Douglas presser on video, Part 2: Governor says tritium leak isn’t ‘imminent’ threat to public health

Gov. James Douglas

Gov. Jim Douglas told reporters last week he doesn’t know if the state has the authority to shut down Vermont Yankee in the event of a public health emergency. The plant has been leaking tritium since Jan. 7; one monitoring well on the site shows the radioactive isotope is leaching into groundwater at a rate 111 times the maximum, federally-accepted level of 20,000 picocuries per liter.

The burning question on reporters’ minds at the governor’s press conference last week was: What legal authority does the state have to order a shut down?

“I don’t know the answer to that,” Douglas replied. “It’s a fair question, one that’s been speculated about, but I think there’s some question about whether the state has the authority to do so, but the governor can certainly ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to take action if he or she feels it is appropriate.”

Douglas said state agencies — the Vermont Department of Health and the Agency of Natural Resources — have “some” authority in terms of contamination of soil and groundwater, but when pressed several times, he didn’t explain just how much authority those agencies have.

“We have the extra element of the federal government in the case of a nuclear power plant,” Douglas said. “I’m not sure that question has been fully explored or answered. I hope that it doesn’t come to that. If there is any concern from our agencies that would warrant that level of discussion, then we’ll certainly have it and solve authority and jurisdictional questions.”

Health commissioner Wendy Davis stated last week that it’s reasonable to assume tritium is leaching into the river. When asked if Vermont Yankee is violating its Agency of Natural Resources pollution discharge permit since the plant doesn’t have a permit to discharge tritium into the Connecticut River, Douglas said that’s an issue that’s best addressed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“That gets into the federal jurisdiction question again, and whether that’s necessary or not, I don’t have the answer to that,” Douglas said. “The Agency of Natural Resources is on the scene. If there’s a violation that needs enforcement action, I’m sure they’ll let me know.”

When reporters asked whether he was trying to determine whether the state has jurisdiction to shut down the plant, he said he didn’t think it was necessary to do so right now.

When reporters asked whether he was trying to determine whether the state has jurisdiction to shut down the plant, he said he didn’t think it was necessary to do so right now.

Douglas said, “We’re not anywhere near where there is concern of that magnitude.”

“If there is a concern that rises to the point of risk to the public health and safety,” Douglas said, “we’ll get all the agency and department heads together and resolve the process.”

Douglas pointed out that the Vermont Department of Health is monitoring drinking water in the area, and the Department of Public Service and the Agency of Natural Resources are also “on the scene,” providing oversight for the leak investigation.

“I think Vermonters know I’m always going to do what’s best for the health and safety of our state,” Douglas said, “and if my experts in state government tell me there’s any threat to health and public safety that requires some more summary action than has been taken, I’m certainly going to be at the head of the line to recommend it, but at this point, the daily monitoring of the test wells don’t suggest any need for that kind of action.”

Reporters pressed further. Wouldn’t the governor want to know before a drinking water well is contaminated with tritium whether the state has the authority to shut down Vermont Yankee?

Douglas said his administration would not pursue jurisdictional questions until such an incident occurred, and then he said tritium isn’t an “immithreat to human health.

“I think it’s important to understand … the amount of tritium that would need to be consumed to pose a risk to human health,” Douglas said. “It’s quite substantial over a tremendous period of time. Others can explain to you the nature of the isotope, and how it’s not as serious a threat as some other radioactive isotopes are, and give you a greater understanding of the risk level. So if it turns up in a drinking water well, that’s clearly a case when we would need to take some additional steps, but it’s probably not an imminent threat to the public health that we need to have the answer right away.”

Douglas said he is “concerned as anyone about the situation at Vermont Yankee,” and he hopes the source of the tritium leak is found soon “so we can move on and address some other issues there.”

“We need to separate fact from emotion”

The main issue at hand is the relicensing of the 38-year-old nuclear power plant in Vernon for an additional 20 years. In January, Douglas called for a time out on the relicensure process until Entergy makes significant, unspecified changes in its management practices and an investigation into Entergy’s misstatements about the underground piping carrying radioactive materials has been resolved. (Entergy denied the pipes existed until Jan. 7, when the leak was discovered.) The governor says the state and Entergy also need to come to an agreement on a new power purchase rate and decommissioning plans for the plant before the state takes up the Louisiana-based corporation’s relicensing case.

Several weeks ago, Entergy announced that it would bring new personnel in the state to oversee the tritium probe and the investigation into misstatements. Douglas said while he doesn’t think the state ought to prescribe the specific organizational structure of a company, “we need to see the results, we need to see greater transparency; we need to see information on a regular basis about what’s happening there.”

“I think we still have a ways to go to get to the point where Vermonters’ confidence and trust are restored,” Douglas said.

While Douglas says the company needs to keep the public informed about issues at the plant on a daily basis, he also took a swipe at lawmakers who have been holding hearings about the impacts of tritium on public health. The Legislature has the authority to accept or reject the relicensing agreement under state law; Douglas has said previously that lawmakers should let the Public Service Board determine the outcome of the case.

“I also believe we ought not to let emotion overcome science and logic and fact,” Douglas said. “We ought to let the experts in our health and public service departments and our Agency of Natural Resources — and the folks at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission – do their jobs monitoring the situation at Yankee and make informed decisions.”

“In the long run, the Legislature should look at what the facts are before making a decision.”

When a reporter asked about Douglas’ remark regarding emotion trumping scientific inquiry, he said we should let the experts tell the state what’s best, and he alluded to lawmakers being swayed by emotions rather than relying on facts with regard to relicensing the plant.

He said the health and safety of Vermonters is most important to him, followed by the economic impact of “low-cost, emissions-free power, the plant’s 650 jobs and the millions in taxes Vermont Yankee pays every year.”

“I think the suggestion that we move forward because we feel like it is probably an example of emotion overcoming science,” Douglas said. “We ought to wait until we have all the information from these various investigations before we move forward. There’s a lot of speculation, a lot of emotion, regarding a nuclear power plant, but ultimately, I certainly feel a responsibility of doing what’s best for Vermonters.

“In the long run, the Legislature should look at what the facts are before making a decision,” Douglas said. “We need to separate fact from emotion. We have experts who will let us know when we should move forward, and, if there’s a problem, we’ll take a different course of action.”

Douglas suggested emotions were also muddying rational analysis of factual information about the corporate spinoff of Vermont Yankee to an Entergy subsidiary known as Enexus. One reporter asked why the Department of Public Service has asked that the spinoff be put on hold.

“Well, to be honest, initially the department’s assessment was that the spinoff would be in the best interest of the state and in the interest of the ratepayers,” Douglas said, “but there’s a lot of emotion about that too, about spinning off and what the motivations of the company might be.”

The reporter pointed out more than emotion might be at stake – tritium contamination could cost the company millions in clean up costs.

Douglas agreed. “I think the cost may well be greater because of what’s happened in the last few months,” he said. “The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will take it into account and a new calculation will certainly have to be made.”

While Entergy is paying for “some current operation costs in the exploration of the leak,” Douglas said, “it’s possible the overall cost of decommissioning the plant may be greater because of this additional episode.”