[B]RATTLEBORO – Gov. Phil Scott has thrown his support behind the proposed sale of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
A few hours before the Vermont Public Utility Commission held its final public hearing on the sale Thursday night, Scott issued a statement praising a recent memorandum of understanding that involved several state agencies; current plant owner Entergy; prospective owner NorthStar Group Services; and other entities.
Scott’s Department of Public Service took the lead in negotiating that deal, so his support is not a surprise. But he had not commented directly on the sale in the wake of the memorandum and accompanying settlement agreement.
“I commend the parties in the case who worked to find common ground on how to move forward sooner than expected with cleaning up and restoring the (Vermont Yankee) site by 2030, if not earlier,” Scott said.
“With a financial assurance package worth more than $250 million, the MOU reduces project risks and protects against cost overruns while ensuring that NorthStar has sufficient funds to complete the job,” he said.
Entergy, which stopped power production at Vermont Yankee at the end of 2014, wants to sell the Vernon site to New York-based NorthStar, a cleanup and remediation company.
Entergy has been preparing the plant for a period of dormancy, and decommissioning under that scenario could take 60 years. In contrast, NorthStar says it can clean up most of the site — with the exception of a spent fuel storage area — by 2030 and as soon as 2026.
The sale requires approval from both the state Public Utility Commission and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The state’s review process began in December 2016 and has sometimes been contentious. But the settlement deal announced in early March has many – though not all – former critics now endorsing the sale.
Scott praised the additional financial backing for the decommissioning project now being offered by NorthStar and Entergy.
That money “will supplement the nuclear decommissioning trust fund that Vermont ratepayers have paid into over many years,” Scott said. “This means there will be more financial resources to complete the cleanup and decommissioning work than previously expected.”
The governor added that the settlement deal “also ensures the town of Vernon will be included in the process of establishing site restoration standards. This MOU is a win for the people of Vermont, and especially for the citizens of Vernon.”
Scott’s statement was issued several days after he met with representatives from Vernon who support the plant sale, including Selectboard Chairman Josh Unruh.
“We initiated the conversation. We’ve been trying to have a face-to-face with the governor for a few months,” Unruh said. “Obviously, it probably didn’t make sense to do that before the MOU was signed.”
Also on Thursday, the NRC – as had been previously announced – issued another request for additional information as part of its ongoing review of the plant sale.
After reviewing the information submitted by Entergy and NorthStar, commission staff were “unable to find that the funding mechanisms proposed by the applicants are adequate to provide reasonable assurance that sufficient funds will be available for the decommissioning of VY, and for the management of spent fuel and (spent fuel pad) decommissioning at VY,” federal regulators wrote.
The NRC wants additional information “to clarify how NorthStar demonstrates adequate financial assurance to complete licensed activities as provided for in its license-transfer application,” officials wrote. “In addition, NRC staff needs further information to clearly understand the qualifications of NorthStar to hold an NRC license to perform this work.”
An NRC spokesman has said the commission’s review may extend through the end of June.
