BRATTLEBORO — The New England Coalition has withdrawn one of its contentions against Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant's 20 percent power boost, leaving just a single concern to be heard by federal nuclear officials at a hearing next month.
The Brattleboro-based nuclear watchdog group said Monday that it dropped a contention regarding the condition of two safety-related cooling towers at the Vernon plant because
experts for owner Entergy Nuclear Vermont have answered some of their concerns.
The volunteer-driven organization said it will focus its efforts on its one remaining contention — which calls for expanded testing at the plant to determine the effects of the power boost on the 30-year-old plant — when the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board returns to Vermont next month.
"In sum, while it is impossible to predict with certainty that the [cooling system] will withstand a severe seismic shock, I believe that both [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] staff and Entergy have responded to New England Coalition's contention with increased oversight, inspections, and analysis that would not have otherwise been performed and which result in significantly increased assurance of adequate protection of public health and safety," wrote Ross Landsman, an expert witness for the NEC, to members of the group on Aug. 4.
Ray Shadis, a technical advisor for the NEC, said Monday that the group will now focus on its calls for a main steam isolation valve closure test and a turbine generator load rejection test when the ASLB holds hearings on the uprate from Sept. 12-15 at the Windham Superior Court in Newfane.
Shadis noted that the NEC "affected real change for the better" by raising the issue, resulting in additional NRC inspections and Entergy analysis of the impact of an uprate on cooling towers.
"We can now focus our limited resources on the remaining contention, which is that Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee should not be granted an exemption from requirements for full-transient testing," he said in a prepared statement.
The NRC approved Entergy's request to boost power at Vermont Yankee in March and the plant has since reached that new plateau. But hearings on the matter are continuing, although the NEC remains the sole intervener after the state dropped its contentions earlier this year.
The NEC filed a motion to withdraw the cooling tower contention on Aug. 10 and the ASLB, the quasijudicial arm of the NRC which is also holding hearings on Entergy's plan to extend Vermont Yankee's operating license beyond 2012, still needs to rule on the matter, according to Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for the NRC.
Vermont Yankee is a facility that is constantly refurbished and updated. There are three ways we continue to ensure it maintains the highest standard of safety: personnel training, preventative maintenance and redundant safety systems, and high level security. Since Entergy purchased the plant in 2002, the company has invested millions of dollars in each of these areas.
VY has been safely and cleanly producing electricity since 1972. On May 5th, 2006 Vermont Yankee completed its power uprate. It is currently producing 650 MW of clean, low cost electricity.
In cooperation with the NRC, the General Electric Corporation, and Entergy's own expert engineering staff, the power ascension process was carried out over the course of several weeks. At each stage, every element in the process was checked, rechecked and then checked again before continuing toward the goal of raising Vermont Yankee's capacity from 540 MW to 650 MW. The standards employed by Entergy not only met the stringent safety standards required by the NRC- it exceeded them.
