“Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys,” says sci-fi author Emma Bull. About a week ago, Gov. Douglas began chanting the benefits of VY as an employer. Due to the lack of a long-term power price agreement, Douglas (I assumed) looked around for another boiler plate argument for keeping Yankee grinding away until 2032. So he started hitting on the employment aspect of the plant, prior to the announced statewide media blitz by Entergy’s Vermont Yankee.
Those opposed to keeping VY running past the 2012 date would be wise to start publicly considering the fate of the 650 employees as they are really the ones on the front line. Retraining, pension guarantees or extended benefits should be explored for after 2012 shutdown.
But consider the coincidence that several days before the blitz; Douglas intuits almost a mirror image of the tone of the ad campaign. A suspicious person might almost think he was pandering to Entergy Corp.
Without citing any evidence for it,
Douglas said a week ago, his concerns about the plant are resolved. "I think it's an asset to our state," he said. Noting the plant employs 640 workers, he said, if the state knew of an employer of that size looking to move in, "We'd be tripping over ourselves to find and recruit that employer."
Yesterday Vermont Yankee announced …A series of print and television ads featuring Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant employees will begin running in state-wide media outlets this week. In the ads, VY employees discuss the safety of the nuclear plant, and the need in Vermont for the jobs and the economic benefits that the electricity generated at VY provides the state of Vermont. Our employees are our greatest asset for continued safe, reliable generation in the state and they admirably serve their communities.
would have decades of work ahead of them with shutdown, mothballing, and eventual clean-up activity.
of course.
It is also important to note that SafeStor is one of those euphemisms that the nuclear industry loves to use. Industry experience shows that SafeStor is not necessarily safe. While the Dresden 1 reactor was in SafeStor with its fuel pool cooling system still operating and nuclear fuel still in the fuel pool, there was a leak in the fuel pool that went unnoticed by personnel who periodically inspected the SafeStor site. Several feet of water leaked out of the fuel pool and the spent nuclear fuel almost became exposed to air before an alert operator finally noticed that the pool looked awfully low. It was a close call, meaning it came close to a meltdown.
Do we need a SafeStor Yankee site that has the bulk of the plant sitting there waiting to spew its old fuel all over the countryside?
And, don’t kid yourself if you think the decommissioning fund can catch up by the end of SafeStor. Look at the Connecticut Yankee experience. That plant was 1/2 Billion dollars short for its tritium and strontium clean-up. Entergy’s own expert has said that its decommissioning would cost more than $900 million, my analysis shows more than $1 Billion, and currently the fund has only $420 million. I believe it is impossible for them to ever achieve complete funding because all funding is coming from stock market and bond investments and not payback by Entergy who is making all the profit.
I’ve seen one of the Vermont Yankee ads, featuring regular, honest, down-home folks who work there, the implication being: why would you want to take away their jobs and livelihood? Our governor is in support of them, instead of the regular, honest, down-home folks employed by the State. THOSE people, apparently, are a waste of our money. But,following this logic, if the VY folks are worthy due in part to the qualities of their employer, what does that say about the apparently self-hating supervisor of our state government?