Just say no to nuclear power -- from Fukushima to Vermont
August 29, 2013 Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, has published a column in The Guardian analyzing Entergy's surprise announcement that it will close the Vermont Yankee reactor in October 2014, in light of the worsening crisis at Fukushima Daiichi, Japan.
Goodman quotes Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, Inc.:
“It took three years, but it was citizen pressure that got the state Senate to such a position”, nuclear-energy consultant Arnie Gundersen told me of Entergy’s announcement. He has coordinated projects at 70 nuclear plants around the country and now provides independent testimony on nuclear and radiation issues. He explained how the state of Vermont, in the first such action in the country, had banned the plant from operating beyond its original 40-year permit. Entergy was seeking a 20-year extension.
The legislature, in that 26-to-4 vote, said: ‘No, we’re not going to allow you to reapply. It’s over. You know, a deal’s a deal. We had a 40-year deal.’ Well, Entergy went to first the federal court here in Vermont and won, and then went to an appeals court in New York City and won again on the issue, as they framed it, that states have no authority to regulate safety.