- Sep 26, 2000
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http://www.reformer.com/headlines/ci_7984000
BRATTLEBORO -- If Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is closed in 2012, an Entergy spokesman said, it will be at least a decade after that before the decommissioning fund reaches the level necessary to pay for cleanup of the site.
But if it closes in 2032, the fund will have grown to the point that cleanup could start right away. In fact, there would be so much money left over after cleanup that every household in Vermont would get a refund check.
In 2006, the fund had $416 million in it.
"The cost of a typical Vermont Yankee boiling water reactor decommissioning in 2015, in today's dollars, would be $478 million," said Rob Williams, spokesman for Vermont Yankee, which is owned and operated by Entergy. At an inflation rate of 3 percent a year, that equals $623 million in 2015 dollars, he said.
When Yankee gets cleaned up is dependent on an application submitted to the NRC that would allow Entergy to extend its operating license to 2032. If it receives approval, Entergy will begin decommissioning the site as soon as the plant closes, at which time the fund will have reached $2.2 billion, said Williams. By then, it will cost nearly $1 billion to clean up the site to NRC standards.
The fund grows, at a minimum, 2 percent above inflation, or 5 percent, said Williams.
"At 5 percent, that equals $646 million by 2015," said Williams. "As you can see, $646 million is bigger than $623 million. That's why we're not underfunded."
That number doesn't include the costs to remove spent fuel from the site. Depending on the closure date and when the federal Department of Energy starts its spent fuel removal, the process could add between $30 million and $300 million to the cleanup price tag.
"It's Entergy's obligation to pay for decommissioning and for the long-term stewardship of the spent fuel," said Williams. "Vermont ratepayers and taxpayers are not obligated at all for any unexpected costs of decommissioning."
"The licensee is responsible to come up with additional money," agreed NRC economist Michael Dusaniwskyj, during a teleconference with the media Tuesday afternoon. "No matter what, a licensee is always responsible for the full decommissioning standard despite how much money they do or do not have in the trust fund. How a licensee does that is not the NRC's concern."
If the plant closes in 2012, to let the decommissioning fund catch up to costs, Entergy could place Yankee into what the NRC calls "safestore," a period when the plant is not operating, but is secured to prevent any radiation from spreading into the environment.
"They can leave it in storage for up to 60 years," said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "That would allow them a significant amount of time to build up the funding."
While most single-unit sites have opted for immediate dismantling, he said, it's up to the owner to decide whether safestore or immediate cleanup is best. One factor that might delay cleanup, said Sheehan, is the availability of a location to store the bits and pieces of Yankee after it's taken apart.
A location in Texas which took the parts from both Maine Yankee in Wiscasset and Connecticut Yankee in Haddam Neck will be closed before Yankee shuts down, said Sheehan. If no new location is found upon closure, the waste will have to be stored on site until one is found.
"We are not prepared to accept that," said Stephen Wark, spokesman for Vermont's Department of Public Service. "While the NRC considers (safestore) as an option, for the state it's not a foregone conclusion."
The NRC has a standard that requires the site to be cleaned up to the point someone living there would get no more than 25 millirems of radiation, over background exposure, per year, said Sheehan, but under the NRC requirements, Entergy would not be required to bring the site back to green field status.
Despite the NRC's standards, said Wark, the state has an agreement with Entergy that was finalized when Vermont allowed the company to buy the plant in 2002.
"We remain steadfast in our commitment to have the Yankee site restored to green field status when it's decommissioned," he said.
The decommissioning fund is set up in a trust that is outside of the licensee's control and is not considered an Entergy asset, said Dusaniwskyj. In Vermont Yankee's case, most of the fund is being managed by the Bank of New York Mellon and is invested in government bonds.
All 104 operating reactors in the United States have similar accounts and each account has sufficient funding for decommissioning, said Sheehan. Barring a severe economic downturn, added Dusaniwskyj, there will be enough money in Yankee's fund to pay for decommissioning.
"Everything we are talking about is never guaranteed," said Dusaniwskyj, who called the NRC's funding calculations a "best guess."
Entergy is required to file a statement on Yankee's decommissioning fund every two years, said Sheehan.
