nuclear-news

Heat pollution in river due to Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant

Demonstrators take to the water to protest against Vermont Yankee By JOSH STILTS Brattleboro  Reformer  09/17/2012 Marlboro residents Rose Watson and Laura Berkowitz share their boat with an unnamed protester during Saturday s Safe and Green flotilla.
More than 100 anti-nuclear activists gathered along the Connecticut River to tell the owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to stop dumping the reactor s thermal discharge into the river.
VERNON — Dozens of protesters flocked to the Connecticut River Saturday afternoon to condemn the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and its owner, Entergy, for the reactor’s thermal discharge…… State Rep. David Deen, D-Westminster addressed the crowd and spoke about his concerns and those of fellow members of the Connecticut River Watershed Council.
According to a recent report from several hydrologists, the river’s temperature exceeded Vermont Yankee’s permit limit 58 percent of the time between May and October of 2006 through 2010. One of the group’s major concerns is the affect that the increased water temperatures is having on fish that use the Connecticut as their spawning grounds.
“This is your river, your water, it’s your fish,” Deen told the crowd
Saturday. “Today sends a great message, that there is a voice for the
fish.”…..
The plant’s continued operation is still being litigated in federal
court as the state of Vermont appealed a judge’s decision to overturn
legislation that could have closed the nuclear reactor last March when
its initial 40-year license expired.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a 20-year extension on the
plant’s operating license in March 2011, and about a month later
Entergy sued the state, claiming Vermont’s legislation was federally
preempted by the atomic energy act.
Vermont Yankee is currently operating under a “zombie permit” to
continue to dump some 543 million gallons of water used to cool the
reactor, back into the river.
Deen told the Reformer last month the water’s temperature can be as
high as 105 degrees if the plant is running at 100 percent.
Last month, following the new report, Jon Groveman, who serves as
general counsel for the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, said
members of the VANR are reviewing Vermont Yankee’s permit and will
look over the report for consideration prior to offering a decision on
whether to approve or renew the permit.
Entergy’s suit against the state has been appealed to the U.S. Second
Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_21559040/rsquo-voice-fish-rsquo-demonstrators-take-water-protest

September 19, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change, USA