I know about federal regulators who, once they sign off on an issue,
never go back to it. For Vermont Yankee, that means reports that
emerged years later about shoddy construction work -- for instance,
workers who accidentally sheared off the heads of giant bolts intended
to hold the plant together, and covered up by gluing the bolt heads
back in place -- will never really be investigated by federal
authorities.
I know about Vermont Yankee executives who never, ever concede that
anything unexpected might happen, and when it does, they assure us that
everything is OK, no plants or children were injured, and their plans
and procedures have giant cushions to absorb any problems and make them
disappear.
I mean, the plant's Web site is www.safecleanreliable.com. Really.
So when the big cooling tower collapsed last year at the plant, and
when problems developed with the plant's steam dryer, and when another
cooling tower had problems this summer, everybody acted surprised and
baffled. How could these things happen?
These things happen because nobody in power is willing to ask difficult
questions about the safety of a 36-year-old nuclear reactor located a
quarter mile from two public schools. These things happen because the
federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a hear-no-evil mindset about
its oversight of the nuclear industry and closes off questions that
could lead to uncomfortable places.
For instance, the steam-dryer problems very likely occurred because
Vermont Yankee was allowed to boost its power output by 20 percent. In
my last job, I oversaw news coverage showing that every significant
"uprate" at similar nuclear plants had produced problems with the steam
dryer. Every one. But that dismal record wasn't part of the discussion.
In 2005, I became managing editor of <MI>The Stowe
Reporter<D> and moved a couple of hours away from the Vermont
Yankee plant. It's striking how that relatively short distance can
alter people's views of the Vernon plant.
Here, people see Vermont Yankee as a source of cheap energy, and they
want to milk it for all they can. Safety issues? We'll give them lip
service, but keep those kilowatts coming.
If you live near the plant, you tend to see Vermont Yankee nervously,
the way you might a deranged neighbor. He might never go off, but if he
does, we're in a heap of trouble.
And as news about little problems seeps out, the neighbors' sense of uneasiness creeps higher.
Consider this reassuring news, via Associated Press:
"The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant released more radiation in 2007
than in previous years, an expected result of its boosted power output,
but the levels remained below the state's limits to protect public
health, according to a Vermont Department of Health report issued
Friday.
"'At no time has Vermont Yankee posed a measurable risk to public
health,' said Health Commissioner Dr. Wendy Davis. 'However, we are
keeping a constant and close watch on radiation measurements at the
site boundary and elsewhere around the plant in Vernon.'"
That's our person talking, mind you, not the nuclear plant. Nobody's
really worried. Yeah, the radiation is up, but -- there is always a but.
So what about those sheared-off bolts, those cooling-tower problems,
the emergency shutdown of the reactor in 2007? What about the fact that
every ounce of nuclear fuel used at Vermont Yankee in the past 36 years
is still stored there, outgrowing a storage pool of water that has been
rearranged several times to get the fuel rods even closer together, and
now overflowing into steel casks that are stored on the grounds of the
plant?
Not to worry, indeed.
Things were slippery enough when Vermont Yankee was owned by a
consortium of New England utilities. Sure, they might have been
slippery, but at least they lived here.
Now Vermont Yankee is owned by Entergy, a Louisiana-based company, and
the rate of slipperiness has taken a quantum leap. The company seems to
be taking shortcuts, even though its nuclear plant has the potential to
make life unlivable for thousands of years where Vermont, New Hampshire
and Massachusetts meet.
And soon, Entergy will be immune from the ramifications if any
corner-cutting goes bad. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is allowing
Entergy to spin off Vermont Yankee and four other nuclear plants -- in
Massachusetts, New York and Michigan -- to a new company, Enexus Energy
Corp.
The federal agency rejected criticism that Enexus will be saddled with
so much debt, it might have trouble paying for any fixes the plants
need and might not be able to cover the costs of decommissioning the
plants when their useful lives are over.
Perhaps money is why Entergy is pushing so hard to extend the operating
license for Vermont Yankee. It expires in 2012; Entergy wants to extend
it to 2032. That's another 20 years to make money off the plant. By
2032, the plant will be 60 years old and, with no real prospects for a
federal nuclear-waste dump, the pile of used radioactive fuel rods
outside the plant might rival Mt. Mansfield.
This spinoff arrangement is "sort of an uncomfortable structure to us,"
says Michael Marriotte, executive director of Nuclear Information and
Resource Service, a group based in Takoma Park, MD. "We think somebody
ought to be looking into it, either at the congressional or agency
level. There really is nobody overseeing this and looking out for
whether this is a good idea for taxpayers or consumers."
No kidding.
Tom Kearney is managing editor of The Stowe Reporter. This piece
was originally printed in that paper on Thursday, August 7, 2008. The
presenters of this week's forum on Vermont Yankee requested that Tom
Kearney's piece appear in The Valley Reporter.