That is not reassuring to the Department of Public Service's spokesman.
"We feel the NRC has fallen short in its obligation to serve Vermonters," said Wark.
Evaluating a half-billion-dollar fund every two years is not acceptable, he said.
"To accept two-year measurements does not provide us with the buffer necessary to make corrections if something happens in the market."
While Entergy and NRC projections show the fund growing fast enough to start decommissioning sometime after 2022, "Our projections are showing 2032 as the intersect point," said Wark.
The state is not going to wait for the plant to close to make sure there is enough money in the fund, said Wark.
"The federal cookie cutter approach is disrespectful to Vermonters," he said. "It doesn't take into account the site-specific needs."
The Department of Public Service, the Legislature and the governor's office all plan to review the decommissioning fund in the coming year, he said. The state will also be looking at the assumptions about fund growth and decommissioning costs, he said.
Of concerns to the state is Entergy's request to the NRC to allow it to set up a separate entity -- SpinCo -- to manage its merchant plants, of which Yankee is one, raising fears that if SpinCo files bankruptcy and decommissioning costs exceed the fund balance, ratepayers will end up paying for the cleanup.
But bankruptcy does not relieve Entergy of its fiscal responsibility to ensure there is enough money in the fund, said Dusaniwskyj. If it has to, he said, the NRC will go after the parent company's assets to make sure the decommissioning is paid in full.
The state is also concerned that Entergy has not turned in a decommissioning study for Yankee, which the NRC requires five years prior to license expiration. According to the NRC, Entergy should have turned in its report last year.
"There is enough flexibility in the wording of that (regulation) that plants pursuing license renewal would not be required to do that study," said Yankee's Williams.
But relicensing is not a given, said Wark, and Entergy should be required to turn in its plan right away.
The NRC is evaluating the five-year requirement at this time, said Sheehan.
How screwey is this? The decommissioning fund doesn't have enough money to cover decommisiong at the time the plant was scheduled for decommissioning?
And they rely on the growth of their investments for money to decommission it?
And if there is a an economic downturn it might take way longer to actually have the money to decommission it?
Seems to me like the nuclear power industry is running a scam.
BRATTLEBORO -- If Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is closed in 2012, an Entergy spokesman said, it will be at least a decade after that before the decommissioning fund reaches the level necessary to pay for cleanup of the site.
But if it closes in 2032, the fund will have grown to the point that cleanup could start right away. In fact, there would be so much money left over after cleanup that every household in Vermont would get a refund check.
In 2006, the fund had $416 million in it.
"The cost of a typical Vermont Yankee boiling water reactor decommissioning in 2015, in today's dollars, would be $478 million," said Rob Williams, spokesman for Vermont Yankee, which is owned and operated by Entergy. At an inflation rate of 3 percent a year, that equals $623 million in 2015 dollars, he said.
When Yankee gets cleaned up is dependent on an application submitted to the NRC that would allow Entergy to extend its operating license to 2032. If it receives approval, Entergy will begin decommissioning the site as soon as the plant closes, at which time the fund will have reached $2.2 billion, said Williams. By then, it will cost nearly $1 billion to clean up the site to NRC standards.
The fund grows, at a minimum, 2 percent above inflation, or 5 percent, said Williams.
"At 5 percent, that equals $646 million by 2015," said Williams. "As you can see, $646 million is bigger than $623 million. That's why we're not underfunded."
That number doesn't include the costs to remove spent fuel from the site. Depending on the closure date and when the federal Department of Energy starts its spent fuel removal, the process could add between $30 million and $300 million to the cleanup price tag.
"It's Entergy's obligation to pay for decommissioning and for the long-term stewardship of the spent fuel," said Williams. "Vermont ratepayers and taxpayers are not obligated at all for any unexpected costs of decommissioning."
"The licensee is responsible to come up with additional money," agreed NRC economist Michael Dusaniwskyj, during a teleconference with the media Tuesday afternoon. "No matter what, a licensee is always responsible for the full decommissioning standard despite how much money they do or do not have in the trust fund. How a licensee does that is not the NRC's concern."
