants have been closed: two at San Onofre, the Kewaunee reactor in Wisconsin, and the Crystal River reactor in Florida. Five planned upgrades also have been cancelled by the industry. For the first time in history the Commission denied a construction and operating license for Maryland's Calvert Cliffs #3.
