Ann Darling is a member of the Citizens Awareness Network, which works to end the use of nuclear power and replace it with sustainable, reliable, and affordable energy generation. She lived near VY and paid into its decommissioning fund for 35 years, and she had been participating in NDCAP meetings since they started.
EASTHAMPTON, MASS.-I could have written anytime in the past 10 years. Why now and not then?
I suppose I was hoping I wouldn’t need to make my opinions so public, because they are quite critical. I certainly expressed my thoughts to the people who could have done something about it. But right now, at the site of the former Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, something is happening that leaves me no choice but to express my thoughts to a wider audience.
First, a little background. The Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor stopped operating at the end of 2014, and it is now almost completely decommissioned.
The most significant remnants are 60 concrete-and-steel casks of extremely radioactive waste, along with electric transmission and railroad infrastructure that can be used for other purposes.
The site’s owner is NorthStar, a decommissioning company, and it has leased the site to a Texas-based energy development company, PowerTransitions, which apparently is considering options, including a small modular (nuclear) reactor, battery storage, and/or a data center.
Vermont Yankee has an associated Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP). Its job is to advise the governor and the legislature on decommissioning, and to serve as a “conduit for public information and education” and to encourage “open communication and community involvement in matters related to the decommissioning process.”
In my opinion, the panel, chartered by the Legislature, has failed at fulfilling this latter part of its charter.
The NDCAP holds meetings (fewer and fewer over the years), but does no outreach to attract people to attend them.
I’ve raised this issue repeatedly and gotten nods of agreement to my suggestions — and absolutely no action.
Even though the NDCAP has funding, the panel does not use it to educate the public or reach out to the media. As a result, the panel regularly hears from a handful of anti-nukers like me, but its members do not hear a peep out of the many people whose lives are impacted by how the site is cleaned up and used.
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Here’s why I’m writing now: There are supposed to be a mere three meetings a year of the NDCAP. It has met only once. No meetings are scheduled.
The May meeting was postponed, ostensibly because the NDCAP wanted a report on the chemical contamination at the site from the state’s contractor. We know that PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, “forever chemicals”) are present. We don’t know exactly where and how much.
And then there’s the whole piece about leasing the Vernon site, which has chemical and radiological contamination, along with the casks of radioactive waste, to an out-of-state power development company.
Although we have asked about the details of the lease, the ownership of the waste, and how plans are being made and with whom, we have received no answer.
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This is all happening in a broader context. The governor is promoting legislation that would define nuclear power as “clean” energy so that it can count toward meeting the state’s climate goals.
Nuclear power emits ionizing radiation and makes people sick. Its entire fuel chain, from mining to waste management, is a net carbon emitter. It is not clean.
The governor is also attempting to repeal the statutory requirement that the Legislature must vote on whether nuclear power could be used again in Vermont.
If the governor, the Department of Public Service, and NDCAP are interested in transparency and building trust with the public, they’ve got me fooled. To me, this looks like they’re hiding something.
Is it a really bad report about the PFAs, and NorthStar balking at the cost? Is it an attempt to hide plans for a new nuclear reactor and/or data center in Vernon until it’s too late for the public to stop it?
What is going on, really?
We all deserve an answer.
We deserved it a long time ago.
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