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Vermont Yankee decommissioning funds insufficient
Friday November 16, 2007
John Dillon
Montpelier, Vt.
(Host) The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant does not have enough money to dismantle and remove the reactor when its license expires in five years. But Yankee executives and state officials say they're not concerned. They say the plant can be safely closed and protected for decades, until the there's enough money to pay for a full decommissioning.
VPR's John Dillon reports:
(Dillon) Vermont Yankee's license expires in 2012. And lawmakers in southern Vermont want to know if there's enough money set aside to take the plant apart and dispose of it safely.
Senator Peter Shumlin represents Windham County.
(Shumlin) The notion that that plant, after it's shutdown, has to sit there for 50 or perhaps 60 years in order for them to build up enough money to take it away is both frightening and absolutely shocking to most of us.
(Dillon) David McElwee is a nuclear energy engineer for Entergy Vermont Yankee. He says there isn't enough money now for decommissioning in 2012. And he said Entergy has not added any money to the $431 million decommissioning fund since it bought the plant five years ago.
(McElwee) Only if it was required to meet minimum NRC requirements would Entergy have to put money into the fund.
(Dillon) McElwee says the Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows plants to be mothballed for decades prior to actual decommissioning. The process is called Safe Store. McElwee says there are two advantages to Safe Store. First, it allows the decommissioning fund to grow over time. And second, the radioactive material on site becomes less dangerous.
(McElwee) So Safe Store allows for less worker exposure because materials decay over time, and less cost to dispose of them because they'll be less material to be disposed of as radioactive waste.
(Dillon) Officials at the Public Service Department – which represents ratepayers – are not worried about the decommissioning fund.
Steve Wark is a department spokesman. He says the fund was not intended to pay for full decommissioning when the plant's original license expires. He said the fund should have enough money a decade later – by 2022.
(Wark) That said, if for some reason 2012 is the date where Vermont Yankee no longer operates, the Safe Store method is a completely feasible way of dealing with the waste.
(Dillon) The NRC allows a plant to be in the Safe Store mode for up to 60 years. But the prospect of delayed decommissioning does not please Shumlin. He says the federal government's failure to site a high level nuclear waste dump already means that Yankee will have to store radioactive waste on site for decades to come.
(Shumlin) It's a shock to us to learn that we may also be stuck with an aging plant that's been shutdown … It's a pretty upsetting concept to hear that Entergy assumes that we all understand that we may have the carcass sitting there because we don't have the money to take it away.
(Dillon) Shumlin and other lawmakers have asked state auditor Tom Salmon to investigate the decommissioning issue. Salmon said he is just in the initial stages of gathering information.
For VPR News, I'm John Dillon in Montpelier.
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Nov. 15, 2007
Mark Johnson asks a question on the adequacy of decommissioning fund:
Commissioner O’Brien: …we’ve spent a lot of time looking at the decommissioning fund. We’ve got a report coming out at the end of the year, or early part of 08 – on the status of the decommissioning fund. [And] we’re looking at it very closely, as the State Nuclear Advisory Panel. The fund is not sufficient to decommission the plant immediately or in 2012; but it is not intended to be so, as a practical matter. I will say that the owner of the plant – ENTERGY – would like to, whether it is 2012 or 2032 that it ceases to operate – they would like the plant to sit in what is called SAFESTOR mode for a number of years before it’s ultimately dismantled. Truthfully, that’s not my preference. I would rather see the plant dismantled as soon as possible after it ceases to operate. That’s what they did in Maine – if you looked at the Channel 3 coverage, that is what you are seeing – a Greenfield site where a nuclear plant used to stand. I think that is what’s fair for the community down there and for the State. But it’s not immediately our decision – it’s an NRC decision, essentially, you know, signing off on what the licensed operator wants to do. In fact we’ve spent a fair amount of time talking with Entergy and looking at the options. I would say that we’re going to spend a lot of time talking about this before we’re done.
David O’Brien, PSD Commissioner
Mark Johnson radio show (excerpt)
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