Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Federal investigators say a Vermont Yankee staffer deliberately failed to check the functionality of employees' radiation-exposure monitors over the course of eight months in 2016.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials believe the monitors continued to operate properly due to backup software that would have detected any problems with the devices. They say the incident had “minor safety significance.”
But the federal investigation nevertheless spurred a violation notice issued June 26 by the NRC.
“Entergy must provide a written response detailing its corrective actions because the violation was willful and was not identified by the company,” NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.
In the debate over Vermont Yankee's possible sale, attention mostly has focused on proposed buyer NorthStar Group Services. But if the deal goes through, it will fall to a different company - AREVA Nuclear Materials - to perform the expensive, critical work of taking apart the idled plant's reactor...
State officials are expressing serious doubts about the proposed sale of Vermont Yankee, contending that the deal “raises numerous, thus-far-unanalyzed health, safety, and environmental concerns.” Those concerns surfaced in documents filed June 13 by the Vermont Public Service Department and attorney general's office. The state agencies want to intervene...
A contractor has begun the delicate task of moving Vermont Yankee's radioactive spent fuel into more secure, sealed casks. In announcing that the project kicked off June 12, plant owner Entergy called it an “important milestone.” That's in part due to the company's proposed sale of Vermont Yankee, which is contingent on completing the fuel move by the end of 2018. But that doesn't mean the job will be rushed, administrators say. In an interview, Vermont Yankee Government Affairs Manager...
The state Public Service Board's new chairman won't be involved in one of its biggest pending cases - the proposed sale of Vermont Yankee. A memo filed June 14 informed those involved in the sale docket that Anthony Roisman “will not participate in this matter as chairman,” leaving the other two board members to decide the case. The one-paragraph document doesn't give a reason for Roisman's recusal, and he didn't comment further. But Roisman has a long history of anti-nuclear...
A Massachusetts company is boosting cellular service at Vermont's smallest hospital. CoverageCo has installed equipment that allows for cellphone use at the hospital or in the vicinity - an area that has had little to no service until now. There are limitations: For instance, AT&T customers can't access the new system. But a company administrator said the Grace Cottage installation fulfills the Cambridge-based company's mission to reach underserved areas. “In general, on most of the campus, you can't get any...
In response to objections from a Brattleboro anti-nuclear group, Vermont Yankee's current and prospective owners maintain that they've followed the “appropriate process” in seeking state approval for the Vernon plant's sale. And for that reason, attorneys for Entergy and NorthStar Group Services are asking the Vermont Public Service Board to throw out a motion for summary judgment filed last month by New England Coalition. The companies say the coalition's motion is “inconsistent” with state statute and also “would overturn established...
In Windham County, it seems nothing comes easy with Act 46. The latest issue comes in Dover, where officials have discovered that a March vote warning mistakenly included school-closure language that wasn't on other communities' ballots. Dover voters convincingly approved the Act 46 school merger plan three months ago. Now, they'll have to weigh the issue again in a special July 11 election, and officials are hoping the result is the same so as to not disrupt a merger that's...
