The Vermont Public Service Department has scheduled a number of depositions as part of the state’s ongoing review of the sale of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
The sale of the shuttered facility from power company Entergy to NorthStar Group Services for decommissioning requires approval both from the Vermont Public Utility Commission and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The state panel is now conducting an extensive discovery process including submission of documents and pre-filed testimony from representatives from the two companies and topic experts. The upcoming depositions will offer further insight into the earlier testimony, said Stephanie Hoffman, special counsel to the Public Service Department.
The depositions are scheduled for the first weeks of October at the Boston office of the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. Among those scheduled to give depositions are NorthStar CEO Scott State; NorthStar Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Adix; Michael Twomey, vice president for external affairs with Entergy Wholesale Commodities; Robert Spencer, chairman of the town of Vernon Planning and Economic Development Commission; and Todd Smth, president of TSSD Services.
While the state recently extended the schedule for its review of the sale, the current and prospective owners still hope to complete the deal by the end of next year. NorthStar says it can complete decommissioning no later than 2030; that would be decades earlier than Entergy had planned after closing Vermont Yankee in December 2014.
NorthStar would pay a nominal $1,000 for the plant, and would assume control of the decommissioning and site restoration trust funds for Vermont Yankee – which it estimates would hold no less than $538.5 million when the deal closes. The company has projected the cost of decommissioning, site restoration, and management of spent fuel at just over $811 million. The companies expect the remaining funds to come from growth in the trust funds and “DOE recoveries” – settlements in lawsuits filed against the Department of Energy for failing to meet its legal mandate to take control of spent fuel from U.S. nuclear plants and place it in a permanent repository.
