VERMONT YANKEE nuclear station in Vernon is a 540 Megawatt reactor, operating since 1972, 5 miles south of Brattleboro, near where VT, NH and MA meet.
Background:
Vermont Yankee went on-line in 1972. (G. E. boiling water reactor).
Granted license through March, 2012.
Built at $22 million over budget (2.5 times the projected cost)
1972-2001-Owned by CVPS, GMP and 11 other Northeastern utilities.
Sold in 2002 to Entergy of Louisiana. Entergy also owns 8 other nuclear power plants, including Indian Point in Buchanan, NY.
Costs:
Original Rate Projections: VT Yankee would produce electricity at 4/10 cent per kilowatt-hour. “Vermont Yankee never saw a day when its power cost less than 10 times that projection.”-1997 remark by Peter Bradford, former chair of NY & Maine Public Utility commissions.
Safety Issues:
Radioactive waste storage facility is a spent fuel pool, on the shores of the Connecticut River. It was designed to hold 20 years of waste. It now holds 32 years of waste (500 tons).
Fears:
(1) Zirconium fire: if water is drawn out of the pool & waste rods melt.
(2) Terrorism. The waste storage pool is 5 stories above ground; it has a metal break away roof that is easily penetrable.
(3) Evacuation planning (4) economic effects of radiation release
(5) No long-term waste storage solution exists. If Yucca Mtn. accepts waste beginning in 2010 there will still be 12 years worth of nuclear waste accumulated at VY.
Recent Events:
-March 15, 2004: After a year of hearings, VT's Public Service Board granted Entergy conditional approval for its uprate.
-April 20, 2004, during the most recent refueling outage, Entergy discovered that two highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel rod pieces were missing. VY is the only operating reactor to have lost this material, which will be toxic for nearly 20,000 years (and which could be used to make a "dirty" bomb).
-June 18, 2004 - Two fires at VY, one at the main transformer and one in the turbine building (allegedly on the non-nuclear side of plant).
-July 6,2004- Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee went back online
The NRC is performing an “independent engineering assessment” and must also review and approve the uprate request. NRC is yet to deny an uprate request.
Entergy is expected to seek approval from the NRC and PSB for an extension of its license for another 20 years (to 2032).
Vermont needs your help to become nuclear free
What You Can Do:
Display a lawn sign
Put a bumper sticker on your car
• Educate yourself (read, listen, attend, promote replacement sources)
•
• Talk openly about the issues with others and how it concerns all of us. (Your question may lead to the idea that helps shut VY down)
* Sponsor an educational forum in your community to learn/teach others (speakers are available)
* Writer letters to the editor
* Ask your local officials about emergency preparedness in your town.
* Demand both access to potassium iodide, which can protect the thyroid in case of a radiation release, and free weather-alert radios.
* Make an action plan with your family in case of an emergency.
Express your concerns to elected officials:
Gov. James Douglas: 802-828-3333 (direct line) or 800-649-6825
US Sen. Patrick Leahy: 800-642-3193; 802-229-0569 senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
US Sen. James Jeffords: 800-835-5500; 802-223-5273 vermont@jeffords.senate.gov
US Rep. Bernard Sanders: 800-339-9834; 802-862-0697 bernie@mail.house.gov
Work with the following organizations:
New England Coalition (www.necnp.org): 32+ years advocating for safe energy and fighting nuclear pollution. Currently litigating before the VT PSB and federal NRC to prevent the VY uprate; desperately needs financial contributions (very expensive work).
Citizens Awareness Network (www.nukebusters.org): Advocates for hardened, on-site storage of high-level nuclear waste and is suing the NRC in Federal court to keep NRC hearings accessible. (seeks money, volunteers)
Nuclear Free Vermont is behind many referenda questions at Town Meeting Days and advocates on evacuation plans, waste storage, and to stop relicensing. Volunteers welcome nuclearfreevermont@svcable.net
Traprock Peace Center (www.traprockpeace.org): Popularized the nuclear freeze; key players helped shut Yankee Rowe. Posts important audio files on radiation health effects with Chris Busby and others. Originated yard signs as a benefit to share among these groups( just didn't follow thru and make em)
Stopthesale dba shutvynow writes about and agitates against VY, grassroots activism with heart- writes on ibrattleboro.com/ bumper stickers/lawn signs
Creative activism to shut the nuke!
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NUCLEAR WASTE IS IN EVERYONE’S BACK YARD
VERMONT YANKEE nuclear station is a 540-megawatt nuclear reactor operating since 1972 in Vernon Vermont, on the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border 5 miles south of Brattleboro.
In 2002, Entergy Nuclear, a subsidiary of Entergy Corp. of New Orleans, bought Vermont Yankee for $180 million. (For that price Entergy also received the VY decommissioning trust fund “more than $300 million” which represented .01% of all VT. electricity payments 1982- July 2002.)
Entergy then announced its three-point plan for its future in Vermont:
1) Uprate: Increase power production at VY to 120% (the maximum allowed under federal standards)
2) Dry Cask Storage of high-level waste as an alternative to the spent-fuel pool, which is nearing capacity.
3) A 20-year extension of the aging plant’s license, which expires in 2012.
In October 2002, Entergy Vermont Yankee shut down for its first refueling outage under Entergy ownership. During the shortest refueling outage ever done at VY, Entergy not only replaced the fuel in the reactor, but also replaced the main transformer with one able to accommodate an uprate. (According to the NRC, "These plants were over designed back in the 60s.") ((NRC- nuclear regulatory commission))
After a year of hearings, VT’s Public Service Board on March 15, 2004, granted Entergy conditional approval for its uprate. Conditions include
1) An independent engineering assessment
2) A retrofit of cooling tower fan motors from 125 to 200 horsepower.
3) Ratepayer and utility company protection against the increased costs of replacement power in case VY is down for repairs based on uprate-related outages, or in case of exceeding fence-line dose limits.
On April 20, 2004, during the most recent refueling outage, Entergy discovered that two highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel rod pieces were missing. VY is the only operating nuclear reactor to lose this material, which will be toxic for nearly 20,000 years (and which could be used to make a "dirty" bomb).
June 18, 2004 - Two fires at VY, one at the main transformer and one in the turbine building (allegedly on the non-nuclear side of plant). ((If a chocolate factory burns do they claim the fire was on the non-chocolate side of the plant?))
July 7, 04-Entergy VY returned to nearly 100% power production… What’s next to break?