Tagged: Vermont Yankee

More than five years after the collapse of a cooling tower at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, legal wrangling continues over the incident between Vermont's utilities and plant owner Entergy Corp.

Entergy has announced that the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant will be refueled this spring, despite the company facing negative financial analyses.

Entergy will not release the cost of refueling the Vernon reactor, but Vermont Business Magazine is reporting that the last process, done in October 2011, cost nearly 100-million dollars.  Vermont Yankee Spokesman Rob Williams explains that the plant is on an 18-month refueling cycle and they continue to operate based on federal licensing and favorable court decisions.

Lawyers for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant's owner are trying to draw tight boundaries around the issues a state panel can consider as it weighs whether to grant the plant a new state permit.

At a Public Service Board hearing on Monday, Entergy Corp. lawyers argued that the board should not consider the plant's impact on tourism, because any impact there might be tied to perceptions about nuclear safety — and federal law makes that solely the jurisdiction of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.