Vermont Yankee owner: ‘Expect workforce reductions’

Vermont Yankee cooling tower collapse, 2007As reported by Andrew Stein at the Vermont Digger, Entergy Nuclear is forcing its Vermont Yankee workforce of 650 to essentially re-apply for their own jobs, with indications to up to 10% could be let go as a cost-saving measure.

VY was just named by nuclear economist Mark Cooper as one of the dozen atomic reactors in the U.S. most at risk of "early retirement." Earlier this year, the Swiss financial analysis firm UBS even warned that VY's permanent shutdown could yet occur in 2013. On Feb. 8th, Entergy's brand new CEO, Leo Denault, admitted in a Reuters interview that major needed safety repairs were contributing to the company's financial challenges across its fleet of 12 atomic reactors. 

Raymond Shadis, New England Coalition's Technical Advisor, had this comment regarding the news of VY's workforce reduction: "Asking fewer people to do more work will inevitably impact both reliability and safety. Vermont Yankee is already hurting because revenue from electricity sales barely meet O&M. It is clear that Entergy is desperately seeking a way to make its older, smaller nuclear plants pay but devoting fewer resources to inspection and maintenance is exactly what brought down and ultimately closed VY's sister plants -- Connecticut Yankee and Maine Yankee. Workforce reduction, by-the-way, is not something Entergy brought to the attention of the Vermont Public Service Board in recent hearings on a company proposal to extend operation of Vermont Yankee another twenty years. Really the right, graceful thing to do, would be to shutdown now before they break something and ruin both a lot of people's lives and the tri-state area environment."

Update on July 22, 2013 by admin

The Rutland Herald/Barre Montpelier Times Argus, as well as the Associated Press, have reported that Entergy's impending workforce reductions are not confined to Vermont Yankee, but could well take place nationwide, at Entergy's entire dozen-reactor fleet. The Kalamazoo Gazette has reported on expected layoffs at Entergy's problem-plagued Palisades atomic reactor in southwest Michigan.

Palisades & Davis-Besse among most at risk reactors in U.S. for near-term shutdown

Palisades and Davis-Besse are amongst the oldest, most risky, and most likely to permanently shutdown in the near-term of the three dozen atomic reactors located on the U.S. and Canadian shores of the Great Lakes (link to a copy of this map in the text)Michigan Radio has reported on both Entergy's Pailsades (Covert, MI) and FirstEnergy's Davis-Besse (Oak Harbor, OH) being on the short list of most likely near-term reactor shutdowns. Beyond Nuclear works in coalition with grassroots environmental allies, pressuring for the shutdown of both of these problem-plagued Great Lakes reactors, perched on the shores of the drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations. Great Lakes United (GLU) and the International Institute for Concern on Public Health just updated the Great Lakes Region Nuclear Hot Spots map, showing the location for all atomic reactors and other nuclear facilities in the basin. More, including area media coverage on both troubled reactors.

New report documents reactors most at risk of "early retirement"

Mark Cooper, Vermont Law SchoolIn a new report, Renaissance in Reverse: Competition Pushes Aging U.S. Nuclear Reactors to the Brink of Economic Abandonment, Vermont Law School energy economist Mark Cooper (photo, left) of Vermont Law School has identified 11 economic, operational, and safety factors contributing to the likelihood that reactors at 38 nuclear power plants in the U.S. could join Crystal River, FL, Kewaunee, WI, and San Onofre, CA in permanently shutting down sooner rather than later. As listed in a press release, Cooper identifies a dozen reactors most at risk of permanent shutdown in the near-term, including half of Entergy's own fleet of a dirty dozen atomic reactors nationwide. Several of the reactors identified as most at risk of sudden closure are identical or similar in design to Fukushima Daiichi (General Electric Mark I and II boiling water reactors): FitzPatrick, NY; Nine Mile Point Unit 2, NY; Oyster Creek, NJ; Pilgrim, MA; Vermont Yankee, VT. The audio recording of yesterday's press conference, which also featured former NRC Commissioner Peter Bradford, has been posted online.

New World Nuclear Industry Status Report shows industry in decline

The newly published World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2013 (WNISR) provides a reality check of the current situation and trends of an industry in great difficulties. Nuclear power generation experienced a record drop of 7 percent in 2012. The 140-page report provides many different health indicators of the global nuclear industry and, for the first time, an essential status report on the complex situation that arose from the triple meltdowns in Fukushima. Some of the key findings:

• A record decline in world nuclear power generation (–7% in 2012).

• A long term, steady drop of the nuclear share in global electricity production from 17% in 1993 to 10% in 2012.

• Rapid aging: average now 29 years with 190 units 30+ years in operation.

• Poor renewal with 6 units shutdowns vs. 3 startups in 2012 and 2 shutdowns vs. 1 startup in the first half of 2013.

• 800,000 tons of water in precarious storage at Fukushima contain 2.5 times the radioactivity released at Chernobyl. 

• China, Germany, India and Japan, in 2012, generated more power from renewables than from nuclear plants.

Download the full report.

Help hold NRC's feet to the fire -- please attend Palisades Webinar, Tues., July 16, 5:30 PM Eastern

As announced by a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) meeting notice, the agency will hold yet another Webinar about Entergy's problem-plagued Palisades atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shore in Covert, Michigan. This one will focus on the May 5th spill of 82.1 gallons of radioactive water from the leaking Safety Injection Refueling Water Tank (SIRWT) into Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes represent 20% of the surface fresh water on the entire planet, and serve as the drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations.

The Webinar will be held on Tuesday, July 16th (the 68th annual commemoration of the world's first atomic weapon blast, "Trinity," at Alamagordo, NM on July 16, 1945).

To register to attend the Webinar, do so by filling out the required information (your name and email address) by July 15th at the following website: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/431957345

More.