Panel Weighs in on Vermont Yankee

January 23, 2009

McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Bob Audette Brattleboro Reformer, Vt.

While the Windham Regional Commission neither supports nor
opposes the Vermont Yankee license extension application, it suggested
Thursday that the Vermont Public Service Board take into consideration
several items prior to issuing a certificate of public good.

Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee applied to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission in January 2006 to extend the power plant's operating
license from 2012 to 2032. In addition to NRC approval, Entergy also
needs a certificate of public good from Vermont's PSB and an OK from
the state Legislature to continue operation past 2012.

The PSB has been taking testimony to help inform its decision.

The Windham Regional Commission is a party to the proceeding and
submitted its pre-filed testimony to the PSB on Thursday.

"Our task has been to highlight specific questions and issues
that we believe require scrutiny," stated WRC Executive Director Jim
Matteau, in his cover letter to the PSB. "We also have a
responsibility to support public awareness and understanding of major
public policy issues and to assist public participation in related
policy decisions."

WRC identified five areas of concern the PSB should consider.

First, the PSB should require a new decommissioning cost
analysis, based on reliable cost estimates.

"An awful lot of people are pointing to an awful lot of examples
that it is likely to cost a lot more based on experience elsewhere,"
Matteau told the Reformer Thursday.

This has a lot to do with the fact that Entergy is only required
to turn the site into a "brownfield" following decommissioning.

"The proposed action ... would effectively leave behind a
'brownfield' for others to fully remediate in the future," stated Matteau, in his
cover letter.

"If you do more than that it's going to cost more," he told the
Reformer.

Entergy should be required to submit a revised site remediation
plan to reflect a "green field" approach, he said, which would make
the site available for all public uses after decommissioning is
complete.

The PSB should also ask that Entergy commit to minimal rate
guarantees, which could be based on the cost of generation instead of
market rates, as they are now.

The WRC asked that the PSB request an updated spent fuel
management plan that includes reduced density in the spent fuel pool
and the addition of a long term storage facility.

Finally, Entergy should be required to maintain full core offload
capability during the plant's operating life.

"If (the PSB) decides that it can continue, then we want to help
ensure that local towns and citizens, including future generations,
are well served by the environmental and economic requirements that
accompany that decision," stated Matteau.

Bob Audette can be reached at [email protected], or
802-254-2311, ext. 273.