June 3, 2009
from Barre Montpelier Times Argus

To the Editor:

I wonder how many Vermont legislators realize that shutting down Vermont Yankee now might result in an increase in cancer deaths.

According to data I've seen, coal or oil-fueled electric power plants are far more inimical to human health than nuclear power. As much as we may wish to industrialize our ridgelines with 40-story wind turbines — in someone else's neighborhood, of course — the reality is that the power lost by a Yankee shutdown would be replaced largely by fossil fuel power.

The American Lung Association, the World Health Organization, and the Environmental Protection Agency have all cited the health dangers of fossil fuel electricity. Some estimates show 300,000 deaths worldwide and 24,000 deaths in the U.S. annually from coal and oil power plants that spew carbon monoxide, sulphur and nitrogen oxides, heavy metals and other particulates, and cancer-causing organic chemicals into the atmosphere.

There are also studies showing that the radiation released from a nuclear power plant is far less than that from many other sources. I read somewhere that the natural stone of the Vermont Statehouse emits a lot more radiation than does Vermont Yankee. Perhaps Vermont Yankee is too old to keep operating, but on that issue I would trust the opinion of engineers who know the most about such things rather than opinions gathered off the street.

Admittedly, my data is sketchy and incomplete, but I think the Legislature needs to do its homework on this issue. More math and science and a healthy skepticism toward feel-good initiatives and political correctness is my recommendation.

Andy Leader
North Middlesex