Vermont Yankee 10/2008
Vermont Yankee, Licensed in 2/1973, is a single reactor boiled hot water nuclear electric plant. The plant was originally licensed for 40 years. It was purchased by Entergy Corporation on 7/31/2002, for $180 million. The sale price included the decommissioning fund which was valued at $310 million. There is presently a request to extend the license an additional 20 years beyond the scheduled 3/31/2012 expiration.
By a 2002 agreement, Vermont Yankee provides 1/3 of Vermont’s power requirements for $.05/kWh. Estimates of long term savings at these rates have been estimated at up to $688million.Currently Vermont customers pay electric rates about 50% above national averages. Relative to other states in the region, Vermont residential rates are 9%above the average. Commercial rates are 5% and industrial rates < 1% above average regional rates.
The plant was designed to produce 540MW of electricity which it did until 5/06 when the power output was increased 20% to 650MW. This represents over 75% of the electricity produced in Vermont. Approximately 280 MW of this power is sold to Vermont utilities under the above mentioned agreement. Another 1/3 of Vermont’s energy is comes from HydroQuebec , with current contracts set to expire in2016. Another 15-20% comes from other renewable sources, including, biomass, methane, and local hydroelectric generation. The remainder is purchased from the power grid, ISO-NE, which includes among other producers 4 additional nuclear reactors, with nuclear power contributing 25% of the regional electricity generation.
Vermont power usage is generally about 700MW with peak period usage around 1000MW. Statewide electricity usage is expected to increase 16% by 2015. Act 61 requires utilities to meet this increased demand by increased efficiency measures and use of renewable energy sources.
The New England Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, to which Vermont is a party, states that we will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 to 25% below 1990 levels. This basically precludes increased use of oil, gas, or coal fired plants to replace generating capacity lost if Vt. Yankee closes.
Problems at the plant include the well publicized cooling tower collapse of 8/22/2007 and the subsequent cooling tower leakage. There have been 3 fires at the plant, not all reported promptly to the state. The most significant a main transformer fire in 2004, closing the plant from 6/18 till 7/6/2004. There are 76 documented cracks in the steam dryer. There was an issue with 2 missing segments of spent fuel rods in 1994. There are increased radiation levels at the surrounding fence, with a revision by the health department of the method for calculating acceptable levels of radiation.
Spent fuel is mostly in the waste pool. There are plans for 5 dry storage casks each weighing 67 tons. These are to be stored on a concrete pad 18” above the 500 year flood plain of the Connecticut River. Casks are rated to last at least 100 years, the radiation 200,000 years. A crane failure caused the first cask to fall 12-18 inches to the ground while being put in place.
At town meeting in 2007, the Rutland Herald reported near unanimous support for extending the plant’s license in Vernon.
It is certain that the price of electricity will increase in Vermont regardless of whether VT Yankee is relicensed. The contract for electricity at $.05/kWh will have expired.
Given the history of maintenance problems noted above many question the safety of the plant. Other questions exist such as how the increase power output affects the reliability and long term safe operation of the plant. The Vermont Legislature has appointed an independent commission to evaluate the plant. The report is due January, 2009 but may be delayed due to the sudden unexpected death of one of the reviewers.
I support the independent evaluation of the plant. I believe it is premature to take a firm position on the plant closing before seeing the evaluation. I personally remain concerned about the management and maintenance of the plant. I also do not see how we can replace 1/3 of our power with renewable energy in less than 4 years, especially with the lack of leadership we’ve seen from the Governor’s office. Under any circumstance, I believe a 20 year extension of the license is irresponsible. If extended, the time period should be in the range of 3-5 years to allow for reevaluation of plant safety and reliability at the current power output levels. There should be a dramatic effort made starting now to increase renewable electricity production in quantities sufficient to replace the 280MW Yankee is providing to Vermont in addition to the anticipated 1% per year anticipated growth in demand. Wind biomass and methane electricity production should be expanded.
Vt Yankee 2010 update
The past 2 years have been an active time for Vermont Yankee. In many ways the plant operators were their own worst enemy. The ongoing saga of the tritium contaminated water leaking into the Connecticut River along with radioactive heavy metal isotopes contaminating the soil in the area of the leaks just has to be a wake up call. The January 2009 independent evaluation demonstrated a dramatic decrease in measures of reliability and maintenance from the top quartile in the country to the bottom quartile. The false testimony of Entergy officials regarding presence of underground pipes carrying radioactive material was appalling. One is left wondering which is worse, intentionally lying under oath or actually being unaware that pipes carrying radioactive material underground exist in your plant.
It is clear that Vt Yankee is unfit to continue operating for an additional 20 years. There will certainly be negative economic impacts resulting from plant closure. There are possibilities for much worse economic impacts should continued leaks and problems at the plant damage the image of Vermont and the Vermont Brand. Power prices will increase regardless of whether Vt. Yankee remains open. Their most recent contract offer involves selling Vermont less power at higher prices which will increase with the market price of electricity.
We must move toward more renewable energy sources which will enhance rather than damage Vermont’s image and the Vermont Brand.
