Vermont Attorney General Thomas J. Donovan Jr. on Tuesday vowed to protect state taxpayers by intervening in the Vermont Public Service Board’s review of Entergy’s pending sale of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant to decommissioning specialist NorthStar Group Services.
“At first glance, it looks like a good deal if it will get the site cleaned up faster,” Donovan said in a statement Tuesday announcing the intervention filing with the PSB. “But we need to really kick the tires and make sure the new company is going to be able to clean up the site. My Office is going to look at this deal closely, with an eye toward ensuring that the site is fully cleaned up, and without any costs falling on the Vermont taxpayer.”
Vermont Yankee closed in 2014. Entergy agreed in November to the sale, saying NorthStar’s ownership will expedite decommissioning of the plant by decades. The transaction requires approval from the PSB and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The state board plans to conduct public proceedings on the matter through October.
March 1 was the deadline for parties to file motions to intervene. Several other groups intervened, including the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution and the Windham Regional Commission, the local county’s governing board. Entergy and NorthStar have also both filed to intervene in the case.
Intervention is allowed when a party is able to show substantial interest in the outcome of the PSB proceeding. When weighing intervention, the board considers whether the applicant’s interests are being protected by the parties in the case or whether there are alternatives to the proposal. In this case, Donovan will look to protect Vermont taxpayers’ interests.
The PSB has scheduled public meetings on the sale for March 13 and Sept. 5. The board meets in the Susan M. Hudson Hearing Room on the third floor of the People’s United Bank Building, 112 State Street in Montpelier.
Donovan also noted his office’s lawsuit over Entergy’s use of the plant’s $600 million decommissioning trust fund. The attorney general in August 2015 sued the NRC for allowing Entergy to use $225 million from the decommissioning trust fund for managing spent nuclear fuel, which the state contended violates federal law. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in February 2016 dismissed the lawsuit, saying the state must first appeal the decision with the NRC itself. If the NRC upholds the decision, the state is free to refile the lawsuit.
Decommissioning at Vermont Yankee, which owner Entergy closed in 2014 for financial reasons, is expected to be completed under NorthStar in the 2030s. The deal represents a new approach for decommissioning nuclear power plants, where the facility owner relinquished all control of the facility to a private company, including ownership of the plant’s decommissioning trust fund.
At Vermont Yankee, NorthStar would assume ownership of the decommissioning trust fund. Entergy’s original decommissioning schedule filed with the NRC had decontamination and dismantlement starting in 2068. NorthStar expects to begin the work much sooner, potentially finishing the job in the 2030s.
Capitalizing on this growing market for decommissioning, NorthStar has since formed a joint venture, Accelerated Decommissioning Partners (ADP), with the U.S. branch of French multinational nuclear company AREVA. Entergy is now discussing similar arrangements with the group for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts, which is scheduled to close in 2019, and the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan, scheduled for shutdown in 2018.
