Nuclear Plant Put to the Test

Following years of questions and debate, the Vermont Senate recently voted to block a license extension for a 38-year-old nuclear power plant in the state, essentially closing it down. Now comes the hard part.

There are 104 operational nuclear power plants in the country, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Vermont Yankee is one of the older ones and a series of problems there caused enough concern about reliability to prompt the vote. Three years ago, a cooling tower at the plant collapsed. Then Entergy, which operates Vermont Yankee, misled government officials about the plant's infrastructure, claiming it didn't have any buried pipes that could leak a radioactive form of hydrogen called tritium.

Turns out that tritium leaks are not unusual in older plants, sometimes causing groundwater to be contaminated with radioactive waste. However, shutting the plant is no easy prospect. Decommissioning it could cost more than $1 billion, not counting work to address any leaks. Yankee Power provides about a third of the electricity in the state, as well as full-time jobs to 650 residents. Residents in Huntington, Vermont, voted Tuesday on Town Meeting Day to suggest that the legislature figure out a way to reuse the plant--just not for nuclear power. But even wind power proposals in the state are meeting some resistance.

As a Vermonter, I've been hearing about problems with the plant for years. You'd think that I'd have a strong opinion about nuclear power as a result, and maybe a "shut it down" banner at the ready. But after all of this, my strongest feelings are actually about transparency, responsibility, reliability, and safety. Every power source has trade-offs. Disclosure shouldn't be one of them.

Photo: The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Credit: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.