BRATTLEBORO — At the NRC hearing [see main story], Clay Turnbull, a staff member with the New England Coalition, announced that the anti-nuclear advocacy group and NorthStar have formed the Citizens Advisory Group at Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.
NorthStar Decommissioning is the current owner of Vermont Yankee and is in the process of dismantling the plant.
In a joint press release, both parties said that the advisory group represents “a new process for public engagement in the decommissioning of nuclear power stations.”
“It's a work in progress” said Raymond Shadis, the coalition's senior technical advisor, “but where we are headed is a stakeholder's advisory group hosted by NorthStar, one that will closely follow the decommissioning while lending community and stakeholder perspectives, and yet remaining highly independent.”
“We start with trust,” Shadis continued. “It inherently requires both sides to be more careful about what they say, promise, and do.”
“Trust is more fragile than distrust, more easily broken, and harder to restore,” he said.
“If you insist on being cynical, you could say that we take the Ronald Reagan approach,” Shadis said - trust, but verify.