Nuclear Plant Is Safe And Beneficial to New England

To the editors:



Leah Zamore’s recent op-ed (“Forget Iran; Worry about Vermont,” May 8) regarding the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant was full of misinformation that reflected a profound misunderstanding of nuclear plant operations, security, and emergency planning. Zamore not only cited “The Simpsons” but also the Nagasaki bomb and Chernobyl in her effort to discredit Vermont Yankee.

The fact is that Vermont Yankee has always operated safely; Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspections have rated it at the highest (best) regulatory classification. This is attributable to everyone in the organization having a clear safety focus, making conservative decisions, and doing timely maintenance and upgrades.

The op-ed reflected no understanding of our recent search for two small fuel rod segments in the plant’s spent fuel pool. In 2004, less than two years after Entergy purchased the plant, we identified a record keeping problem—apparently created in 1979—that resulted in a misleading description of the location of a small fuel segment container in the pool. Entergy did the right thing in conducting an extensive investigation, finding the small rod segments (in another container in the pool) and making improvements to inventory procedure to ensure that it does not happen again. Contrary to Zamore’s disparaging view, it was a success for Entergy in identifying and resolving a longstanding problem.

We recently increased the plants total output by 20 percent and are now producing an extra 110 megawatts for the New England electrical grid. Contrary to Zamore’s view, the increase was appropriate and in the best interest of consumers, the community, and the environment. It was not simply a matter of regulators allowing the increase; the truth is that the NRC approval came after 29 months of its technical staff’s review of the condition and performance of the plant and its components, as well as the quality of the maintenance, engineering, and training that supports plant operations.

The approval was unanimously recommended by the independent Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards which was established by Congress decades ago to provide the NRC with an independent view on nuclear safety matters. In addition, the Vermont Public Service Board reviewed the power increase proposal for 13 months and approved the increase as being in the best interest of the state of Vermont.

The plant’s continued safe and reliable operation is sustained by a full-time onsite engineering organization that meticulously tracks the condition and performance of plant systems and components. For the record, Vermont Yankee’s operating license will not expire until March 2012, which will complete its initial license term common to every nuclear plant in the United States.

Zamore’s op-ed chided Entergy for locating its headquarters in conveniently distant Louisiana. Your readers should know that the recently consolidated company has been based in Louisiana for 90 years where it serves 2.6 million retail customers and where it owns and operates five other nuclear plants. It also owns and operates five more nuclear plants in the northeast including Pilgrim Station south of Boston. The northeast headquarters is in White Plains, New York.

Zamore also discounted nuclear energy’s role in decreasing fossil fuel pollution because uranium enrichment involves release of carbon dioxide. Scientific studies of nuclear fuel cycle carbon dioxide emissions show that they are between 0.5 percent and 4 percent of equivalent coal-fired emissions. So the use of nuclear energy to generate electricity clearly helps reduce the overall amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And finally, Zamore’s account of the radiological emissions from nuclear plants during normal operations was misleading. In fact, the normal operation of a coal plant releases more radioactive material than a nuclear plant.



ROBERT WILLIAMS

Brattleboro, Vt.

May 23, 2006



The writer is the spokesman for Entergy Vermont Yankee.