Entergy to Proceed with $92M Vermont Yankee Refueling

Entergy Corp. on Monday said it would move forward with fabrication of fuel and refueling of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant this October—even though the New Orleans–based company will then be embroiled in a federal court trial against the state of Vermont. The state is determined to shut down the nuclear plant as soon as a Legislature-approved permit expires in March 2012.

The company’s decision to continue with what will be the plant’s 29th refueling comes on the heels of failed efforts to get a legal injunction to stop the state from shutting down the plant.

U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha (for the state of Vermont), who presided over that case, ruled that the company had not shown that it would suffer irreparable harm to delay the state’s bid to close the plant. “The Court notes, however, that Entergy has raised serious questions regarding its Atomic Energy Act preemption claim, warranting further briefing and a prompt full-dress trial on the merits,” the judge wrote.

Entergy CEO J. Wayne Leonard said the company’s board of directors had “carefully reviewed the merits of our case and the arguments put forth by all parties” during the recent hearing in District Court when we requested a preliminary injunction against the state of Vermont taking any actions to close Vermont Yankee.

“Our board believes both the merits of the company’s legal position and the record strongly support its decision to continue to trial scheduled to begin on Sep. 12. On that basis, the decision was made to move forward with the refueling as planned,” he said.

Leonard noted that refueling was not a small or inexpensive task. During a typical refueling outage, approximately 120 fuel assemblies, or one-third of the reactor core, are replaced with new fuel assemblies. “Additionally, workers use the outage to perform Nuclear Regulatory Commission-required inspections, testing and other work that cannot be performed while the reactor is operating. All told, approximately 5,000 tasks are typically performed during the approximately 30-day period. An additional workforce of 800 to 1,000 skilled laborers is assembled to perform these tasks,” the company said.

Entergy spokesperson Chanel Lagarde told POWERnews that the approximate cost of the fuel assembly fabrication could be as much as $50 million. The entire cost of the refueling outage—including fuel, labor, maintenance, and other factors—is approximately $92 million.
 
In 1972, Vermont Yankee began to operate after the Vermont Legislature voted to allow a nuclear plant to be built and operate under a 40-year license, until 2012. In 2006, the state’s General Assembly passed a law that outlined the requirements for continued operation of a nuclear power plant in the state. Last year, the state Senate voted 26-4 to block the plant from operating past March 2012, when its state permit expires.

Entergy, which bought the plant from a group of New England utilities in 2002, said the 2006 law violated a key provision of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by Vermont officials and other parties at the time of the plant’s purchase.

The company in April asked the federal court to stop the state from closing the plant next year, after the NRC extended the plant’s operating license by 20 years. Entergy still requires a state permit from Vermont—the only state that requires approval from both houses of Legislature before the state can extend a nuclear operating license.

Sources: POWERnews, Entergy