Entergy Corporation exploring sale of Vermont Yankee

Entergy Corporation announced today that a process is under way to explore the potential sale of Vermont Yankee, its 605-megawatt nuclear plant in Vernon, Vermont.
The sale process is being conducted on a confidential basis and no additional details will be released at this time, an Entergy statement said. While no decision has been made to sell the plant, the company expects interest from multiple parties. Entergy shares were up more than a point this morning to $75.70.
Central Vermont Public Service spokesperson Steve Costello said in regards to the Entergy announcement, "We’ve continued to talk with them about a possible contract, and have said that so long as there is any hope that the plant can be relicensed and we can create value for Vermonters, we’ll continue to do so. We will certainly be interested to see their progress. Given our confidentiality agreement regarding our negotiations, I can’t add much else, except to say that if it can be shown that the plant can be operated safely, we continue to hope to have it as an option given the jobs and taxes it provides and the possibility of a favorable power contract for Vermont."
Green Mountain Power Corp spokesperson Dorothy Schnure said, "If the plant is sold, and of course deemed safe and reliable, we would support relicensing if there is a meaningful power purchase agreement for Vermont. We have been working hard on a meaningful PPA for Vermont and will continue to do so, but at this point there is nothing to report."
CVPS is the largest electric utility in the state. GMP is the second largest.
The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant has been in the news often over the last few years. It has filed an application to extend its license 20 years beyond its original term ending in 2010. That request suffered a serious blow when it was revealed by Vermont Yankee last January that a radioactive substance, tritium, had been leaking from an underground pipe. Plant officials previously had said there were not any underground pipes carrying radioactive materials. In large part because of the leak and the unreliable information coming from the plant, the Vermont Legislature voted earlier this year to deny that license extension.
While the Legislature could revisit that issue, Governor-Elect Peter Shumlin led the fight against the relicensing as Senate president pro tem.
The company previously had successfully got state and federal approval to increase the power output of the plant and allow for onsite storage of spent, radioactive fuel rods. Much of the goodwill the plant had developed was lost, however, when part of a cooling tower collapsed in 2007. While there was no leakage of radioactive material involved, it gave relicensing opponents evidence that the plant was not safe enough to continue to operate.
The Entergy statement said the plant has an outstanding operational record. It completed 532 days of continuous operation in April 2010, the second breaker-to-breaker run in the last five years. The record run for the plant is 547 days, which ended in 2007.
‘Our motivation for exploring the sale of the plant is simple ‘ we want to do whatever is in the best interest of our stakeholders, including the approximately 650 men and women who work at the plant,’ said J. Wayne Leonard, Entergy’s chairman and chief executive officer. ‘At the same time, we have been successfully resolving any issues to secure Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval for a license extension at the plant, and we have been in negotiations with the local electric companies to finalize a long-term power purchase agreement to ensure the continued output of clean and reliable energy for Vermont utilities.
‘We will aggressively negotiate with potential buyers for extension of employment to all current employees as a condition of any sale.’
Entergy acquired the plant from Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation in 2002, for $180 million.
Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $10 billion and more than 15,000 employees.
Source: Entergy Corporation. (NYSE: ETR) New Orleans, La. ‘ 11.4.2010 www.entergy.com/investor_relations