Entergy: PSB has no authority to order shut down of VY

BRATTLEBORO -- Entergy responded on Feb. 3 to a request by the Conservation Law Foundation that the Public Service Board demand Entergy explain why Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant shouldn't be shut down until the source of a tritium leak has been found.
Entergy, which owns and operates the power plant, said simply that the PSB doesn't have the jurisdiction to force it to show cause.
Asking the board to issue a show-cause order "would require the board to go well beyond its historical use of show-cause orders and is unsupported in the law," wrote John Marshall, of Downs Rachlin Martin, in the response.
CLF is also asking the board "to exercise jurisdiction in a matter subject to the jurisdiction of federal and state agencies that directly regulate radiation levels at the VY Station ... jurisdiction to which the board has deferred in the past," he wrote.
The only authority the board has is whether Yankee's certificate of public good should be amended or revoked, he wrote, but that authority can only be exercised after notice and an opportunity for a hearing.
Entergy has applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the operating license of Yankee for another 20 years, from 2012 to 2032. In addition to NRC approval, Entergy must also receive a certificate of public good from the Public Service Board and the OK from the Vermont Legislature.
And furthermore, wrote Marshall, if Entergy determined there was an imminent threat to
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public health and safety it would, on its own, "take immediate action to address the situation, including, if necessary, a shut down of the station to address the concern."
Sandra Levine, who filed the show-cause request for the Conservation Law Foundation, said Entergy's response is nothing more than "a wait and see attitude."
"In the face of more and more radiation coming from the plant, we can't really take Entergy's word that it's fine to just wait and see," she said. "Common sense tells you to close down the plant until the leak is stopped."
The board and Vermonters should be wary of Entergy's statements because of it's history of egregious behavior where they have been sanctioned by the state, said Levine.
In 2003, the Vermont Public Service Board fined Entergy $61,000 for failing to provide timely and complete discovery to questions asked by the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution.
In 2005, the PSB fined Entergy $85,000 for beginning construction of two temporary buildings without the PSB's approval.
At that time, the PSB wrote "Entergy's past performance ... shows a pattern in which the company has not complied with its legal obligations."
Most recently, when the tritium leak was disclosed, the state learned Entergy had not been totally forthcoming about the nature of buried pipes at Yankee. Entergy was ordered by the board to go back and review every page of testimony related to its application for a CPG to determine if any other information was left out.
In his response, Marshall wrote that the investigation to find the leak is being watched closely by the NRC and the state's Department of Health, Agency of Natural Resources and Department of Public Service, which have been monitoring the situation on a day-to-day basis.
"The board should defer to the expertise and experience of these agencies in defining and understanding the scope of the problem and taking appropriate actions to identity and remedy the source of the tritium ..." wrote Marshall.
In addition, he wrote, Yankee has formed a specifically dedicated team, the so-called "Tritium Team," to investigate and locate the source of the tritium and take appropriate corrective action.
It has also increased the frequency of sampling, added new monitoring wells, hired a hydrogeology contractor and undertaken problem analysis to determine the potential sources for the tritium, wrote Marshall.
So far there haven't been detectable levels of tritium found in any drinking-water sources either on- or off-site, he stated.
"There is no evidence of an immediate threat to public health or safety, and none of the agencies actively monitoring the situation have indicated the existence of such a threat at this time," wrote Marshall.
CLF has also presented no support for its assumption that Yankee can't be operated safely while technicians attempt to identify the source and fix the problem, he stated.