This is clearly a fairly busy week to be a PR person for Vermont Yankee. A whole lot’s going on, starting with testimony from Arnie and Maggie Gundersen, representing Fairewinds Associates:
The Free Press summarizes the testimony thusly:
Vermont Yankee could stop adding to the tritium leaking into the groundwater around the Vernon plant if it were to shut the plant down while searching for the leak, Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear engineer, told legislators Wednesday.
This is also covered in the Rutland Herald.
While this is going on, we also now have pressure from New Hampshire and Massachusetts:
New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch wrote the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission asking that the federal agency “thoroughly investigate the safety and management of the plant” before extending its license, which expires in 2012.
And Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick asked the NRC to increase testing for potential radioactive leaks at both Vermont Yankee and its sister plant, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass. Both plants are owned by Entergy Nuclear.
In the meantime, IBEW Local 300, is pushing for continued operation of the plant:
Those jobs equal about $93.3 million in annual wages for Vermonters and residents of other nearby states who work at the facility, according to George Clain, president of IBEW Local 300.
“I’ve yet to see a discussion started about the economic impact of Vermont Yankee,” Clain said during an afternoon press conference at the Statehouse in Montpelier. “That needs to be brought to the forefront.”
That’s something I find kind of odd. I just did a google search for the phrase “Vermont Yankee” “economic impact.”
But, hey, what the hell. It’s not like I know anything about using Google to look things up or anything.
This union is dangerously self absorbed. They need to realize there is a whole world, and this world doesn’t revolve around them.
Ever since watching the above video this morning I’ve had a really weird picture in my brain.
The Entergy Yankee executive walks out the front door of the Vernon plant. He mumbles to himself while turning slowly from his left to his right, his eyes scanning the ground with great care.
“Nope,” the Entergy Yankee executive says to the assistant just behind him, “I can’t see any buried pipes. Must be there’s none here.”