Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
6/26/2015
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved exemptions late last week that enable Vermont Yankee to tap into its decommissioning trust fund to pay for spent fuel management costs. Entergy, the site operator, sought the exemption to help pay for activities related to moving spent fuel to dry cask storage, including the construction of a second Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation pad. Entergy plans to complete the transfer of spent fuel by 2020 at a cost of $145 to 175 million, a third of the total spent fuel management estimate the company submitted late last year. Vermont officials, though, have opposed the use of the decommissioning trust fund to pay for spent fuel management, mainly due to its ability to drain the fund. The exemption also enables Entergy to open a $145 million line of credit to help pay for spent fuel activities, which should help prevent the draining of the trust fund.
According to the NRC, the exemption falls in line with previously issued licenses to other decommissioning reactors as well as within NRC guidelines for a decommissioning trust fund. “The NRC staff reviewed VY’s site-specific cost estimates and cash flow analysis and determined that the amount of money projected to be available to pay for decommissioning is sufficient to allow the use of some funds for spent fuel management. Therefore NRC approved the request,” NRC spokesperson Maureen Conley said in an email this week. “Similar exemptions were requested by and granted to Kewaunee, Crystal River and San Onofre.”
Vermont, though, has been critical of any access into the trust fund. Vermont Public Service Department Commissioner Chris Recchia has opposed the use of decommissioning funds up front for the spent fuel management mainly due to the effect it would have on the overall trust fund’s ability to accrue the necessary money.
Entergy has entered into an agreement with the state that it would begin decommissioning once its trust fund accrues enough interest to cover the costs. Entergy entered premature shutdown of the Vermont Yankee station at the end of 2014, despite receiving a 20 year license extension from the NRC. The company cited economic factors as the basis for the shutdown, although Entergy and Vermont have been engaged in a contentious court battle over its licensing. Vermont and Entergy came to an agreement at the end of last year that stipulated the utility will place the plant in SAFESTOR only until its decommissioning fund collects enough money to cover the costs of decommissioning, estimated at $1.24 Billion. Previously, Entergy had said it would use the full 60 years granted under NRC regulations of SAFESTOR, but in this agreement, the decommissioning of the plant will occur much sooner than 60 years.
