Attorney General William HSorrell, the Department of Public Service, the Agency of Natural Resources, and the Department of Health filedCommentstoday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding Entergy’s proposed plans for decommissioning the Vermont Yankee nuclear power facility.Those concerns include whether Entergy has done enough work to determine what contamination currently exists at the plant, and whether Entergy will have enough money to fund all of the needed work.
The Comments, based on collaborative work of the State offices, explain the State’s concerns with Entergy’s post-closure plans and request that the NRC require Entergy to fully address the State’s concerns. The State also challenges the adequacy of the environmental analysis that has occurred to date and the assumptions made by Entergy regarding emergency planning. “We are not going to stand aside while Entergy plows forward with plans that have not been properly evaluated from a financial or environmental standpoint,” said Attorney General Sorrell. “The NRC has a duty to scrutinize Entergy’s plans and address the many valid points we have raised in today’s filing,” Sorrell continued.
“The financial assumptions that drive this decommissioning plan out many decades are not tenable” said Christopher Recchia, Commissioner of the Department of Public Service. “We will work constructively to advance the schedule so that the site is restored as soon as possible. I am pleased with the level of detail and seriousness of our joint comments filed today, and I hope the NRC takes them to heart,” he added.
“This filing makes clear that additional information is required to ensure that Entergy’s plan to investigate and remediate non-radiological contamination on site is the most protective of human health and the environment,” said David Mears, Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation in the Agency of Natural Resources. “The Agency urges the NRC to require that Entergy respond to the Agency’s request for additional information,” he added.
William Irwin, Radiological & Toxicological Sciences Chief at the Department of Health, said that “with the possibility that large amounts of radioactive material will be stored at the site for decades, there is too little detail about radiological environmental monitoring and emergency preparedness provided in the PSDAR, and we encourage the NRC to have Entergy provide the additional information we have requested.”
Source: Vermont AG March 6, 2015