In an unusual state foray into nuclear regulation, the Vermont Senate voted to block operation of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant after 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.
Vermont senators voiced frustration over recent leaks of radioactive tritium at the 38 year old plant as well as the collapse of a cooling tower in 2007 and inaccurate testimony by the plant’s owner, Entergy.
Plant officials had testified under oath to two state panels that there were no buried pipes at Vermont Yankee that could leak tritium, although there were. No tritium has turned up in drinking water, but even plant supporters expressed dismay at the leak and the misstatements.
If the board of directors and management of Entergy were thoroughly infiltrated by antinuclear activists, I do not think they could have done a better job of destroying their own case, said Senator Randolph D. Brock II.
