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"New Hampshire Rep. Paul Hodes demanded on Wednesday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission "answer for its lack of heightened oversight of the troubled Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant." In a letter submitted to Gregory B. Jaczko, chairman of the NRC, Hodes wrote that the NRC's "lax oversight has allowed Vermont Yankee to continue operating despite a safety record featuring frequent, repeated radioactive leaks." He also demanded that the NRC shut down Yankee until an audit of the plant's safety has been conducted. "Families in the emergency planning zone have lost faith in regulators that time and time again allowed Vermont Yankee inspections to miss radioactive leaks," stated Hodes, in a press release. Less than one month ago, stated Hodes, Yankee underwent security and safety inspections as part of a scheduled reactor shutdown. "

"A statewide energy group is criticizing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for shutting them out of today's talks regarding the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The Vermont Energy Partnership has sent a letter to NRC Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko expressing its disappointment they were denied participation in today's roundtable discussions. VTEP President Brad Ferland said his organization has repeatedly sought an audience with Jaczko during his visit to the Green Mountain State, but has been denied time to speak with NRC staff. Jaczko will meet with groups seeking to close Vermont Yankee once the current license expires in March 2012, disheartening news to business and labor leaders wishing to gauge the chairman with their viewpoints. "

Ten percent of 20 is two. Five percent is one. To make the deal go down at the Public Service Board level 1 percent of the 20 percent uprated Vermont Yankee power (in 2006 it went from a 540 Megawatt ((Mw)) to a 650 Mw. reactor) was sold to a small utility up north in Vermont at below-market rates. As a result of the uprate decision at the PSB, Entergy must pay taxes to Vermont on all power from the uprate sold out of state. Translated, this means that Entergy must pay taxes on 19 of the uprated 20 percent of the power sold. This is money to the state coffers. The PSB makes decisions based primarily on economics. The PSB will decide to continue Yankee past 2012. The PSB will play their quasijudicial role as arbiter and Entergy will sweeten the deal for the supposed ratepayer advocate Department of Public Service (read: governor's right-and team) in a Memorandum of Understanding just before the PSB decision.

This year, the Vermont state Legislature may cast a binding vote on the continued operation of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power station beyond 2012. I live six miles from Yankee. I am deeply concerned that successful evacuation in the event of an accident is impossible. I fear a "Katrina effect" where-low income, disabled and elderly people fare the worst. Vermont Yankee was licensed to operate for 40 years. It has operated the past three years in "uprate mode," generating 120 percent of its original capacity. Yankee has a relatively poor safety record, including the spectacular collapse of a cooling tower just last year.

Senate President Peter Shumlin says he wants lawmakers to consider moving high level radioactive waste from southern Vermont to somewhere else in the state. Governor Jim Douglas says he doesn't see any need to move the waste because state and federal regulators have determined that the current site is a safe location. VPR's Bob Kinzel reports. (Kinzel) Shumlin says it's critical for the Legislature to look at this issue because the owners of Vermont Yankee want to extend its license for another 20 years. Shumlin argues that when Vermont Yankee went on line in 1972, it was assumed that the federal government would build a national waste repository. But the debate over a national site has dragged on for years and the development of a location in Nevada is now the subject of numerous lawsuits.

Vermont's two largest electric utilities are preparing for the possibility of an energy future that does not include Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. Green Mountain Power and Central Vermont Public Service announced Friday that they are soliciting bids for new energy sources in case the Vernon nuclear reactor is not available or if they can't agree on a new contract with the power company. The search for new electricity is part of a package of requests that has started with the utilities looking to broaden the diversity of their energy sources outside of Vermont Yankee and Hydro-Quebec.

Do we so easily forget the nuclear plant disaster at Chernobyl and the Three Mile Island accident, that we are ready to re-license Vermont Yankee in the face of its continuing accidents and problems? Why do we think we're immune from disaster? The only real control we have over Vermont Yankee is shutting it down in 2012. We have no control over where the spent fuel is stored. Do you remember when the mountains of north-central Vermont were considered as a nuclear storage site? We didn't want the stuff in our back yard, so how can we imagine other people - especially poor, rural, indigenous people - want it in theirs?

Workers at Vermont Yankee nuclear plant identified 16 additional cracks in the steam dryer, a key component in the reactor, which has failed at other nuke plants that have undergone power increases. Entergy Nuclear announced Monday the plant had successfully completed a three-week refueling and maintenance shutdown, and Vermont Yankee was back generating electricity. Half of the plant's production is sold to Vermont utilities. Robert Williams, Entergy Nuclear spokesman, said the discovery of the 16 additional cracks brings the total number in the steam dryer to 63 cracks.

