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Time running out for Vermont nuclear plant

An Uncertain Nuclear Countdown, November 5, 2010, NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD If the clock is ticking on the lifetime of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, when will it actually close? As I write in Friday’s Times, Entergy, which bought the plant in 2002, is looking for a buyer because the state Legislature has refused to give the company permission to run it after Vermont Yankee’s initial 40-year license expires in March 2012. (What is more, one of its top opponents in the Legislature was elected governor on Tuesday.)

But if the Legislature does not relent, it may not last even that long.

“No nuclear plant has ever operated to the end of its license,” said John Reed, an investment banker who specializes in nuclear plants and helped organize the auction under which Vermont Yankee was sold by its builders eight years ago.“You get to the point where you say, if all I’ve got is six months or a year to recover incremental capital, I’ll just shut now.’’

State lawmakers declined to allow an extension for the plant because they were angered by misstatements by the company and the discovery of leaks of radioactive tritium…… An Uncertain Nuclear Countdown – NYTimes.com

November 6, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive, reactor