I’m specifically referring to today’s Barre/Montpelier Times Argus .. State issues new draft long-range energy plan.
When the story is the release of a draft plan … well the story is really mush, is it?
Daily Archives: May 28, 2008
Yankee in the NYT
(worth discussion. – promoted by JulieWaters)
At the risk of posting too much Entergy Vermont Yankee stuff there is an article in the New York Times business section reviewing the debate swirling around aging Vermont Yankee.It is fitting to see this in the business section as it was nukes loss of profitability that almost killed them off once and maybe it will again,if political pressure can change policies that encourage keeping these dinosaurs running .
The Times article is complete with the now classic image of the collapsed cooling baffles from last Summer.New York State is in the midst of an wrestling with Entergy over its effort to build a shell company that includes Yankee and the old Indian Point reactors.Wisely New York’s attorney General is opposing this spin-off and re-licensing .If any New Yorkers were unaware of the aging Vermont Yankee’s problems this may enlighten them regarding the debate in Vermont .
May 28, 2008
In Vermont, a Debate Swirls Around an Aging Nuclear Plant
New York Times
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. – After part of a cooling tower collapsed last August at Vermont’s only nuclear power plant, the company that runs it blamed rotting wooden timbers that it had failed to inspect properly. The uproar that followed rekindled environmental groups’ hopes of shutting down the aging plant…….
The proposed closing, albeit a long shot, has gained some support this year among Vermont politicians. The discussion here is bringing into sharp relief a conflict between two objectives long held by environmental advocates: combating nuclear power and stopping global warming.
Andrew Perchlik, director of Renewable Energy Vermont, a group that promotes clean power, speaking about the prospect of the plant’s closing. He faulted the state government and utilities for not focusing earlier on renewable energy, saying if they had done so, “we wouldn’t be in this predicament.”
Like other plants nationwide, Vermont Yankee is seeking a 20-year extension of its operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal body that oversees the country’s reactor fleet. A decision, which could allow the plant to keep operating until 2032, is expected later this year. Several utilities, encouraged by the federal government, are considering building nuclear reactors for the first time in three decades.