Parties to a state regulatory review of the planned sale of the retired Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant said Wednesday they anticipate within two weeks reaching agreement on remaining points of contention.
“The Parties anticipate that a Memorandum of Understanding will be filed with the Commission by March 2, 2018, that addresses financial assurances and site restoration standards and that some or all of the parties participating in settlement negotiations will join,” according to a status update on the talks filed with the Vermont Public Utility Commission (PUC).
The update was filed by a number of the parties authorized to intervene in the PUC review of the proposed $1,000 deal: plant owner Entergy; prospective buyer NorthStar Group Services; the Vermont Public Service Department, Agency of Natural Resources, and Attorney General’s Office; the Windham Regional Commission; and the Elnu Abenaki Tribe.
The parties said they are nearing consensus, and have scheduled a working session for today. A status conference with the commission is scheduled for Friday.
Entergy closed Vermont Yankee in December 2014, and aims to sell the plant to NorthStar for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management. NorthStar says it can complete decommissioning by 2026 at a cost of roughly $811 million, but some parties have been skeptical of its financial wherewithal to meet that goal.
The Vermont PUC and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission must both approve the sale. The state commission has authorized a number of governmental and nongovernmental entities to intervene in its review of the deal. Parties not cited in the joint status update include the New England Coalition, which filed a separate update.
The joint filing Wednesday proposes two schedules for the remainder of the PUC process.
The first, based on all parties signing the memorandum of understanding (MOU), calls for submission of the document to the commission on March 2; signatories submitting prefiled testimony on March 12; a public hearing sometime from March 13 to March 23; and evidentiary hearings starting March 26.
The second schedule, based on some parties not signing the MOU, stretches the schedule well into April. It adds discovery and depositions periods starting in mid-March, followed by the public hearing sometime from April 5 to 9 and evidentiary hearings starting April 10.
