Entergy, NRC set to discuss fund shortage
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By SUSAN SMALLHEER STAFF WRITER - Published: June 23, 2009
BRATTLEBORO – Entergy Nuclear officials will be meeting in the next week with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to discuss the federal agency's decision to put the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant on a watch list because of insufficient money in its decommissioning savings account.
The NRC announced last week that Vermont Yankee was one of 26 nuclear reactors, including several owned by Entergy Nuclear, that would need to take action to shore up its decommissioning fund. The recent economic downturn had taken about $80 million of value out of the fund, which at one time topped $440 million. The fund has since recovered more than half of its loss, but it is still far short of the $900 million to $1 billion estimated to dismantle the plant and clean up the radioactivity at the Vernon site.
Exactly how much the NRC would like Entergy to contribute to the decommissioning fund to bring it up to snuff remained a secret, however, as the NRC said it was waiting to hear from Entergy about its plans for the fund before releasing a number, according to Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman.
The two sides will meet in about a week to discuss the situation, and Entergy has about three weeks to file its new plan.
Entergy, along with every owner of a nuclear reactor, has to file regular reports with the NRC about the status of its decommissioning trust fund. Plants that are close to shutting down or having their license expire have to file annually; Entergy Nuclear filed its annual report in March on Vermont Yankee.
Vermont Yankee's sister plant, the Pilgrim nuclear reactor in Plymouth, Mass., which is also owned by Entergy and is also seeking license renewal, was not put on the "insufficient funds" list, and neither the NRC, Entergy nor the state Department of Public Service had an explanation for that apparent inconsistency.
"The NRC is requesting 'funding assurance' that the decommissioning trust fund will be sufficient to ensure that the plant will be decommissioned safely. We will be meeting with the NRC to address the specifics of their request," said Robert Williams, spokesman for Vermont Yankee.
"Funding the plant decommissioning is an obligation we accepted when we purchased the plant in 2002. There will be no ratepayer obligation for funding decommissioning," he added in an e-mail.
Williams said if the plant's license was extended 20 years, "there will be an extended investment horizon to assure sufficient decommissioning funding."
"The department does agree with the NRC that Entergy needs to review the adequacy of the fund," said Stephen Wark, a spokesman for the Department of Public Service.
Wark said that while the fund is built on the expectation of slow growth over a long period of time, he said the state believes that is not enough.
"We believe that we cannot rely completely on market performance for decommissioning," said Wark.
While long-term mothballing, called SAFSTOR, has been approved for Vermont Yankee by the Vermont Public Service Board, the state says the long delay before decommissioning is unacceptable.
"It potentially delays the decommissioning process for too long," he said.
The state wants Entergy Nuclear to make steady contributions into the decommissioning fund as a condition of state approval for its 20-year license extension.
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com
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