"The Hidden and Not-So-Hidden Costs of Entergy's Vermont Yankee"

Beyond Nuclear staffpersons Paul Gunter and Kevin Kamps have been invited by the grassroots Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance (VYDA) to tour the Green Mountain State from Jan. 26th to Jan. 28th to present testimony at public events and before a joint hearing of the State of Vermont House Natural Resources and Energy and Senate Finance Committees, the key bodies currently reviewing Entergy Nuclear's application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a 20 year license extension at the nearly 40 year old reactor. Paul and Kevin will focus on tritium leaks at Vermont Yankee, age-related degradation of reactor systems, structures and components increasing safety risks, and the security risks of the plant's elevated high-level radioactive waste storage pools as well as outdoor dry casks. They will be joined by Lorraine Rekmans of Serpent River First Nation from Ontario, Canada, an indigenous expert and watchdog on uranium mining and milling's environmental, justice, and health impacts. VYDA has put out a cool poster announcing the speaking tour. Greenpeace USA, which has been campaigning for many months to shut down Vermont Yankee, has informative blogs, fact sheets, and timelines on the issues, including descriptions of their "One World" hot air balloon and "Rolling Sunlight" mobile solar power display. VPIRG (the Vermont Public Interest Research Group) also has extensive information on its website regarding the campaign to shut down Vermont Yankee at the end of its current operating license in 2012. Vermont Citizens Action Network has valuable information on its website, including about Act 160, by which the State of Vermont empowered itself to decide whether or not Vermont Yankee can have a license extension -- the only state in the country to have done so. VT CAN has a comprehensive newsletter laying out its campaign to shut Vermont Yankee by 2012. The Vermont State Legislature is expected to vote by March or April on Vermont Yankee's license extension.