© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Vermont Yankee Reducing Power Production

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant
Courtesy NRC and Entergy Corp.
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant before decommissioning

The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant has begun a gradual reduction of the electricity that it generates that will end with the plant shutting down in December.

The so-called coast-down period typically occurs at the end of a plant's operating cycle as the nuclear fuel in the reactor is depleted.

Vermont Yankee  will update the electric grid dispatcher, ISO-New England, on the plant’s projected  output. The updates will allow  ISO-New England to ensure there is sufficient electrical generating capability available on the New England grid.

The state's only nuclear power plant has been generating electricity continually since the spring of 2013, a stretch of 500 days.

Entergy Nuclear, Vermont Yankee's owner, made the decision last year to close the plant at the end of the current fueling cycle, December of this year.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Related Content