BRATTLEBORO — RE: Responses to my letter [“As Vermont moves to green power, VY won't be missed,” May 8]:
To John Dougherty [“VY will be missed,” Letters, May 22]:
Vermont Yankee is approximately 2 percent of the New England grid. It will not be missed. Basically, it will be missed in a similar way that Kleen Energy Systems - the cogeneration plant in Middletown, Conn., that exploded in 2010 - will be missed. Not much. A 650 Mw reactor is a small one by today's standards.
To Guy Page [“VY is a tool for us to use, and we'll need it,” Letters, May 15]:
You are the head of a PR group of which Entergy is a member. Currently, the struggle over VY is a struggle of corporate rights versus states' rights. I know which side of this argument I rest on.
Our state provided Entergy an opportunity to purchase this reactor from its original owners: Central Vermont Public Service/Green Mountain Power and the other smaller concerns.
There were conditions put on the permit to purchase. Entergy has not abided by those conditions. Entergy promised it would not seek a field pre-emption claim. Entergy did. Entergy promised it would honor the Vermont Public Service Board as the arbiter of the issues regarding the reactor, and Entergy continues to do end runs to the feds, attempting to sabotage the power the state maintained in selling the reactor to an out of state corporation.
And in response to other comments online:
The NRC staffers recently recommended filtered hardened vents on all BWR Mark I's and II's. The Commission voted to require hardened vents but not filters. I believe the issue is now in a rulemaking procedure. Those can last decades.
And finally, Entergy likely does not have 620 employees. At the time of the sale in 2002, it had 529 employees. At the time of the uprate in 2006, that number was near 600. And at the time of the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation it was approximately 450 in 2008. My numbers are from the data Entergy provided to the Public Service Board.