As Vermont moves to green power, VY won’t be missed
Originally published in The Commons issue #202 (Wednesday, May 8, 2013).
RE: “If Vermont Yankee closes, Windham County will get poorer” [Letters, May 1]:
Entergy and first Vermont Yankee had a legal agreement with the state to operate the atomic reactor only until March 21, 2012.
I do know Entergy has hired a number of PR firms to spin how fantastically needed VY is to the Vermont economy. It is not. Studies done by the Department of Public Service show that as we transition to renewable, sustainable, environmentally friendly sources of power generation, available jobs exceed the few high-skilled jobs at the atomic reactor using outdated technology in Vernon.
It is not news to anyone that Entergy management has done a poor job at this formerly locally owned and run reactor. Not one of the workers has told me that the reactor is a better place to work under Entergy management.
I and others appreciate the professional job the local workers have done preventing catastrophe here at the Vernon reactor. I wonder: Do the local workers believe that Entergy has their best interests in mind, or the bottom line for the shareholders? Just wondering.
Sure, the issue is how long will the company put up with a cash-loser of a reactor in a hostile environment. My opinion is that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) should not be proud of having awarded VY its extended license to operate within a week of Fukushima, which continues to pour radiation into the Pacific Ocean.
The reason the recent NRC meeting was so poorly attended [“Protestors disrupt annual NRC hearing,” News, May 1] is that the commission of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not listen to the staff (who recommended filtered hardened vents of primary containment post-Fukushima).
If the commission doesn’t listen to its own employees, why should the local stakeholders bother speaking to these same impotent staffers?
Gary Sachs, Brattleboro
commonsnews.org