Vermont Seeks Public Input on Nuclear Plant Groundwater

The panel believes plant operator Entergy should continue to fund the Vermont Department of Health in conducting independent environmental surveillance of the plant until the company’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses at the facility expire. Entergy closed the plant at the end of 2014, and last week announced plans to transfer its spent nuclear fuel from wet to dry storage starting in 2017, two years earlier than expected.

In a document outlining its opinion, the panel suggested the best way to know whether toxic materials have leaked into the environment is through measurement of groundwater, soils, sediments, and other media. The panel noted the Health Department’s identification of tritium in local river water in 2010 and its identification of strontium-90 in groundwater in 2014.

“(Department of Health) laboratories are needed not only now while materials are in storage, but also when the structures, systems and components are decontaminated and dismantled in the future in what will be the largest industrial activity in Vermont’s history,” the document reads. “Maintaining the VY funded laboratory capabilities now and through that future work is more effective than attempting to restore those capabilities many years from now.”

Public comments on the advisory opinion draft can be emailed to the panel at [email protected]. The panel is expected to discuss the topic at a yet-to-be scheduled meeting in early 2016, according to the Public Service Department.