VNRC cites groundwater protection laws in opposition to Vermont Yankee license extension

The State of Vermont's top health official has admitted that tritium leaking from the Vermont Yankee atomic reactor is almost certainly flowing into the Connecticut River and points downstream. The Vermont Natural Resources Council, which was instrumental in passing a 2008 Vermont state law that recognizes groundwater as a valuable natural resources owned in common by all Vermonters, is now seeking to apply that law to block the Vermont Yankee atomic reactor's 20 year license extension. Entergy Nuclear, which does not own the aquifer beneath its nuclear power plant, is leaking large amounts of hazardous radioactive tritium into the groundwater, which is very likely flowing into the Connecticut River. The leaks are now feared to be endangering drinking water supplies downstream. The Brattleboro Reformer's editorial "A broken trust" covers these developments. Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen has called for Vermont Yankee to be shut down at least until the origin of its tritium leaks is found and fixed, in order to prevent any more tritium from being released into site groundwater and the Connecticut River. Vermont Public Radio reports that an area the size of a football field in the groundwater under Vermont Yankee could be contaminated with tritium.