By John Stang
Entergy and NorthStar Group Services are delaying providing extra financial information to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the planned sale of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant by just over two weeks.
The NRC has questions about whether Entergy and NorthStar have their finances in order to complete decommissioning of the retired single-reactor nuclear plant, which closed in December 2014. On April 5, the commission asked the companies to provide extra information by last Saturday. However, they need until May 21 to submit that information, Joe Lynch, Entergy’s senior government affairs manager for decommissioning, said by email.
Entergy wants by the end of this year to sell the facility in Vernon to NorthStar for decommissioning, site restoration, and spent fuel management. New York-based NorthStar says it can complete decommissioning as early as 2026 at a cost of about $811 million.
On March 2, Entergy, NorthStar, three Vermont state agencies, and several New England community organizations signed a proposed settlement in which the site’s current and prospective owners offered financial assurances and site-remediation terms intended to resolve regulators’ concerns about the deal. The agreement set aside about $200 million in funding from NorthStar to cover any cost overruns in decommissioning.
In its April 5 request, the NRC said it needs more information to demonstrate NorthStar has both sufficient financing to carry out the cleanup work and the qualifications to conduct the decommissioning.
Among five requests for additional information, the regulator wants to know what impact the terms and conditions of the proposed settlement would have on the financial and technical data already provided by Entergy and NorthStar. The NRC is also looking for the source of funding for a $55 million escrow fund to backstop financing for decommissioning and site restoration.
The Vermont Public Utility Commission today held its first evidentiary hearing on the Vermont Yankee sale in Montpelier. Additional evidentiary hearings are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, beginning at 9:30 a.m. If needed another hearing will be held Wednesday.
In an evidentiary hearing, the commissioners and official intervenors to the VPUC reivew can question witnesses about submitted testimony and other material.
Separately, Entergy on Saturday resumed moving canisters of spent fuel from wet storage to a dry storage pad on the property. Entergy halted transfers March 10 after workers at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in California discovered a loose pin in a fuel storage canister similar to the canisters used at Vermont Yankee.
“Following detailed inspections and engineering analyses by Entergy and Holtec, we have confirmed that the issue discovered at the other nuclear facility has not been found at VY,” Lynch wrote in a May 7 email.
As of Saturday, the 44th cask had been placed on Vermont Yankee’s spent fuel storage pad. Barring additional delays of work interruptions, the transfer is due to wrap up in September.
