Entergy to Close Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant

[Stuart G]

Source: Google Finance, Wall Street Journal

By Ryan Tracy, Saabira Chaudhuri,

Entergy Corp. said Tuesday it will close its Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant late next year, the latest U.S. plant to close amid difficult economic times for the nuclear power industry.

Entergy said “a number of financial factors” were behind what Chief Executive Leo Denault called “an agonizing decision and an extremely tough call.”

The company said those factors included low natural-gas prices, the high costs of running a nuclear station with a single power-generating reactor, and “flaws” in the design of the region’s electricity marketplace that “do not provide adequate compensation to merchant nuclear plants for the fuel diversity benefits they provide.”


Read more: http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-310012/

[bananas]

1. Whoa - great news - I thought they'd fight to the bitter end.

Glad they came to their senses.

[Agschmid]

2. Sad for the job loss to the local economy...

but it is a great move. Hopefully the workers can be retrained in green tech jobs and work in that field, also I am sure there will be work to decommission the plant.

[TRoN33]

5. Actually no...

Brattleboro are going to get one of largest solar energy production line in near future and create 300 new jobs in that town. It will be huge improvement to that small and beautiful town.

[Agschmid]

7. So that is basically what I said.

No?

[Supersedeas]

22. you couldn't have been more clear

[Agschmid]

23. Thanks.

Sometimes I worry my messages are muddled.

[wtmusic]

11. If only Vermont's air conditioners ran on wild enthusiasm like yours

we'd be in good shape.

What tiny contribution will this piece of shit solar plant, in nothern latitudes, make to the area's grid? Do you have any idea, or are you just caught up in the excitement?

[RoccoR5955]

18. They will run fine.

There's plenty of sun in the summer months. Actually, there's more sun in the northern latitudes during the summertime, so the further north they put a solar plant, the better for the air conditioners!

[wtmusic]

26. Really. Do you have any idea how much the Brattleboro solar installation will generate?

1 megawatt, or 1/1700 of the energy generated by Vermont Yankee day and night.

You really have no idea what you're talking about.

[RoccoR5955]

34. Think so?

What about future installations on houses that will add to the grid? Perhaps they don't need all that energy that is produced at Vermont Yankee, and just add it to the grid. If this is the case, YOUR point is quite moot, because there is potential solar energy all over the country.

[wtmusic]

40. "And if we add in squirrel cages, rubber bands, and the Earth's magnetic field...

the potential is unlimited!"

The closing of Vermont Yankee is a consequence of having a public which is undereducated in basic physical principles. I suggest you put the brochure from the solar installer down and pick up a book on utility electricity generation.

[RoccoR5955]

46. As a physicist by trade.

I have to sorely disagree with you.
Perhaps you are one of the folks who are being paid to troll here.
I understand electric generation, and using uranium to generate power is as one of my colleagues once said, "like cutting butter with a chain saw." It can be done, but it IS quite hazardous.
I don't think that you are willing to understand that by a lot of micro-generation of power, we can alleviate this "problem" in short order. I was working a couple of months ago with a friend, setting up a micro hydro plant, that requires very little running water. If it works, there can be literally millions of folks generating their power for free.
Well, I guess that you don't like free, because nobody makes a profit on free, but there ARE things in life that are more important than money.

Oh, and I wrote a paper on tidal power generation back in 1974. I was in my junior year in college, and it got an A. I was told to propose it to the NYC council, but they rejected it. However, in 2002, I think, they must have dusted it off, because they attempted to install tidal power in the East River, but the design was not mine, and it failed. They were using blades that were too large. But that's a discussion for another day. Just so that you should know, I could probably write one of those books on electricity generation.

[wtmusic]

50. For a physicist you certainly have an aversion for numbers.

I don't care how sore your disagreement is, if you can't back it up wih numbers it's worthless.

How many gallons / minute does you micro-hydro require? What's the output in watts? You could probably write a book, could you?

Fine smart guy, give us some engineering instead of bullshit posturing.

[Old and In the Way]

27. we won't need nuclear power plnts to power a few 100k homes?

Why does VT need nuclear energy?

[wtmusic]

29. We certainly don't need the carbon fossil fuels create to power a few 100k homes

but that's what we will get.

The Lowell Mountain Ridge turbines are tearing the hell out of pristine Vermont forest, and generating about 40MW of energy - or 1/40th of the energy VY generates day and night.

Solar in VT is a joke.

Because VY energy went onto the New England Grid, VY not only generated power but income for the state. Now Vermont money will be going to Canada for Canadian gas - thanks to a sweetheart deal between Pete Shumlin and Green Mountain Energy.

