The 10-mile emergency planning zone at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant will shrink to within the site’s boundaries this week through a Nuclear Regulatory Commission-granted safety exemption.
The NRC in December granted the standard safety requirement exemption at the plant, which ceased operations in 2014, reasoning that closed facilities pose lower safety risks than operating plants. With the change, the plant will also no longer be on the hook to pay millions of dollars annually to surrounding jurisdictions, including New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The plant’s funding in those jurisdictions for emergency planning and groundwater monitoring will expire June 30.
The states may not be cut off cold turkey, however. Marty Cohn, spokesman for plant owner Entergy, said recently that the company is negotiating ongoing funding for the states. Entergy has agreed to pay New Hampshire a total of $279,000 over the next four years, while similar deals are in the works in the other two states.
