BRATTLEBORO — Someone has to speak up against the proposed sale of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee to a decommissioning company that prides itself on its relationship with Areva.
Areva is in rough fiscal shape today, thanks to its inability to complete a Finnish nuke that is years over budget and long delayed, and thanks to delays in the new Vogtle nuclear reactors here in the United States, in Georgia.
And then let's toss in the faulty parts that are in 19 U.S. reactors from a poor Areva forging years ago. More than one presidential candidate in France promises to support Areva if elected.
Something smells in this Northstar deal.
Never before has Northstar decommissioned a reactor as significant as the GE Mark 1 boiling-water reactor at Vermont Yankee, much less one allowed to uprate to 20 percent over what it was designed to put out using extremely volatile, high-burnup fuel.
Never before has Northstar decommissioned a site with known levels of contamination secondary to the leaking Construction Office Building, and mad amounts of water leaking in to the reactor area, now that the machines which served to keep the water from intruding are off.
Northstar speaks of wanting to be the standard of the industry. So did Yugo. So did UPS until FedEx came along.
Is it possible that the company is pushing its own limits too far too fast in order to make lots of money? It wouldn't be the first time greed motivated an ill-advised business expansion. (Read: Entergy.)
It is wrong to keep the illusion alive that Entergy can safely put the highly radioactive used fuel in dry casks before the end of 2018, i.e. before the transfer to Northstar. The fuel from Yankee was “high-burnup fuel,” which requires more cooling time than this proposed time frame prior to its transfer to dry-cask storage. So here, Entergy's/Northstar's timeline is faulty.
We all remember that Entergy has had a habit of “mis-speaking” here in Vermont. The idea of the reactor being decommissioned by 2030 is exciting - that would take place within our lifetime.
But if the sale is allowed to go through, what boundaries will Vermont set to guarantee that Northstar is not intending to take advantage of Vermont?
In Entergy's Public Service Board (PSB) filings, only once did I see the word “decontaminate” used. This suggests distrust.
Given the current Public Service Board's makeup and its history of decisions on Vermont Gas, Verizon, and multiple Entergy/ VY dockets, I strongly doubt that the current PSB has the sophistication necessary to protect Vermont's pocketbook, people, and environment.