Opponents of nuclear power pointed to the turmoil on Wall Street on Monday as proof the state needed more guarantees from Entergy Nuclear that money would be there in the future to dismantle and clean up the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant. More than 250 people turned out Monday night to urge the Vermont Public Service Board to either deny the owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant a 20-year extension on its state per

The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant is suffering from another problem with its cooling towers, with leaks of more than 60 gallons of water a minute attributed to faulty packing in pipe joints, officials said Wednesday. Spokesmen for Vermont Yankee owner Entergy Nuclear and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the leaks were in sections of the Vermont Yankee's east cooling tower not considered key to plant safety.

With the Vermont Legislature set to vote on Vermont Yankee's future next year, groups opposing the nuclear power plant's relicensing are more active than ever. On Monday, the "Solar Rollers" coasted down Route 9 into Bennington after a grueling ride from Brattleboro. Thirty years after their first bike ride to oppose nuclear power, Tom Wilson and David Detmold, both from Massachusetts, are riding through Vermont, along with others, in opposition of nuclear power, and additional years for Vermont's lone plant, which is owned by Entergy. The duo founded the group in 1978 to oppose the construction of a nuclear power plant in Seabrook, Mass.

The highest-level staff official at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, aside from the presidentially appointed commission members themselves, arrived in Vermont Monday to head up a special investigation into why serious problems continually plague Vermont Yankee nuclear plant's cooling towers. William Borchardt, executive director of the NRC, held a meeting with NRC staff in Vermont late Monday afternoon, and will hold a briefing for state officials and representatives of the state's congressional delegation today.

BRATTLEBORO - The recent spate of advertisements promoting the electric power generated at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant as "clean and green" doesn't tell the true story, said two Native Americans whose native lands are severely affected by the nuclear power industry. Lorraine Rekmans, of the Northern Ojibwa people from Elliot Lake, Ontario, and Ian Zabarte, from Mercury, Nev., secretary of state of the Western Shoshone National Council, spoke in Brattleboro Monday night, their last stop in a weeklong visit to Vermont organized by the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance and Citizens Awareness Network.

The letter from Bill Day highlights the misunderstandings around post-Vermont Yankee electricity costs and the matter of France. The price of electricity in Vermont is likely to rise significantly no matter what. The current contract with Vermont Yankee will end in 2012.

U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., said Friday that Vermont consumers shouldn't have to pay for Entergy Nuclear's cooling tower mistakes, and called on the Vermont Public Service Board to review the situation. Last week, Entergy Nuclear was forced to shut down both cooling towers at Vermont Yankee because of a leak in one tower and cracked support beams in the other.

Members of the Atomic Safety Licensing Board peppered expert witnesses from Entergy Nuclear and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tuesday about Vermont Yankee's history of emergency shutdowns and the lack of public oversight in the reactor re-licensing process. Tuesday marked the second day of testimony in the federal hearing on several unanswered issues about the future of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant that were raised by the New England Coalition, with the Vermont Department of Public Service joining the challenge.

The House Natural Resources and Energy Committee approved a bill Friday forcing the owner of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to put more money toward its decommissioning. The 8-2 committee vote Friday came after weeks of testimony about Vermont Yankee's decommissioning fund, which has dropped by nearly $100 million in the last 16 months as the financial markets collapsed. The decommissioning bill - which was opposed this week by Entergy Nuclear Vermont, the state's top two utilities and the Public Service Department - is expected to appear on the House floor for a vote late next week.

After being scolded by the Vermont House's Committee on Administrative Rules for changing the way it measures radiation at the fenceline of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, the Vermont Department of Health announced Thursday it would open the process to public comment. The department has scheduled a public hearing March 9 from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Vernon Elementary School to discuss what it is now calling "proposed amendments." "When you want to amend a rule you have to go through a public notification and hearing process," said Richard Marek, D-Newfane, the chairman of the rules committee. The department's response on Thursday was the one the committee hoped to hear after it reprimanded the department, he said.

Vermont's radiological health chief said Tuesday that recent changes at Vermont Yankee nuclear plant were likely to increase the radiation measured at an elementary school nearby. Nonetheless, said William Irwin of the state Health Department, levels of radiation measured at Vernon Elementary School remain below state safety limits and well below federal limits. Irwin's comments came during a hearing before the legislature's Administrative Rules Committee, which is reviewing changes to the way the state regulates radiation emissions at Vermont Yankee.

By the end of July, Entergy Nuclear hopes to have an answer from New York and Vermont on whether the spin-off of six nuclear reactors into a separate holding company will be allowed to go ahead. "We continue to see value in pursuing a spin-off of Enexus, which will have our non-utility nuclear assets," said J. Wayne Leonard, Entergy's chief executive officer, during an earnings call on May 4. Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, which is owned and operated by Entergy, is one of the six reactors Entergy wants to spin off into a new company called Enexus. Those six reactors are called "merchant plants" or "standalone assets" because they sell power to the open market. Other reactors owned by Entergy Nuclear, and which will remain under its umbrella, produce power with a cost that is regulated by a government entity. Entergy needs a certificate of public good from Vermont's Public Service Board to include Vermont Yankee in the spin-off. But if the board listens to the Department of Public Service, it won't get the certificate.