Entergy and NorthStar Group Services are delaying providing extra financial information to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the proposed Vermont Yankee sale by little more than two weeks.
Approval by NRC and the Vermont Public Utility Commission are required for the sale to proceed. The NRC has questions about whether Entergy and NorthStar have their finances in order to finish the decommissioning project. On April 5, the commission asked the pair to provide extra information by last Saturday. However, the two corporations need until May 21 to submit that information, Entergy spokesman Joe Lynch said in an email.
Entergy closed the single-reactor power plant in Vernon, Vt., in December 2014 and wants by the end of this year to sell the site to NorthStar for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management. New York-based NorthStar says it can complete decommissioning as early as 2026 at a cost of about $811 million.
In its April 5 request, the NRC said it needs more information to demonstrate NorthStar has both sufficient financing to carry out the cleanup work after taking over Vermont Yankee, and the qualifications to conduct the decommissioning.
On March 2, Entergy, NorthStar, three Vermont state agencies, and several New England community organizations signed a proposed settlement in which the site’s current and prospective owners offered financial assurances and site-remediation terms intended to resolve federal concerns about the deal. The agreement set aside about $200 million in funding from NorthStar to cover any cost overruns in decommissioning.
The NRC wants to know what impact the terms and conditions of the proposed settlement would have on the financial and technical data already provided by Entergy and NorthStar to the commission. NRC is also looking for the source of funding for a $55 million escrow fund to backstop financing for decommissioning and site restoration.
In a related matter, Entergy on Saturday resumed moving canisters of spent fuel from the Vermont Yankee reactor to a neighboring dry storage site late last week. Entergy halted transfers March 10 after workers at the San Onofre reactor site near San Diego, Calif., discovered a loose pin in a fuel canister similar to the canisters used at Vermont Yankee.
Both plants use spent fuel canisters designed and manufactured by Holtec International. After inspections of the San Onofre canister led by Holtec, Entergy determined the Vermont Yankee canisters do not have the same problem, Lynch said. The loose pin found in the San Onofre canister was likely the result of a manufacturing error, according to Holtec.