[Old and In the Way]

30. 1/40 6h the 4nergy requirements...

Sounds like an energy opportunity to put people to work.

Denctralized, labor 9ntensive labor energy opportunity, baby!!!!!!

[wtmusic]

31. No, the requirements stay the same

but the ability to meet those requirements gets reduced by a factor of 40.

People have to work 40 times as hard, pay 40 times as much. Ripoff opportunity, baby!!!!!!!

[Old and In the Way]

32. what's the cost of a centralized nuclear accident?

Versus, say, a local blackout in Greenville? You, know, a non-nuclear event?


Have no idea where Greenboro might be from Vermont Yankee. I'm from Maine
- I get no benefits , but I more 6han share the risks.

[wtmusic]

33. A third of your electricity is nuclear

if you're on the New England grid. You get a lot of benefits from nuclear, including electricity at 4-5 cents/kwh versus four times that for wind or solar.

Since no one has ever been killed by a nuclear power accident in the U.S. I'll leave it the cost of this mythical accident up to your imagination.

Are you expecting a tsunami/earthquake in Vermont soon?

[RoccoR5955]

47. I like the way you said, "in the US,"

because many people have been killed in nuclear accidents in Japan, and the Soviet Union. Or did you forget about Chernobyl?

[wtmusic]

51. Reactor #5 at Chernobyl was never built in the U.S., it never will be,

and no one in Japan has been killed as a result of Fukushima either .
Are you aware of that?

[cali]

53. Vermont doesn't use any power from VY NOW:

.


<snip>

The announcement is a watershed moment for the state. Though no power from the plant is being sold to utilities in Vermont now, for decades the facility was the state’s No. 1 source of baseload electricity. Over the last few years, Vermont Yankee’s rates, which had been locked in at 4 cents per kilowatt-hour, suddenly increased and were no longer as competitive. At the same time, natural gas flooded the electricity market and lowered costs throughout New England. The state’s largest utility, Green Mountain Power, struck a favorable deal with Seabrook, a nuclear power plant in New Hampshire, and Hydro-Quebec, for access to low-cost electricity from a series of megadam projects in Canada. At the same time, in an attempt to meet the state’s ambitious renewable energy goals, utilities invested in local wind and solar projects. -

See more at: http://vtdigger.org/2013/08/28/vermont-yankee-where-activists-lawyers-and-politicians-failed-the-market-succeeded/#sthash.s2JsWxUy.dpuf

[wtmusic]

56. Of course - Green Mountain Power forced them out.

This is a power play by GMP, owned by Gaz Metro of Quebec to sell Vermonters Canadian gas.

Local wind and solar contributions are insignificant, and by promoting these shiny toys GMP has suckered many environmentalists into believing Vermont's energy will be cleaner.

Closing VY will result in additional carbon emissions which are equivalent to half a million cars.

[RoccoR5955]

62. Well, I heard that Crane Paper is going to move back to Pittsfield, MA.

And they are going to generate their own solar and wind power, to make US money.
That's right, Crane Paper are the folks who make the paper that you carry around in your wallet, and they are going to set an example for the future. When the plant is closed, it will feed its power back to the grid.

This is an example that other successful companies will take in the future, to maximize their profits.

Nuclear, and fossil fuels are NOT the future, Fusion and renewables are.

[magical thyme]

54. Vermont's air conditioners?!? Seriously?!?!

Ok, I checked your profile and see you're in sunny California, iow the desert, so I guess that explains your confusion.

A/C for the most part is a low priority in northern tier states, except maybe for the most incredibly pampered.

FYI:

Germany, which leads the world in solar power generation, is at 51.5167deg north.

Vermont is at 44.2035 deg north. Which is to say, south of Germany.

Maine is at 45 deg north, so slightly north of Vermont, but reigns as the sunniest state in New England.

[wtmusic]

57. ROFL when you get your first post-VY electric bill.

I can't wait.

[magical thyme]

59. um, I live in Maine. Sorry to disappoint you, but

I've been getting post-nuke electric bills since I moved here 10 years ago, right after Maine Yankee closed.

My bill, for my 7 room 150 year old farmhouse, averages $30/month in the summer months.

In total, I spend maybe $7-800/year for electricity. If I chose or needed to, I could move my bedroom upstairs in winter and save myself about $200 by closing off the one room with electric heat, but it's the nicest room in my house.

Oh, and in Maine, not unlike Vermont, there are a lot of people who live off grid,including without indoor bathrooms.

Oh, and more bad news (for you) is that we do a lot of business with Canada up this way. No different than doing a lot of business with our other next door neighbors.