If the plant closes in 2012, to let the decommissioning fund catch up to costs, Entergy could place Yankee into what the NRC calls "safestore," a period when the plant is not operating, but is secured to prevent any radiation from spreading into the environment.
"They can leave it in storage for up to 60 years," said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "That would allow them a significant amount of time to build up the funding."
While most single-unit sites have opted for immediate dismantling, he said, it's up to the owner to decide whether safestore or immediate cleanup is best. One factor that might delay cleanup, said Sheehan, is the availability of a location to store the bits and pieces of Yankee after it's taken apart.
A location in Texas which took the parts from both Maine Yankee in Wiscasset and Connecticut Yankee in Haddam Neck will be closed before Yankee shuts down, said Sheehan. If no new location is found upon closure, the waste will have to be stored on site until one is found.
"We are not prepared to accept that," said Stephen Wark, spokesman for Vermont's Department of Public Service. "While the NRC considers (safestore) as an option, for the state it's not a foregone conclusion."
The NRC has a standard that requires the site to be cleaned up to the point someone living there would get no more than 25 millirems of radiation, over background exposure, per year, said Sheehan, but under the NRC requirements, Entergy would not be required to bring the site back to green field status.
Despite the NRC's standards, said Wark, the state has an agreement with Entergy that was finalized when Vermont allowed the company to buy the plant in 2002.
"We remain steadfast in our commitment to have the Yankee site restored to green field status when it's decommissioned," he said.
The decommissioning fund is set up in a trust that is outside of the licensee's control and is not considered an Entergy asset, said Dusaniwskyj. In Vermont Yankee's case, most of the fund is being managed by the Bank of New York Mellon and is invested in government bonds.
All 104 operating reactors in the United States have similar accounts and each account has sufficient funding for decommissioning, said Sheehan. Barring a severe economic downturn, added Dusaniwskyj, there will be enough money in Yankee's fund to pay for decommissioning.
"Everything we are talking about is never guaranteed," said Dusaniwskyj, who called the NRC's funding calculations a "best guess."
Entergy is required to file a statement on Yankee's decommissioning fund every two years, said Sheehan.
That is not reassuring to the Department of Public Service's spokesman.
"We feel the NRC has fallen short in its obligation to serve Vermonters," said Wark.
Evaluating a half-billion-dollar fund every two years is not acceptable, he said.
"To accept two-year measurements does not provide us with the buffer necessary to make corrections if something happens in the market."
While Entergy and NRC projections show the fund growing fast enough to start decommissioning sometime after 2022, "Our projections are showing 2032 as the intersect point," said Wark.
The state is not going to wait for the plant to close to make sure there is enough money in the fund, said Wark.
"The federal cookie cutter approach is disrespectful to Vermonters," he said. "It doesn't take into account the site-specific needs."
The Department of Public Service, the Legislature and the governor's office all plan to review the decommissioning fund in the coming year, he said. The state will also be looking at the assumptions about fund growth and decommissioning costs, he said.
Of concerns to the state is Entergy's request to the NRC to allow it to set up a separate entity -- SpinCo -- to manage its merchant plants, of which Yankee is one, raising fears that if SpinCo files bankruptcy and decommissioning costs exceed the fund balance, ratepayers will end up paying for the cleanup.
But bankruptcy does not relieve Entergy of its fiscal responsibility to ensure there is enough money in the fund, said Dusaniwskyj. If it has to, he said, the NRC will go after the parent company's assets to make sure the decommissioning is paid in full.
The state is also concerned that Entergy has not turned in a decommissioning study for Yankee, which the NRC requires five years prior to license expiration. According to the NRC, Entergy should have turned in its report last year.
"There is enough flexibility in the wording of that (regulation) that plants pursuing license renewal would not be required to do that study," said Yankee's Williams.
But relicensing is not a given, said Wark, and Entergy should be required to turn in its plan right away.
The NRC is evaluating the five-year requirement at this time, said Sheehan.
How screwey is this? The decommissioning fund doesn't have enough money to cover decommisiong at the time the plant was scheduled for decommissioning?
And they rely on the growth of their investments for money to decommission it?
And if there is a an economic downturn it might take way longer to actually have the money to decommission it?
Seems to me like the nuclear power industry is running a scam.
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