AP, Burlington Free Press, Bennington Banner
June 2, 2006

BRATTLEBORO -- Vermont, Massachusetts and an anti-nuclear group have asked federal regulators for heightened review of Entergy Nuclear's request to continue operating its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant for an extra 20 years.

The two states and the group New England Coalition have asked to participate in a quasi-judicial federal review of the relicensing request. If granted, the new license would allow Vermont Yankee to continue producing electricity through 2032.

History suggests the trio may have a tough time. Federal regulators have approved 44 license renewal applications and granted the higher level of review in only a few, said Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Vermont Yankee is on the banks of the Connecticut River in Vernon, near both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

To be granted the review they seek, Vermont, Massachusetts and the coalition must prove they represent people who would be affected by another 20 years of the plant's operation and there are serious safety or maintenance concerns.

Vermont, through its Public Service Department, has questioned whether the building core is adequate to permit relicensing. It also objected to storage of spent fuel on the plant grounds and wants a review of security equipment.

Vermont has "firmly established values associated with land use," it said in asking for more information about storage of spent fuel if there is no national resolution of fuel storage.

"It follows that it is reasonable to expect that at least a part of spent fuel to be generated at VY during the period of an extended license will remain at the site for a much longer time than evaluated and perhaps indefinitely," the filing reads.

Massachusetts raised the specter of terrorism, questioning whether the plant might be a target because of the storage of the spent fuel.

"The attorney general is concerned that Entergy and the NRC have not adequately informed the public regarding the risks of a severe accident in the Vermont Yankee spent fuel pool during the license renewal term, nor have they implemented adequate design measures to avoid such an accident," according to documents filed by Attorney General Thomas Reilly's office.

Vermont Yankee spokesman Robert Williams said the plant "meets every applicable federal and state regulation."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission process with the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is a very open avenue to have issues formally addressed," Williams said. "We expect to participate in the process."

Vermont Yankee has been safely and cleanly producing electricity for more than 30 years. It currently provides 1/3 of the baseload power in VT.

The plant applied to the NRC for relicensing on January 27, 2006 and is currently engaged in an open and thorough regulatory review process with multiple stakeholders including the NRC.

Vermont Yankee was designed with multiple and redundant safety systems and is equipped with industry-leading safety measures to prevent incident. The plant's features include housing the nuclear reactor in leak tight containment domes that are several-feet-thick, steel-reinforced concrete lined with a stainless-steel inner shell.

If approved for relicensing Vermont Yankee will move spent fuel to dry fuel storage. The VT legislature approved DCS on May 4, 2006 by a vote of 13-5 in the VT House and 18-6 in the VT Senate. The NRC conducts stringent inspections to assure that dry fuel storage facilities are safe, that no radioactivity will escape, and that the design makes them secure from a terrorist attack. Construction is underway on the area where the units will be housed. The dry fuel storage is expected to be in place by 2008.