[wtmusic]

66. You might think that if you had no idea what a "trade deficit" is.

Do you?

[magical thyme]

60. ok, I admit it. I am NOT sorry to disappoint you. Actually, I am...

Piece of shit solar? Tell it to Germany.

[wtmusic]

63. Take a wild guess what percentage of Germany's electricity comes from solar.

It's costing German ratepayers $18 billion/year for a source that provides less than 5% of Germany's energy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Germany

Largest German solar company files for bankruptcy
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90778/8319183.html

German Utility Revolts Against Renewable Energy, Threatens To Relocate In Turkey
http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2013/08/19/german-utility-revolts-against-renewable-energy-threatens-to-relocate-in-turkey/

"That's ok," you say. "It's clean energy, so it's worth it." German solar is an environmental nightmare, to all but the most gullible tools of the gas and coal industries:

Merkel’s Green Shift Forces Germany to Burn More Coal
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-19/merkel-s-green-shift-forces-germany-to-burn-more-coal-energy.html

Germany's clean energy drive fails to curb dirty brown coal
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/26/us-germany-browncoal-idUSBRE93P0PI20130426

Merkel’s Green Shift Backfires as German Pollution Jumps
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-28/merkel-s-green-shift-backfires-as-german-pollution-jumps.html

I don't need to tell Germany anything...maybe you should listen to what Germany has to say.

[magical thyme]

64. congratulations on ignoring the reality of my non-nuclear electric bill in Maine

and also ignoring our trade relations with Canada.

Germany is on a track to produce all electricity by solar by 2050. Suck on it!

[wtmusic]

65. Bullshit. 31% of your energy comes from nuclear.

"Maine does not currently produce nuclear energy, but that’s not to say it doesn’t reap its benefits. Many non-nuclear producing states across the country are able to power their businesses and homes by taking advantage of affordable, clean, and safe nuclear energy that feeds into the regional grid infrastructure. The state belongs to the Northeast Power Coordinating Council NERC region where 31 percent of the electricity produced in the region comes from nuclear energy."

http://casenergy.org/nuclear-energy/energy-in-your-state/nuclear-energy-in-maine/

Hint: your little laughing man is laughing at you.

[magical thyme]

67. wrong. familiarize yourself with this.

https://megreenpower.com/overview

For 1.5 cents extra per kilowatt hour, I get this:

Maine Green Power is a program offered by the Maine Public Utilities Commission. You can choose clean, 100% Maine-made renewable energy for your home or business by enrolling today.

[wtmusic]

68. Do they install separate wires to your house?

How do they direct the clean electrons to your house and no one else's?

Here's how that works: you get exactly the same mix as all of your neighbors. By paying extra, your utility agrees to buy that amount of renewable energy on the grid. And about 2/3 of "renewable" energy generated in Maine comes from cutting down trees and burning them.



"Using wood per unit of electricity emits more C02 into the atmosphere than than coal or oil -- you actually create a carbon debt," says John Hagan, Manomet's president.

He agrees with the industry that biomass is renewable, unlike coal or oil. And that carbon emissions from biomass get cancelled out by the CO2 absorbed by trees before they are turned into wood for burning. But he says it can take a long time for that cycle to happen.

"There's a greenhouse gas debt before there's a dividend. And so the question becomes, how long does it take to pay off the debt before you start to appreciate the the climate benefits of using wood?" Hagan says. "So if it's a large electricity plant, like a 50-megawatt electricity plant, the debt period could be 20 or 30 years before you start to appreciate a carbon benefit."

http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsArchive/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3475/ItemId/12571/Default.aspx

[RobertEarl]

58. piece of shit solar?

wtmusic hates the sun? Why? Because it is too cheap to meter.

Meanwhile his love, the nuke plants, owned and operated by the 1%, are breaking his heart, because one-by-one, like VY, they are closing before they blow sky high like Cheronbyl and Fukushima. He haz a sad they can't go all the way?

[magical thyme]

61. I think he ran away. Probably crying when he learned that my *annual* no-nuke electric bill

is only slightly higher than average *monthly* electric bills in his neck of the woods.

Now he really haz a sad!

[Mopar151]

10. Relatively few on permanent staff in Vernon

Decommisioning will be much the same as a maintainence outage, and the workers who do that are spread across the region - and are likely working at their trades anyway, just not getting the fat money from their occasional nuke work.

Entergy blew it, pure and simple - cut back too much on maintainence, ran sloppy, and figured they could get whatever out of the local politicans. Not in Vermont.......

