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January is not the ideal time to embark on a 12-day, 126-mile march through Vermont. That's not stopping local residents, as well as people from New Hampshire and Vermont, from planning a trek from Brattleboro, Vt., to the Statehouse in Montpelier during one of coldest, darkest months of the year. Although it likely will prove to be a "hardship," said Carl Doerner, of Conway, marchers want to make a statement about their opposition to the relicensing of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon. "We feel we need to cast as much influence on the (Vermont) Legislature, which is going to vote soon on the question of relicensing Vermont Yankee," Doerner said.

January is not the ideal time to embark on a 12-day, 126-mile march through Vermont. That's not stopping local residents, as well as people from New Hampshire and Vermont, from planning a trek from Brattleboro, Vt., to the Statehouse in Montpelier during one of coldest, darkest months of the year. Although it likely will prove to be a "hardship," said Carl Doerner, of Conway, marchers want to make a statement about their opposition to the relicensing of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon. "We feel we need to cast as much influence on the (Vermont) Legislature, which is going to vote soon on the question of relicensing Vermont Yankee," Doerner said.

"While Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., agree with much of what President Barack Obama spoke about during his State of the Union address last month, what they absolutely don't support is his proposal for loan guarantees for the nuclear power industry. The Obama Administration wants to boost loan guarantees to the nuclear industry from $18.5 to $54 billion. All three Congressmen believe the guarantees would unnecessarily risk tax power dollars on an energy source that can't stand on its own. "In my view, this is an absurd proposal," said Sanders. Support in Congress for the "nuclear renaissance," in which the industry proposes to build 100 new nuclear power plants, could place at risk up to $1 trillion in taxpayer money, he said. Both the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability Office have stated that the risk of default on taxpayer-supported loan guarantees is more than 50 percent. "

Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials in King of Prussia, Pa., have selected Heather Jones as the new resident inspector at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt. She joins NRC Acting Senior Resident Inspector Dave Spindler at the plant, which is operated by Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Jones joined the agency's Region I office in 2005 after earning a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Arizona and a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. She is a graduate of the NRC's Nuclear Safety Professional Development Program, a two-year training program that provides specialized training in nuclear safety and a broad perspective of NRC regulatory activities. Jones also completed a rigorous NRC inspector qualification program. Most recently, she was assigned as a reactor inspector in the Region I Division of Reactor Safety, performing engineering inspections.

Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., said Wednesday federal regulators just don't understand Vermonters' concerns about the safety of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in light of the continued problems with the reactor's cooling towers. "They can sit around and say it's not safety related," he said of the cooling towers, which are not considered part of the nuclear side of the plant, and thus not safety related. Sanders pointed to the dramatic photos of the August 2007 partial collapse of the west cooling tower, and the July 2008 photo - which Sanders obtained and released - which also showed a gushing leak.

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.

Jody Williams, 58, a native of Brattleboro and a graduate of the University of Vermont, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. In 2006, with five other peace-prize laureates, she co-founded the Nobel Women's Initiative, in support of women's organizations worldwide working for peace, justice and equality. She divides her time between homes in Fredericksburg, Va. and Westminster West, Vt. Williams was in Burlington last Thursday -- the anniversary of the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima -- to speak at a Nuclear Disarmament Day rally sponsored by area peace groups. She sat down with the Free Press before her speech to discuss her views on nuclear energy. Her discourse was sprinkled with obscenities. "You can edit my lovely language," she said at one point. "When I get worked up, I swear a lot." Advertisement Tim Johnson: What are your thoughts on nuclear energy as a power source?

We live in the shadow of Vermont Yankee (VY). We live with alarm radios in our homes, provided for us free by VY, to alert us if there is an accident at the outdated plant located only a few miles from our homes. We store our potassium iodide pills supplied by the VT Department of Health where we can easily find them. We dutifully review the emergency evacuation route that we must travel in case of a nuclear accident, knowing that VY has acknowledged that it is ineffective. Daily we feel unsafe in the homes and community that we love and have worked hard to live in. Imagine reading these headlines in your newspaper about a nearby nuclear plant: "Nuclear Plant Tower Collapses" and " Plant at 60% reduced Power Due to Radioactive Water Leaks." Imagine reading these headlines knowing there is no insurance that will cover you or your home from the risks of an accident or sabotage or dangerous levels of radioactive waste. Remember that this plant would not be licensed by today's standards and is currently running at 20% over its original design capacity. Please imagine yourself in our place, and remember you too are not that far away and would be affected if there was a major disaster. Please ask your legislator to reject the relicensing of this aged nuclear reactor.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a supplemental safety evaluation report for the license renewal application of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station near Brattleboro, Vt. The NRC staff developed and published a safety evaluation report (SER) in May 2008. One of the staff's proposed license conditions in that SER required Entergy to perform fatigue analyses on certain components no later than two years prior to entering the period of extended operation.

FACTORY workers near Chester have received a boost after securing a £1.2 million contract. VT Nuclear Services has announced it will build a supply of nuclear waste drums at its DEVA plant. The manufacturing facility, in Chester Gates Business Park, Dunkirk, will make the drums for safe long term storage of nuclear waste for the Dounrea ADVERTISEMENT y Cementation Facility in Caithness, Scotland. A VT Nuclear Services spokesman says the contract secures the 60 staff positions at the plant on a short-term basis as the company seeks more work during "these austere times".

