Entergy’s finances being probed by Nuclear Regulatory Commission

NRC to probe Entergy’s nuclear plant finances Rutland Herald, By Susan Smallheer

Staff Writer | August 11,2013 HINSDALE, N.H. — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will investigate the finances of three nuclear reactors owned by Entergy Nuclear — Vermont Yankee, Pilgrim in Massachusetts and the FitzPatrick reactors in New York — as a result of a petition by four anti-nuclear groups.

Deb Katz, executive director of the Citizens Awareness Network, said Saturday that the NRC accepting the petition for review was a major accomplishment for the groups. She said she hoped the NRC would get answers to many people’s questions about Entergy’s financial status.

Katz made her remarks during the “Flotilla 2013” rally and protest Saturday on the banks of the Connecticut River, directly across from the Vermont Yankee plant in Vernon, Vt. Entergy, the corporate parent of Vermont Yankee, announced last month it was laying off 800 employees out of its workforce of 15,000 nationwide. The cuts translate to a 4.6 percent staff cut at Yankee, which will lose 30 employees out of a total of 650.

Earlier in the year, the company announced it had been forced to write down the value of Vermont Yankee from $517 million to $162 million due to ongoing financial problems.

The NRC announced late last week that it was accepting the petition and would delve into Entergy’s finances.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Friday the commission had already started a similar review of Vermont Yankee’s finances, and would add Pilgrim and FitzPatrick to the review.

The anti-nuclear groups initially filed the petition in March, but it was rejected. They resubmitted the petition with additional information in April and it was accepted by the NRC committee that hears such petitions.

Katz said after the rally Saturday that the groups based their financial concerns on UBS Investment Research documents.

Vermont Yankee is particularly vulnerable to changing power markets, she said, because it is a “merchant” plant and sells its output on the open market. As of March 2012, Yankee no longer has any contracts to sell its power to Vermont utilities and the open market has been depressed because of a strong supply of natural gas.

“They bet on the wrong horse,” Katz said, referring to Entergy’s decision to sell on the open market.

In addition to the Citizens Awareness Network, the Alliance for a Green Economy, Pilgrim Watch and Vermont Citizens Awareness Network, submitted the NRC petition…… http://rutlandherald.com/article/20130811/THISJUSTIN/708119