The generating plant may be savable, but it would have to be expanded and reconfigured to make efficent use of another power source like natural gas or coal - whether it is economical to do so is a big question. VT Yankee is not far from a major rail line, FWIW.

[Marrah_G]

3. great news

[TRoN33]

4. Guys...

I was there in Brattleboro Vermont's big rally against nuclear power plant. And its the first time ever in nation history that we fought against them and won. It was amazing experience to be part of nearly 600 marchers against Entergy because they lied to us and after we caught them lying, they continue to lie to us and believe they would fool us. They didn't realize that Vermonters' reputation are known for being strong mind and never to forget. And we are well aware that Entergy are also the strongest contributors to Republican's anti-American cause. No more.

[wtmusic]

9. I'm glad you're so proud you caught them "lying".

VY will be replaced by tearing down Vermont's forests for "biomass" energy and importing Canadian gas.

Vermont residents bought the whole scam hook, line and sinker - and the climate, the world's oceans, and the world's habitat will pay for your "peace of mind".

We're fucked.

[RoccoR5955]

19. Says only you.

They will build more solar farms, on land already cleared. They can also do rooftop solar.
What makes you think that they will tear down the Green Mountain's forest?
I can see from your profile that you live on the other side of the country. This explains your lack of understanding.

We are screwed any way, why should we have more chance that an ancient nuclear plant will go kablooie here in the northeast?
Shut the old thing down, it's served the time that it was designed to serve, and should be put to rest. Think of how much it would cost to retrofit the thing. The concrete alone would cost a small fortune. I believe that this is why Entergy is dropping it. They simply can't make a profit on that old thing any more.

[wtmusic]

24. I don't know where you live, but you obviously know nothing about Vermont energy

and Pete Shumlin and Mary Powell are playing you like a cheap fiddle. All the ignorant Vermonters who wished for this deserve what they will get: your state revenue being shipped off to Canada to Gaz Metro for gas, your carbon emissions and energy prices going through the roof, and some astroturf solar facilities that don't generate squat:

"To wit: Three members of Shumlin’s transition team — Elizabeth Bankowski, Kathy Hoyt and Steve Terry — had direct ties to the utility (Green Mountain Power); GMP CEO Mary Powell chaired Shumlin’s inaugural committee; GMP exec Neale Lunderville has been hired to head up the state’s recovery efforts in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene; and DPS Commissioner Liz Miller’s husband is a partner in the law firm that represents GMP before the Public Service Board.

If the merger is approved, GMP and its parent company, Montréal-based Gaz Métro, would control roughly 70 percent of the state’s electric wholesale, retail and distribution markets.

'No one is likely to examine it with the healthy skepticism and independence necessary in a deal of this significance to the state,' Burak told Fair Game. "

http://www.7dvt.com/2011gorillas-ghosts-and-greed

The deal was approved, and Entergy made a smart business decision - if you're not in the game, get the hell out. Sickening.

[Mopar151]

20. Really?

Cooling tower collapse, from maintainence failures that any VT farmer or carpenter would have caught (wet wood will rot unless it stays wet). Tritium leaks into the groundwater & river, that Entergy tried to lie away.
Only scams around were the ones Entergy was runnin', and, thanks to the thirst of most nuke techs, the bartender at Mort's Roadhouse likely knows more about plant operations than the management.

[Mopar151]

21. Entergy thought extending the license would be a slam dunk

Spent a pile of money on a bad guess, then cemented it by running the plant into the ground. Ga-ron-tee they try to skate with the decomissioning money.

[wtmusic]

25. Ga-ron-tee your money is going to Canada

and your utility bills are going up.

I can't wait. "Vermonters get a lesson in energy".

[RoccoR5955]

35. Not if I generate my OWN power.

If I install solar panels on my roof, I will get back my investment in less than ten years. The panels have a guaranteed lifetime of 25 years, and will more than likely last much longer than that.
If enough folks do the same, and put their surplus solar energy back into the grid, this issue goes away. Even if they only produce their own power it goes away

[wtmusic]

39. Rugged individualist, are you?

Going off the grid? Gonna pedal a bike after the sun goes down?

What a joke.

[Mopar151]

43. Lots of folks off the grid in Vermont NOW. No Joke.

$20 grand to run a powerline in to your place, and it can crap out for days at a time here. Wait til you figure out ice pond a/c and refrigeration, heat storage and micro-hydro. Ever seen a soapstone woodstove?

[wtmusic]

45. Great - how much does it cost for a solar array that craps out every night?

What if you can't afford a nice place in the forest by the pond, or by the stream for your "micro-hydro"?

Can you keep the smoke from that woodstove in Vermont? Didn't think so. Natural gas heat would create much less carbon, and nuclear would create none.