A storm of public opinion against extending the operating license of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt., near Brattleboro, is gathering, intensified by new revelations last week of poor maintenance practices on the part of the plant's owner. On Tuesday, March 3, town meeting warrants all around Vermont carried articles on whether the plant's operating license should be extended from 2012 to 2032. Though they were nonbinding, the Brattleboro Reformer described the articles in more than 40 communities as "the closest thing to a statewide referendum we will see" on the relicensing issue.

"As President Obama advocates expansion of America's nuclear power industry, pushing for billions of dollars in federal incentives and announcing plans to build the first nuclear plant in decades, a long-running facility in Vermont is leaking a cancer causing carcinogen. The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is leaking possibly dangerous levels of tritium, a radioactive byproduct of the nuclear process. Thus far, tritium has only be found on the plant grounds, which are nestled amidst farms in rural Vernon, Vermont. Around the clock efforts are underway to find and stop the leak. The timing is bad for the plant's owner, Entergy corporation, which is seeking to renew the facility's operating license, set to expire in 2012. The facility, which began operating in 1972, is just one of dozens across the country that have seen similar leaks in recent years. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees inspection and licensing of nuclear facilities, says roughly 30 of the nation's 104 reactor units have experienced tritium leaks."

"In an unusual state foray into nuclear regulation, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 Wednesday to block operation of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant after 2012, citing radioactive leaks, misstatements in testimony by plant officials and other problems. The Vermont Senate has voted to block a license extension for the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon, Vt. Nuclear opponents celebrated a State Senate vote Wednesday that could help close the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in 2012. Unless the chamber reverses itself, it will be the first time in more than 20 years that the public or its representatives has decided to close a reactor. The vote came just more than a week after President Obama declared a new era of rebirth for the nation's nuclear industry, announcing federal loan guarantees of $8.3 billion to assure the construction of a twin-reactor plant near Augusta, Ga."

"Vermont Yankee officials were put on the defensive again Wednesday, saying no one meant to mislead lawmakers about underground piping at the plant last year but "should have been more thorough" in answering a legislative panel's questions. The reactor on the Connecticut River in Vermont's southeast corner has been in the spotlight as Entergy Nuclear tries to win legislative approval for a 20-year extension on a license set to expire in 2012. Vermont is the only state that gives its Legislature a say on the license; other states leave it up to state utility regulators and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "

"Revelations about underground pipes carrying radioactive fluids at Vermont Yankee raise serious concerns about how much stock Vermonters can place in Entergy's repeated reassurances about the safety of the plant or anything else. The sequence of events is especially bad for plant owner Entergy, which is trying to convince state lawmakers and regulators that allowing the plant to operate beyond 2012 is in Vermont's best interest. Entergy revealed last week that underground pipes could be the source of elevated levels of radioactive tritium detected in a groundwater monitoring well. Yankee officials said the tritium level detected posed no health threat, but they would continue to monitor the leak to see if it was spreading."

"Officials at Vermont's only nuclear power plant say a design flaw that kept engineers from inspecting underground pipes helped cause a leak of radioactive water into the ground. In a report released Tuesday, Entergy Vermont Yankee says a pipe tunnel was blocked with construction material left over from the plant's construction in 1972 and prevented water contaminated with tritium (TRIHT'-ee-um) from passing through the drain line and into a tank. A separate pipe installed in 1978 created a pathway that allowed the contaminated water to reach the soil on the plant's grounds."

"The nation's top nuclear industry regulator has gotten an earful from residents concerned that the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is seeking to extend its operating permit. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko (YAZ-coh) held a 90-minute round-table discussion with residents Wednesday in Brattleboro. Several gave reasons they believe the plant should be closed. Representatives of some organizations criticized the commission at the meeting for not cracking down on the plant after radioactive tritium was found earlier this year to have leaked into soil around the plant. Opponents also are concerned about safety at the plant during the next 20 months, when its license is scheduled to expire. Vermont Yankee wants permission to continue operating."

"A panel appointed by Vermont lawmakers to examine the reliability of Vermont Yankee said Tuesday that a change in corporate culture is needed if the 38-year-old nuclear power plant is to operate past its scheduled 2012 closing. In a revised version of its March 2009 report, the Vermont Yankee Public Oversight Panel took up two issues stemming from developments since then - a leak of radioactive tritium that contaminated soil and groundwater around the Vernon power plant and owner Entergy Corp.'s acknowledgment that its representatives misled Vermont lawmakers and regulators by saying the plant had no underground piping capable of carrying radionuclides."

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.

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.

The owner of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant says it will have to wait almost 60 years before it has enough money to decommission the plant. Faced with that lengthy timeline, lawmakers are likely to try again to force Yankee to set aside funds for decommissioning. VPR's John Dillon reports: (Dillon) As the stock market has plummeted in recent months, so has the value of the Vermont Yankee decommissioning fund. It's worth around $397 million these days. But the expected cost of decommissioning is around $875 million.