Entergy and the trustee for the decommissioning trust fund for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station expect to withdraw $5.5 million from the account by mid-April, according to a March 13 notice to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“This letter provides the NRC written notification of The Bank of New York Mellon’s intent, upon receipt of a completed Disbursement Certificate from [Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee], to make a disbursement from the VYNPS nuclear decommissioning trust in an amount not to exceed (without a supplemental 30-day notice to the Director) $5,500,000, for the period of March 2017,” the letter says. “The disbursement request is expected to include, among other things, site-specific decommissioning costs related to licensing/emergency planning contractor costs, insurance and property.”
Absent an objection from the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, the disbursement would occur 30 days after the date of the letter, which was signed by David Ryan, managing director at the Bank of New York Mellon, and John Boyle, director for nuclaer decommissioning at Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee.
Entergy is required each month to provide an estimate to NRC for decommissioning trust fund withdrawals. A company spokesman in September said the withdrawals generally fall between $6 million and $7 million, though the amount fluctuates.
Entergy closed the Vermont Yankee plant in December 2014, and hopes to sell the facility and its assets, including the trust fund that now holds nearly $600 million, to decommissioning specialist NorthStar Group Services. Should the NRC and state Public Service Board approve the sale, NorthStar said it expects to complete decommissioning in the 2030s, which is more than three decades earlier than Entergy’s previous schedule.
In the meantime, use of the trust fund has been a sticky issue in the company’s relationship with the state of Vermont. Entergy has received authorization from the NRC to use funds from the account for spent fuel management operations, which the state contends is outside allowable use for decommissioning expenses. The state in 2015 requested a broad NRC review of the company’s use of the trust fund, and also that year sued the agency for allowing Entergy to spend money on non-decommissioning activities. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission denied the request for the review, and the court in February 2016 ruled that the NRC was the correct venue for first consideration of the state claim.
