[B]RATTLEBORO — While acknowledging “grim prospects” for success, a Brattleboro anti-nuclear group is making a last stand against Entergy’s plans for storing radioactive spent fuel at Vermont Yankee.
The state Public Service Board on June 1 dismissed the New England Coalition’s objections to the design of a spent fuel storage facility at the Vernon plant. That seemed to clear the way for the state regulatory body to issue a final order on Entergy’s plans.
But the coalition, in a Monday filing, asked the PSB to reconsider and also complained that the board’s June 1 order damaged the activist group’s reputation by leveling “unsupported, unfounded and unfair insinuations and outright accusations.”
Entergy is seeking PSB permission to build a second concrete pad to hold sealed casks containing radioactive spent fuel. That pad would be adjacent to an existing fuel storage facility at the site.
More casks are needed because most of Vermont Yankee’s spent fuel remains in a cooling pool inside the reactor building. The plant stopped producing power in December 2014, and Entergy has pledged to move all spent fuel into sealed casks by the end of 2020.
Entergy had hoped to get a certificate of public good for the second pad early last month and to start construction soon after that. But the Public Service Board has not issued an order, and there has been debate about Entergy’s plans — mostly regarding the location of the fuel pad and whether it could hinder decommissioning work.
The New England Coalition has argued that the casks might be safer underground, contrary to Entergy’s plans. The group also has disputed Entergy’s testimony about the limited visibility of the fuel storage facility.
Earlier this month, the Public Service Board ruled that the coalition’s arguments — which came after a February evidentiary hearing — were too late and not substantial enough to reopen the record. The board wrote that the coalition “appears to be seeking an additional post-hearing opportunity to litigate matters that could and should have been explored … much earlier.”
But the New England Coalition, in a motion Monday signed by adviser Raymond Shadis and trustee Clay Turnbull, is challenging the Public Service Board’s “assumptions; its intemperate and unwarranted choice of language; and its conclusions.”
The coalition is defending the timing of its motions, saying there was a need to “impeach” Entergy’s testimony offered at the February hearing — and to do so before the Public Service Board issued an order in the case.
The group also says the relevance of its arguments and evidence — including photographs, satellite images and affidavits relating to the fuel casks’ visibility — has been well-established and should be considered by the board.
“The fact is that NEC has adduced enough information, and the board has the discretion to at least take notice of it, to put the facts of (Entergy’s testimony) in dispute, and that should be sufficient to at the least warrant further investigation,” the coalition’s motion says.
A Vermont Yankee spokesman said Tuesday the company did not have an immediate response to the coalition’s filing.