The state of Vermont is calling on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to withdraw a series of decisions allowing utility Entergy to use money from the decommissioning trust fund for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station for management of the plant’s spent fuel.
The state government has fought this battle for years, worried about draining funds from the account intended to pay for full cleanup of the facility that closed in December 2014. The NRC in 2015 approved Entergy’s request for an exemption under which it can direct some of the decommissioning trust fund to management of used fuel assemblies stored on-site at Vermont Yankee.
Following a challenge from the state, Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. (the plant’s prior owner), and the Green Mountain Power Corp., the regulator in October 2016 directed staff to study possible environmental impacts from the exemption. Staff last month reported back with a draft environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact; the NRC said it would thus not prepare an environmental impact statement on the matter.
Vermont Assistant Attorney General Kyle Landis-Marinello, in a public response to the decision submitted earlier this month and made public this week, wrote that the staff decision “compromises the adequacy and integrity of the Decommissioning Fund, and raises a significant risk that the Fund will fall short of what is needed for a full cleanup and site restoration.” The finding also breaches the National Environmental Policy Act mandate for an assessment of the possible environmental and economic impacts of such a significant federal decision, he argued.
With that in mind, the state and the power companies called on the NRC to withdraw the 2015 exemption as well as the new environmental assessment and FONSI, and instead prepare an environmental impact statement that addresses Vermont’s concerns.
The Vermont Yankee trust fund held about $572 million as of the end of February. It would be included in Entergy’s sale of the plant to NorthStar Group Services, which plans to decommission Vermont Yankee by 2026 at a cost of $811.5 million.
