Editor’s note: This is an updated version of the story posted Thursday afternoon with new video footage from the governor’s press conference.
Gov. James Douglas didn’t back down from his support of Vermont Yankee, even as he expressed concerns to reporters about the tritium leak at the nuclear plant and how it was handled by Entergy, the corporation that owns the facility in Vernon.
“What I’m focused on now is the need for honest representations by operators for this facility,” Douglas said.
Douglas told reporters that Attorney General William Sorrell will investigate whether company officials misrepresented information about the use of underground pipes at the plant in testimony to the Public
Service Board last year. The pipes at the plant are a suspected source of the leak of tritium, a radioactive isotope.
The governor’s call to a vice president of the Louisiana-based company last week has not yet generated a response. When asked if he was surprised that officials hadn’t yet gotten back to him, Douglas replied with a smile, “Perhaps they’ll have a thoughtful and detailed answer.”
For well over 30 minutes, Vermont media representatives from The Times Argus and Rutland Herald, Vermont Public Radio, The Burlington Free Press, Associated Press, WPTZ, WCAX and Seven Days pressed Douglas on safety issues at the plant, how inspections were being conducted and whether lawmakers should be involved in addressing revelations that Entergy may have misled the public.
Douglas said, “I suggest we need to have legislators focus on what is necessary to ensure the fiscal health of Vermont.”
Douglas told reporters that officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and state Health Department are inspecting tritium leaks in one test well and a high concentration of the radioactive material recently found in water in a concrete tunnel near the Vernon plant.
Contracted inspectors from the Public Service Department will be in Vernon soon, Douglas said.
“The safety of the operation of that plant is my highest priority,” the governor said.
Douglas reiterated his belief Vermont Yankee has been an “important part of our energy mix that has served Vermont well.” He said Vermonters need to feel comfortable with the “safety of that plant in order to have it relicensed.”
“I also believe it’s a decision (relicensing) best made outside the political realm and made by the regulators,” Douglas said. “I believe the legislators ought to allow the Public Service Board to move forward and make those decisions. How my administration presents the case to the Public Service Board will be determined by the outcome of the investigation that’s under way now.”
Douglas said the Department of Health conducts 1,300 tests of water, milk and plant materials from the area around the plant each year.
Douglas said he made his concerns “quite clear” to a senior executive at Entergy last week. “I expect him to determine what happened and take action that is appropriate to rebuild the trust that has been breached with Vermonters over the inaccurate information that has been provided,” Douglas said.