[B]RATTLEBORO – Cleaning up Vermont Yankee will be a “fully transparent and public process” if NorthStar Group Services is allowed to buy the nuclear plant, the company’s top administrator said Thursday.
NorthStar Chief Executive Officer Scott State’s comments matched the general tone of collaboration and optimism of a meeting at Brattleboro Union High School, where State and others discussed a new settlement agreement that makes the case for Vermont Yankee to change hands by the end of this year.
Representatives of several organizations that had raised questions about NorthStar’s plans commended the company for negotiating with them and addressing at least some of their concerns.
“Basically, I feel that our requests were honored,” said Rich Holschuh, representing the Elnu Abenaki Native American Tribe. “How that will play out in detail remains to be seen. We enter this with open eyes and in good faith.”
Vermont Yankee has been owned by Entergy since 2002. The New Orleans-based company stopped producing power at the Vernon plant at the end of 2014. The company had been planning to put the plant in SAFSTOR, an extended period of dormancy under which decommissioning could take as long as 60 years.
The proposed sale to NorthStar could speed that up considerably. The New York-based demolition and remediation company says it can clean and restore most of the Vermont Yankee site as soon as 2026.
The change of ownership requires approval from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Vermont Public Utility Commission.
Until recently, there had been deep disagreement about whether NorthStar has the expertise and wherewithal to follow through on its plans. But a memorandum of understanding released March 2 brought together NorthStar, Entergy, three state agencies and several other parties in support of the sale.
Thursday’s meeting of the Vermont Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel was the first public discussion of that deal.
The primary focus was on commitments by NorthStar and Entergy to roughly $200 million in additional financing. Those payments would go toward backup funding for decommissioning to alleviate concerns that NorthStar could run out of money before the job is done.
For example, NorthStar is increasing its parent company support agreement from $125 million to $140 million. The company also is establishing an interest-bearing escrow account that eventually will grow to at least $55 million, and it will purchase a $30 million insurance policy to cover non-radiological site issues.
Entergy also is chipping in. The company will boost a site restoration trust fund to $60 million – roughly double its current level.
Entergy’s offer is one of several examples of the state incorporating public comments into the settlement deal, said Steph Hoffman, special counsel for the Vermont Public Service Department.
“There were quite a few comments about the site restoration trust fund and the obligations that Entergy had made regarding its relationship to this fund,” Hoffman said.
Additionally, Entergy has agreed to a future payment of $40 million into an escrow account “if certain criteria are met” regarding the timing and cost of the decommissioning project, said Mike Twomey, external affairs vice president for Entergy Wholesale Commodities.
“It’s a way for us to stand behind the project after the project is turned over (to NorthStar),” Twomey said.
In addition to finances, the settlement addresses concerns about site restoration standards.
Discussion at Thursday’s meeting focused on NorthStar’s pledge to try to lower the amount of residual radiation left at the site after decommissioning. NorthStar has committed to an annual radiological dose limit of 15 millirem but will work toward 10 millirem.
“This is a standard that has been attempted at other sites and not necessarily achieved,” State said. “But we’ve agreed that we would seek to do that if possible. It’s an issue of cost and technical feasibility.”
The Brattleboro-based New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution has been pushing for the lower limit, said Clay Turnbull, a trustee and staffer. The coalition, formerly a critic of NorthStar’s purchase plan, has endorsed the settlement deal.
“In this case, one-third less radiation means one-third less biological effect on the entire biotic community of and around the VY site,” Turnbull said. “NEC will do its best to help NorthStar reach that goal.”
NorthStar also has agreed to conduct a “comprehensive site investigation” and address any issues in conjunction with state environmental regulations.
And the company has scaled back its controversial plan to reuse crushed concrete as fill. NorthStar has agreed to “rubblize” concrete from only two places at the plant – the cooling towers and water-intake structure – and only if it’s determined that the material is clean.
In addition to prohibitions on radiological contamination, “the Agency of Natural Resources will be overseeing the process of determining that the material that is being reused on site is also clean of nonradioactive materials,” said Peter Walke, the agency’s deputy secretary.
Thursday’s meeting included discussion of some lesser-known provisions of the settlement deal, including NorthStar’s pledge to hire an expert to develop a “cultural resource plan” for the Vermont Yankee site.
That was spurred by concerns about the site’s historical importance to the Abenaki. While the details of that cultural plan are yet to be worked out, “we intend to do the decommissioning on the site in a way that recognizes the past inhabitants of the land,” State said.
Officials also touted the settlement deal’s emphasis on transparency.
NorthStar has agreed to a “comprehensive reporting protocol” to keep the state updated on decommissioning and associated spending. And the company committed to keeping the public informed, likely via citizens advisory panel meetings.
Even with the settlement, the Entergy/NorthStar transaction is not yet a done deal. The Public Utility Commission has not ruled on the matter, and the NRC’s review is ongoing.
There’s also some pushback. The Conservation Law Foundation refused to sign the settlement and is scheduled to file testimony next month elaborating on its position.
And the Brattleboro-based Safe & Green campaign is skeptical about the deal. Campaign member Leslie Sullivan Sachs cited her mistrust of Entergy.
“I really hope this is the beginning of a new era – an era where we can all work together and clean this thing up on our watch. That would be fabulous,” she said. “But we’ve been burned. It’s hard.”
Ultimately, the settlement won’t mean much if the utility commission doesn’t approve the Vermont Yankee sale or if it significantly alters the conditions that Entergy, NorthStar, state officials and the other parties have agreed to.
If that happens, “I think both parties, Entergy and NorthStar, would have to reevaluate whether a transaction of this type is feasible in Vermont,” Entergy’s Twomey said. “It’s really fact-dependent. It would really depend on what the conditions were or what the rationale was from the PUC.”
Twomey said he remains optimistic.
“We believe we’ve negotiated a very compelling agreement that is in the best interest of Vermont, it’s in the best interest of Windham County, it’s in the best interest of the town of Vernon,” he said. “And we are very hopeful that the PUC will find the (settlement) and the conditions therein to be an acceptable framework for approval of the transaction.”
