Jan. 15, 2010
As we have long said, public safety has always been and must always be the first concern in considering the future of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant.
Previously, the in-depth analysis of the plant appeared to show that the plant could be safely and reliably operated; we believe the revelations of the past few days raise questions that must be answered to the satisfaction of state and federal regulators.
Vermont Yankee provides enormous economic value to Vermont through jobs, tax payments, local purchases and contributions to the state’s renewable development fund. We believe the revenue-sharing agreement and a new power supply contract, at the right price, could also provide significant new benefits – if safely and reliability questions can be appropriately answered. Those questions must be answered in an open and transparent way.
Given this new information, we support the Department of Public Service’s call for a new inspection of the plant’s piping systems, and analysis of the provision of information from the plant to regulators. Even a well-priced contract, absent these steps, would be trumped by our concerns about safety.
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