I have heard quite a few numbers thrown around regarding the eventual closing of VY. Will Brattleboro really have 630 homes on the market, and lose an equal number of well-paid residents?
I decided to ask Jeff Lewis of the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation. He, along with Pat Moutlon Powden, Director of Workplace Development, answered questions about what they currently know and don’t know about the impact on Brattleboro.
They said that the data that BDCC and SeVEDS has thus far is somewhat limited.
They know that VY reports a total of 630 employees, and 238 of them live in Vermont. Of that, 76 live in Brattleboro.
BDCC estimates that another 650 jobs are dependent on VY in direct and indirect ways.
BDCC reports that approximately 76 live in Vernon, 15 in E. Dummerston, 12 in Putney, 11 in Newfane, 8 in Bellows Falls, 6 in Dummerston, 5 in Townshend and others scattered around the state (Springfield, Chester, South Burlington).
210 employees live in New Hampshire, 167 in Massachusetts, and eight in other states.
The average salary is reported to be $110,000 per year.
BDCC does not yet know how many employees are full time or how many are part time. There is no clear sense either of the number of jobs that can only be done at a nuclear plant and are unique to the nuclear industry (ie, not a guard, secretary, PR person, or housekeeper.)
A breakdown of homeowners vs. renters has not yet been established.
The number of employees approaching retirement age is not yet clear. Younger nuclear-skilled workers are expected to be in demand elsewhere, as VY has been well-rated as a plant.
Questions remain about who might want to leave, who might look for other work in the region, and who might start their own businesses here are on the table, but not yet answered.
BDCC and SeVEDS are having discussions with Entergy and asking these questions in an attempt to better gauge the impact of the plant closing and decommissioning. And the decommissioning path adds another layer to figure out.
As Lewis said “The decommissioning scenario will be consequential. SAFSTOR will have a high count early then a long period of low employment, mostly security. Immediate decommissioning would be different. In each case there will be some jobs that fit the existing workforce, if they want them. But many of the jobs will be fit for and filled by different skills supplied by temporary workers, who will have a very different presence in the community than the full time, permanent force.”
The basis for much of this info can be found here
http://windhamregional.org/images/docs/vy/exhibits/wrc-cross-35.pdf
Sounds like people need to be more careful with their numbers.
More careful?
The linked report says basically the same things BDCC and SeVEDS say.
It’s a good report for everyone to read, as is the SeVEDS report, but neither answers everything that people would like to now figure out.
Those groups are now looking for more refined answers.
I was referring to this
I was referring to this comment:
“I have heard quite a few numbers thrown around regarding the eventual closing of VY. Will Brattleboro really have 630 homes on the market, and lose an equal number of well-paid residents?I have heard quite a few numbers thrown around regarding the eventual closing of VY. Will Brattleboro really have 630 homes on the market, and lose an equal number of well-paid residents?”
There’s not much more to figure out. Take a look at the job listings for the tri-state area and draw your own conclusions. I’m sure no one want to “figure it out” more than VY employees.
Does Nancy Braus really need every VY employee’s salary to figure out how many she is going to hire come 2015? As I said before, it’s time for people to put up or shut up. Unfortunately, I doubt they will do either.
Original Source Material
The original source material for the number of employees in each town comes directly from Entergy. It was provided in a discovery response in docket 7862 (the CPG case)which WRC filed with the Public Service Board as exhibit WRC-Cross-36. Employment profiles of prompt decommissioning and SAFSTOR were also provided by Entergy in discovery, and were filed as WRC-Cross-1 and WRC-Cross-2. All three files are available on the WRC web site at: http://windhamregional.org/vermont-yankee
Time Will Tell
“Questions remain about who might want to leave, who might look for other work in the region, and who might start their own businesses here are on the table, but not yet answered.”
I’m wondering what kind of “business” a control room operator or a rad con specialist might start in Windham County. I’d like to start my own small business too but have found out it’s an uphill battle in this state.