Today I stumbled across a great article by Christian Parenti (What Nuclear Renaissance? The Nation, 2008) at The Nation, who examines the culture of reciprocity between the federal government, the NRC and the nuclear industry. Not surprisingly, Vermont Yankee was given a tip of the hat as an almost comical example (as far as the intersection of comedy and nuclear reactors go…) of the decaying state of the nuclear fleet in America.
The piece points out the repercussions of a revolving door regulatory regime and highlights a couple examples of plants that are in various stages of the attempted relicensing process. I imagine that we can learn from other struggles against decrepit nuclear plants (as this is becoming a nationwide trend) and, in the upcoming legislative battle, cite the radioactive relapses of these plants after they were relicensed.
A little peek:
Indian Point, forty miles north of Times Square, is also applying for a new license. It too leaks radioactive water like a sieve: tens of thousands of gallons of radioactive, tritium- and strontium 90-laced water from one of its spent fuel pools have polluted groundwater and the Hudson River. The first of several leaks was discovered in 2005, but the plant’s owner, Entergy, failed to report the problem for almost a month.
Vermont Yankee, also owned by Entergy, has one of the worst operating records in the country, runs at 120 percent capacity because of a 2006 power up-rate, and is well on its way to being relicensed. As detailed in these pages last year, Vermont Yankee has recently suffered a number of almost comical problems: a fire set off emergency mobilizations in three states; a cooling tower collapsed; a crane dropped a cask of atomic waste; parts of a fuel rod even went missing. To save money Entergy has been caught skipping routine maintenance and not hiring needed staff. This year the plant has been battling what seem to be unending leaks: in February the water cleanup system leaked, in May a condenser tube leak was identified but not repaired, in June there was a leak in a service water pipe. Then a recirculation pump unexpectedly reduced power and locked up, preventing the operators from changing its speed. And in August Entergy announced that it was not doing all of the required monthly radiological monitoring of its spent fuel.