State agency lambastes Entergy Corp. in letter
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By SUSAN SMALLHEER Rutland Herald Staff - Published: March 15, 2010
MONTPELIER – The controversy over the buried and underground pipes at the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant will not go away.
In a sharply-worded letter, the Department of Public Service has criticized Entergy Nuclear's failure to fully disclose the status of its underground pipe system, saying that Entergy still hasn't given the state full information about the underground network, and said its response to date was "flawed and indefensible."
Entergy has not been "sufficiently responsive" to the state, according to a letter sent to Entergy by Sarah Hofmann, director of public advocacy for the department, and Jon Cotter, special counsel hired to aid Hofmann on Yankee's relicensing.
"From a practical perspective, petitioners' response is plain insufficient," Hofmann and Cotter wrote, adding that Entergy had "improperly narrowed the reach" of Act 189, the law passed by the Legislature in 2008, calling for an independent audit of key systems at the troubled plant.
Entergy's "narrow interpretation of Act 189 is in direct contravention of one of the most basic principles of statutory construction," the letter stated.
Act 189 used the word 'underground,' but Entergy's "attempt to exclude pipes that are clearly located underground by claiming they are not in direct contact with soil or concrete is simply untenable and the response to date is therefore incomplete."
The letter stopped short of saying that Entergy was acting deliberately to withhold information, but the Hofmann-Cotter letter said Entergy's continued statements were "flawed and indefensible."
Entergy Nuclear spokesman Larry Smith said late last week that Entergy would have a response to the Hofmann-Cotter letter "soon."
In particular, Hofmann and Cotter found testimony from Entergy Nuclear executive Norman Racemacher about underground pipes "extremely difficult to believe."
The issue of buried or underground pipes at Vermont Yankee is two headed: The pipes are the source of the tritium leak at the plant, which appears to be lessening after Entergy employees found two leaks in steam-drain lines associated with the advanced off-gas system. And they are also the focus of a criminal investigation by the Vermont Attorney General's office whether Entergy was truthful about the piping systems, and resulted in the suspension of several top-level Entergy officials at Vermont Yankee.
In 2008, the Legislature passed Act 189, which called for a reliability audit of several key systems at Vermont Yankee, and it specified at least one underground piping system carrying radionuclides. Entergy denied that any such systems existed, telling both state officials and its consultant handling the Act 189 audit.
In addition, last year, Entergy executives told the Public Service Board that there were no underground pipes that carried radionuclides at the plant, a fact that was proven false by the tritium leak, which was disclosed by Entergy on Jan. 7.
That official, Jay Thayer, the operations vice president in Vermont, was placed on administrative leave, as have five other top-ranking Vermont Yankee officials, including John Dreyfuss, the man who was leading Entergy's investigation into the tritium leak. Another five were reprimanded.
While Thayer ended up apologizing and admitted there were misstatements, the company disclosed a list of 42 underground pipes or pipe systems at the reactor.
But the state said that list was incomplete and not acceptable.
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com
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