Vermont Business MagazineAttorney General William HSorrell, the Department of Public Service, and two utilities filed a Petition yesterday in the USCourt of Appeals for the DCCircuit challenging a decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). NRC regulations state that the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust fund (VY trust fund) can be used only for decommissioning expenses. The regulations prohibit using the fund for managing spent nuclear fuel at the site. Nevertheless, the NRC recently approved an exemption from those regulations.
“This is a fund that was set up for one purpose—to clean up the Vermont Yankee site,” said Attorney General Sorrell. “The NRC’s own regulations make clear that any other expenses Entergy might be facing, including the costs of managing spent fuel, cannot come out of this fund. The NRC should not have exempted Entergy from those regulations.”
Department of Public Service Commissioner Christopher Recchia agreed: “It is unfortunate that we’ve been unable to gain any traction with the NRC to protect Vermont ratepayers’ interest in this fund, and that we needed to take this step to ensure the ratepayermoney—that entirely makes up fund—is protected and appropriately used,” Recchia said. “The NRC has granted unreasonable exemptions, with no due process, and this is a process we hope to fix not only for Vermont, but for other states that we believe will experience the same treatment without court intervention,” he added.
The Petition was also joined by the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation and its current owner, Green Mountain Power Corporation. The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation is the previous owner of the Vermont Yankee plant. It collected the principal funds that (with interest) constitute the entirety of the VY trust fund. Green Mountain Power Corporation, and through it their Vermont ratepayers, have a 55% interest in all monies that remain in that fund following completion of decommissioning. Thus, as the Petition notes, the NRC’s decision to allow improper uses of the VY trust fund directly harms Vermont ratepayers.
The Vermont Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Public Service, and these two utilities also filed a joint letter to the NRC yesterday. The letter requests that the NRC prevent withdrawals from the VY trust fund while the current legal challenge proceeds.
Source: Vermont AG 8.14.2015