Category Archives: Vermont Yankee

BRATTLEBORO — Officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are coming to Vermont to talk about their annual safety assessment of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.
NRC officials will be on hand Wednesday to talk with members of the public one-on-one in what they’re calling an open house beginning at 5:30 p.m. on May 23 at Brattleboro Union High School.
Beginning at 7 p.m., they’ll convene a more formal public meeting where members of the public will be invited to ask questions.
The NRC says Vermont Yankee got good safety grades over the past year, with no issues presenting more than very low safety significance.

MONTPELIER — A federal appeals court weighing a water quality permit for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant wants lawyers to provide it with written arguments on another type of water quality permit.
Vermont Public Service Commissioner Elizabeth Miller says that was one result from a hearing Wednesday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Vermont and the nuclear watchdog group New England Coalition went to that court to complain that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission improperly issued a license extension for the Vernon reactor last year because it did not have an updated permit under the Clean Water Act. Miller argued Vermont’s case.
She says the three-judge panel asked for arguments relating to a second permit also required under the Clean Water Act. Briefs are due in 10 days.

Hundreds of protesters gather in the Brattleboro commons to march to Entergy head-quarters 3 miles away. Protesters said there would be “waves” of arrests.   Vyto Starinskas / Staff Photo

More than 900 anti-nuclear protesters marched from downtown Brattleboro to the Entergy Nuclear corporate offices at noon Thursday to protest the continued operation of Vermont Yankee.

Many of the protesters were planning on civil disobedience at the corporate offices, which are about 3 miles from downtown Brattleboro.

The protesters took an oath of nonviolent protest before they left on the march.

Earlier this morning the offices were deserted and roped off and the building was surrounded by Windham County Sheriff’s Deputies.

MONTPELIER — A top Vermont state official is questioning the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s oversight of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant.
Public Service Commissioner Elizabeth Miller wrote Thursday to the head of the NRC’s Northeast region to say she’s concerned about what she called a pattern of human errors at the Vernon reactor during the past 15 months.
Miller lists five errors, ranging from failure to remove a plastic cover from a pump before it was installed to inaccurately measuring the dose rate from a shipment of radioactive waste.
The NRC labeled all five incidents as minor, but Miller is questioning why they aren’t being considered as part of a pattern.

MONTPELIER — With less than two weeks ago before the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant’s initial 40-year license period expires, questions remain about the plant’s future.
A recent federal court ruling sent back to the state Public Service Board the question of whether the plant would get a new state permit to operate for another 20 years. It won federal approval to do so about a year ago.
But the board recently asked lawyers for Vermont Yankee owner Entergy Corp., the state and anti-nuclear groups questions indicating there’s a possibility the plant might have to shut down on March 21.
The board has scheduled a hearing on the status of the plant for Friday.