Karl Herchenroeder
RW Monitor
12/11/2015
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday granted Entergy’s request to alter the emergency preparedness plan at its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, meaning the shuttered facility will adhere to reduced safety requirements starting on April 15, 2016.
The exemption reduces the requirement to only on-site emergency preparedness. State and local governments surrounding the Vernon, Vt., plant will now rely on comprehensive emergency management in planning for off-site emergency response to events at Vermont Yankee, rather than having a dedicated off-site radiological emergency response plan approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In turn, Vermont Yankee’s license will no longer include a 10-mile emergency planning zone. Instead, the plant will maintain on-site emergency planning and response capabilities, including the continued notification of state government officials of an emergency declaration.
“Entergy provided analyses to show the exemptions are warranted because when compared to an operating power reactor, the risk of an offsite radiological release is significantly lower and the types of possible accidents significantly fewer at a nuclear power reactor that has permanently ceased operations and removed fuel from the reactor vessel,” the NRC said in a press release.
The commission approved the exemptions on March 2 and issued the exemption package Thursday. The single boiling-water reactor began operating in 1972 and discontinued operations in December 2014. Spent fuel at the site has been moved from reactor vessels to spent fuel pools for storage. Entergy is now preparing the facility for SAFSTOR, which allows the plant to sit for as long as 60 years, or until the plant’s designated trust fund accrues enough interest to cover decommissioning.
