VERNON — Workers during Sunday afternoon's shift change at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant were greeted by a group of sign-carrying people standing at the gates.
Only on this day, the people standing in front of the plant were waving and shouting their encouragement.
In what VY Site Vice President Michael J. Colomb said was likely a first at the plant, about 30 people gathered to express their support for Vermont Yankee.
“They see a lot of the other side, so it's good for the workers that they get to see some supporters at the gates,” said Colomb.
The event was organized by Howard Shafer, Meredith Angwin, and Cavan Stone, who are all part of the Energy Education Project.
That project, recently started by the Ethan Allen Institute, a Vermont-based, conservative-leaning think tank, was created to provide “reliable and unbiased information about energy in Vermont,” according to the project's website.
“We wanted to pep up the people who are working here during the outage,” said Shaffer, a former nuclear engineer who lives in Enfield, N.H. The plant is not producing power as it undergoes its every-18-months refueling operation.
“We timed this event so it would happen during a shift change, so we can let the workers know they have support,” Shaffer said.
“People working in nuclear power get a lot of negative blowback,” said Angwin, a physical chemist and former project manager at the Electric Power Research Institute who writes the “Yes Vermont Yankee” blog. “There has been a lot of tension here over the last few months with the trial and the uncertainty over the plant's future.”
Entergy, the owner of Vermont Yankee, is awaiting the outcome of a civil suit it filed in U.S. District Court. It is suing the state of Vermont, challenging the state's role in regulating the Vernon plant and the Legislature's decision to bar the state Public Service Board from issuing a Certificate of Public Good (CPG).
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a 20-year license extension for the plant earlier this year, but the state CPG is necessary under state law for the plant to operate past the expiration of its original operating license in March 2012.
Cheryl Twarog of Keene, N.H., knows about the tension that workers are going through. She was there Sunday with her two children, Cam, 11, and Evan, 14. Her husband, John, has worked at VY for 12 years and stopped by before starting the overnight shift.
“We have had some very sleepless nights,” Cheryl said. “It's a bad place to be when your major source of income is being threatened. And we certainly aren't the only ones going through this.”
John, who works in operations, said he and the other 650 workers at the plant are now joined by about 850 outside workers that are assisting with the current refueling and maintenance outage.
“We're working at a very fast pace,” he said. “We're on a tight schedule to get the work done, and it's being done around the clock.”
While most of the people who showed up on Sunday came from the immediate area, Dick and Kay Truedell drove from Grand Isle - about as far away as you can get from Vernon and still be in Vermont - to be part of the event.
“We support the plant,” Kay said. “We think it is safe, and we want it to keep on being safe.”
“We can't afford to shut down a good source of electricity,” Dick said. “If this reactor is near the end of its life, they should be making plans to build another one here.”
As workers arrived at the plant, they honked horns and waved as they passed the group of supporters.
“You can see their faces light up, especially the out-of-staters,” said former state Rep. Patty O'Donnell of Vernon. “They're not used to seeing something like this.”
Stone, who the runs the online and multimedia end of the Energy Education Project, said that the positive response from workers was one of the primary reasons why they decided to rally at the plant.
“We appreciate all the work they do, and all the jobs they provide,” he said. “The town is really hopping now with all the workers here for the refueling. When they're here they're not just working and leaving, the town benefits from them. They're buying groceries, renting rooms and hotels, and shopping at the local stores.”
One of those local businesses benefitting is Nesbitt's Portside Tavern, about a half-mile from the plant. Cameron Nesbitt and his father, Dick, stood with their signs.
“We refuel the refuelers,” Dick said. The Nesbitts said that business has been brisk with the arrival of the out-of-state workers.
Besides timing the event to coincide with a shift change, Angwin said, the event was held Sunday so it would not conflict with an anti-nuclear rally planned for Oct. 30 from noon to 3 p.m.
That rally is organized by the SAGE Alliance, a consortium of anti-nuclear groups. For more information, visit the group's website.