Decommission Vermont Yankee
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Decommission Vermont Yankee Says Ripton Candidate for VT Senate
Ripton, Vermont – January 28, 2010 – Vermont State Senate independent candidate Robert Wagner has come out in favour of decommissioning the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Reactor.
“Relicencing a nuclear reactor is not a decision to be made in the margin”, Wagner said, referring to the Legislature’s recent examination of whether the billable cost per kWh would be competitive with other energy sources. “You don’t play with the public’s health and our future, on cost alone. This is a decision to make with the heart.”
Mr. Wagner visited the site of Chornobyl, Ukraine, in 1998, and personally witnessed the ongoing devastation, human suffering and economic cost visited on that country as a result of the accident at that nuclear reactor a decade previous. “Back in the USSR, experts would testify to the safety of operations; the general belief and political mentality was that we are a modern superpower, a major accident could never happen here. Well, it happened, and I may be the only other person in Vermont who has seen it with his own eyes. For that reason I cannot believe the US experts of today that are saying the exact same things.” Governor Douglas has recently requested that the decision on relicencing Vermont Yankee be taken from the Legislature and entrusted to “experts”.
In addition, Wagner challenges the low cost estimates for electricity sourced from Vermont Yankee. “You have to take into account costs that are externalised by Entergy onto the people of Vermont. That includes a rent for the surface water drawn from the Connecticut River for cooling, the cleanup costs for the waste currently stockpiled beside the river, and a risk premium on groundwater contamination.”
As for Entergy’s decommissioning fund of over $400 million, Wagner says that “Vermonters will still be left holding the bag for a shortfall of $200 million”.
“The real challenge before the Legislature is not only the courage to say ‘NO’ to a huge corporation, but to plan for a sustainable and fiscally sound energy future for Vermont”, said Wagner. “A plan requires proactively engaging Hydro Quebec to expand the existing contracts, engaging Vermont businesses in commercial wind and hydro development projects on both a state and a community scale. In my home of Addison County, there are several potential sites for community hydroelectric projects. There has to be a long-term political commitment, partnering with Town Planning boards and local business development, for projects such as these to succeed.”
Robert Wagner is running for the Vermont Senate, representing Addison County, as part of THE THIRTY Independents.
Contact:
Robert Wagner
robert@senatorwagner.com
