Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance

*HELP THE STATE DECIDE ITS ENERGY FUTURE – WITHOUT NUKES! *

In October, a series of public workshops will be held in different towns to secure input about the future mix of electricity sources. At the end of each workshop, participants will vote on their preferred mix. The results will be presented to the legislature.

Therefore it is very important that Vermonters who oppose nuclear energy attend one of the workshops and vote!

Voting privileges may be limited to the first 150 persons who register for each workshop. So choose the location nearest you (see below) and ** REGISTER NOW * *

To register, go to this website: http://www.raabassociates.org/WebComponents/vtsignup/welcome.htm

Locations and dates:

Oct. 3, 2007 St. Johnsbury Elementary School
Oct. 17, 2007 South Burlington High School
Oct. 18, 2007 Montpelier Elks Club, Montpelier, VT
Oct. 29, 2007 Dean Technical Center, Springfield, VT
Oct. 30, 2007 Rutland Intermediate School, Rutland, VT

More info:

Five evening public workshops will be held in locations throughout the state
this fall. You can attend the workshop closest to you. These workshops were
authorized by the Vermont Legislature, endorsed by the Governor, and
spearheaded by the Department of Public Service.

The goal of the workshops is to gather informed and thoughtful citizen and
ratepayer input for the State and its electric utilities as they make decisions
about how and where Vermont obtains its electric power for the coming decades.
In 2012, contracts providing for two-thirds of the state’s electric power begin
to expire. This leaves the future source of Vermont’s electricity open for
discussion and examination.

Choices about the future will have to be made and will weigh trade-offs among
cost, reliability, environmental impact, large and small scale generation, and
in versus out-of-state sources

All workshops will begin at 5:30 p.m. with light dinner fare and a prompt start
at 6 p.m. and end around 10.

According to the AP article below, an automatic shutdown of the VT Yankee reactor was initiated during routine testing of the steam valves today.

An independent safety assesment of the reactor is clearly imperative due to the continuing mechanical failures at the plant.

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant Shuts Down Automatically Amid Test

August 30, 2007: 05:12 PM EST

VERNON, Vt. (AP)–The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant went off-line Thursday after an automatic shutdown. Plant officials said the shutdown occurred at 3:12 p.m. EDT during routine testing of steam valves. Plant technicians are trying to determine the cause of the automatic shutdown. Officials said the plant remains in a safe and stable condition and will be restarted after engineers complete a thorough evaluation of the shutdown. Prior to the shutdown, the plant had been operating at a 62% power level to allow repairs on one of the plants two cooling towers.

A Cooling Tower Collapse Raises Concerns about a New License for the Aging Vermont Yankee Reactor

After key components of a Vermont Yankee cooling tower fell to the ground Tuesday, members of Safe Power Vermont are saying “no” to renewing Entergy’s license to operate for another 20 years.

Safe Power Vermont - a coalition of experienced citizen, environmental, legal, and anti-nuclear organizations committed to closing the nuclear power plant - said that while alarming, the collapse of the cooling tower is not surprising.

“Vermont Yankee is running at 120% of its designed capacity. This surge in power combined with its already ailing infrastructure leaves Vermont Yankee incredibly vulnerable to dangerous accidents just like this one,” said Deb Katz, Executive Director of Citizens Awareness Network.

Advocates questioned the clean bill of health that the cooling tower recently received from Entergy’s experts. They called into question Vermont Yankee’s claims that the 35 five year old reactor is not experiencing serious aging strain that jeopardizes the plant’s future. “Vermont Yankee telling us that the plant is running like new is like a hair dresser telling you that you look twenty years younger, its nice to hear but far from the truth,” said James Moore, Clean Energy Advocate for VPIRG.

The plant’s history of defects and accidents is not insignificant. Just in the past decade, Vermont Yankee has documented 76 cracks in its steam dryer, three fires in its transformer station, a dangerously overcrowded spent fuel pool for radioactive waste and now a cooling tower collapse. Despite this, Entergy is aggressively looking to extend the plant’s license to operate for an additional 20 years.

Advocates also noted that Vermont Yankee benefited from the recent expiration of a rate payer protection plan. This fact will leave Green Mountain Power, Central Vermont Public Service, and Vermont rate payers with higher bills in the future.

“Any further reliance on Vermont Yankee will pass on both a financial, as well as safety risk to future generations. Vermont Yankee was built to run 40 years and at 35 it is already testing father time, the plant must close in 2012,”said Ed Anthes of Nuclear Free Vermont.

In accordance with Act 160, the Vermont legislature has the power to prevent Vermont Yankee from running past its 2012 lifespan. Safe Power Vermont says the coalition will continue to work for the facility’s closure to prevent a seemingly inevitable accident of catastrophic proportions.

For Immediate Release: August 22, 2007

For More Information:

James Moore, 223-5221
Deb Katz, 413- 339- 5781
Chris Williams: 802- 767- 4276