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Time to shut down Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor

Former Yankee co-owner says shut it down: Times Argus Online By DANIEL BARLOW VERMONT PRESS BUREAU  January 29, 2010 MONTPELIER – One of the former co-owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant called on lawmakers Thursday to vote this year against continued operation of the troubled Vernon reactor beyond 2012.

The Washington Electric Co-op, which sold its ownership shares in the reactor in 2002 before it was sold to New Orleans-based Entergy Nuclear, sent a letter to the 180 members of the Vermont Legislature this week urging them to vote no soon.

“It’s one of those tough decisions that needs to be made now,” said Barry Bernstein, the president of the WEC’s Board of Directors, one day after the nine-member body voted unanimously to urge the Legislature to vote against Vermont Yankee………

WEC’s call for a no vote on 20 more years of nuclear power for Vermont comes one day after Gov. James Douglas called for a “time out” in the debate as Entergy comes under investigation for allegedly misleading state officials under oath about the existence of underground radioactive pipes suspected of leaking radiation into nearby groundwater.

But Bernstein said a vote early in the 2010 legislative session, which is expected to conclude in late April or early May, would give state utilities, regulators and others time to plan for Vermont’s energy future without nuclear power……

Bernstein said buying renewable energy sources doesn’t necessarily mean that Vermonters will pay more for energy. After divesting from Vermont Yankee in 2002, WEC invested in an electricity-generating plant at a methane landfill in Coventry. That energy sells for about 4 cents per kilowatt hour, he said, roughly the same price that Vermonters are paying for Yankee energy today.

And Entergy’s best price offer unveiled in December – an offer that has been rejected by CVPS and GMP – offered energy at 6.1 cents per kilowatt hour, with that price likely increasing annually based on operating costs.

“Right now the prices are the lowest that they’ve been in several years,” Bernstein said. “There is a surplus of energy on the market.”

Former Yankee co-owner says shut it down: Times Argus Online

January 30, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear wastes