Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
12/12/2014
Entergy plans to establish a $145 million credit line for the initial phase of spent fuel management at the Vermont Yankee Power Station as the reactor prepares to enter decommissioning, Entergy spokesman Marty Cohn confirmed this week. The plan would avoid taking money from the decommissioning trust fund to pay for spent fuel management so as to allow it to mature more rapidly, guaranteeing a faster decommissioning, Cohn said. “What we have come up with is a plan to fund the spent fuel management in a way that we believe will speed up the process of decommissioning, and that is the commitment we have made to the state of Vermont,” Cohn said. “By taking out this $145 million credit line, that allows us to buy some of the physical things we need like dry casks and things like that.”
The thinking behind the strategy, Cohn said, revolved around the ability of the utility to collect damages from the Department of Energy due to DOE’s legal obligations under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to begin removing spent fuel by 1998. By spending the money quickly upfront, Entergy can sue DOE more quickly and receive reimbursement faster than if it had to wait for access to its trust fund, which is pending an NRC exemption approval. “The way the process works is that you get to sue the Department of Energy after you have expended the funds,” Cohn said. “If this plan is acceptable to the NRC, we would take out this credit line, use it, and when we got reimbursed by DOE, we would repay our credit line.” Cohn also indicated that the utility believes it can recuperate the interest accumulated by the $145 million credit line.
Move a Major Victory for Vermont
For the state of Vermont, this strategy represents a major victory for the timeliness of the decommissioning. Vermont Public Service Commissioner Chris Recchia has argued for most of the year against the use of trust fund money for spent fuel management mainly due to the effect it would have on the overall trust fund’s ability to accrue the necessary money. Vermont has long opposed the Vermont Yankee station, and during negotiations with Entergy, the state received assurances from the utility that decommissioning would take place as soon as the fund had enough money. Recchia said this week that the state is pleased with Entergy’s strategy, but concerns still exist. “We are still concerned about future withdrawals for spent fuel management, but we are pretty pleased that they went that path and avoided a big fight over the initial funding of the spent fuel issue,” Recchia told RW Monitor this week.
Entergy’s financial plan for spent fuel still calls for access to the decommissioning trust fund to pay for long-term stewardship cost associated with maintaining dry cask storage. The utility has filed an exemption request with the NRC that is pending, but the NRC has already granted similar request by Kewaunee Power Station and San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, so approval is expected to be granted.
Economic Factors Lead to Shutdown
Entergy announced last year that it would be entering premature shutdown of the Vermont Yankee station at the end of 2014, despite receiving a 20 year license extension from the NRC. The company cited economic factors as the basis for the shutdown, although Entergy and Vermont have been engaged in a contentious court battle over its licensing. Vermont and Entergy came to an agreement at the end of last year that stipulated the utility will place the plant in SAFESTOR only until its decommissioning fund collects enough money to cover the costs of decommissioning, estimated at $1.24 Billion. Previously, Entergy had said it would use the full 60 years granted under NRC regulations of SAFESTOR, but in this agreement, the decommissioning of the plant will occur much sooner than 60 years.