Basically, everyone living your dream would result in an environmental nightmare. That's the problem with rugged individualists - they start to think the world exists just for them.

[Mopar151]

49. Well, you're wrong about carbon from natural gas, for 1 thing.

And biomass accumulates all it's carbon from the atmosphere, so any carbon remaining, whether in ash or composted,is sequestered from the atmosphere - a wash, over the life cycle of the Biomass. And a working, harvested forest, and many croplands, absorb much more CO2 than mature "old growth".
Many New England towns are MILL towns - hydro power drove the industrial revolution, which started here, and many of those small dams are still around, and still capable of producing power. So even if you live in the slums, you are quite likely to be near a source of hydro power.

Here's one for ya, Mr Nuke - did you know that much of the "off-peak" power from Vermont Yankee was stored as hydro power, at the Northfield Mountain project a few towns south? I know guys worked on that, too, just Like Seabrook and VY. It'll work just fine with solar or wind power. That's how solar works in the dark!

You wanna talk enviromental nightmare? Tons of steel, weakened and eroded by irradition, far too "Hot" to recycle, deemed useless by it's original desiginers along about now - That's the reality in Vernon, VT. Entergy presumed that they could patch it up some, and get a 20 year extension at overcapacity by Vermont regulators. Apparently, they did'nt talk to many Vermonters first. So now, it's gotta be "Chernoybled" in place, or hauled to the Hanford Reservation to be buried next to the core of Mass. Yankee.

[Mopar151]

36. Our retail electric rates are some of the hightst in the country - because of nukes!

The massive cost overruns and poor financial planning of Seabrook Station bankrupted PSNH (taken over by NU, who could fuck up gravity), and most utilities in the region had invested in Seabrook, so we're paying for a reactor (Seabrook 2) that was never built.
Entergy has been making moves on the decomissioning fund right from the start of their ownership - 'cuz they thought they could put off decomissioning (via operating license extension) for long enough to skeez out on some of the costs and play lots of games with the money.

[wtmusic]

38. Bull-shit.

Wish I could see your face when you get your first post-VY electricity bill, but you can chalk this one up as a valuable educational experience.

"As of 2010, most of the energy is purchased wholesale for distribution from Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and Hydro-Québec. The costs from Vermont Yankee were about 3 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour.

In 2009, the state received 1/3 or 400 MW of its power from Hydro-Québec and 1/3 from Vermont Yankee. In total, the state got half its power from Canada and other states. It received 75 percent of the power it generated in the state from Vermont Yankee.

Vermont has the highest rate of nuclear-generated power in the nation, 73.7 percent. As one result, Vermont is one of only two states with no coal-fired power plant.

Wholesale rates from electricity produced by natural gas have been 5 to 7 cents per kilowatt hour."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Vermont

[Mopar151]

41. You wish. From thousands of miles away. n/t

[wtmusic]

42. Yeah, well...unlike with solar power

imagination will suffice.

[Divernan]

6. And what about the spent fuel rods/pool?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0525/Report-Unacceptable-threat-from-spent-fuel-pools-at-US-nuclear-power-plants

A spent-fuel pool fire at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant made headlines after March’s earthquake and tsunami – but the threat may be worse in America.
Related stories

Meltdown 101: What are spent-fuel pools and why are they a threat?
Meltdown 101: A brief glossary of nuclear terms
Meltdown 101: What is a nuclear reactor meltdown?
Nuclear power report: 14 'near misses' at US plants due to 'lax oversight'
Do US nuclear plants have defective parts? NRC finds reporting flaws.

Spent nuclear fuel stored in water-filled pools at many nuclear reactor sites in the US far surpasses in volume and radioactivity the threat posed by such material at Fukushima, according to a new study.. The huge hazard could be largely eliminated by moving older materials from the pools into dry cask storage, it said.

“Unprotected and crowded spent nuclear fuel pools pose an unacceptable threat to the public,” said Robert Alvarez, a senior scholar for nuclear policy at the nonpartisan Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), as well as a former Department of Energy official in the Clinton Administration, in a statement.

[Throckmorton]

12. All moved to dry cask storage within 7 or 8 years.

However, the State of Vermont will need to fight for this. Entergy will try and leave them in the spent fuel pool while the rest of the plant around them rots (See Millstone One under Dominion).

[wtmusic]

13. Where are the rods going to go?

Antinukes killed Yucca Mountain. They kind of fucked themselves, didn't they?

[Throckmorton]

14. They will sit in dry casks, forever.

or until there is money to be made in their removal.

[wtmusic]

15. Long before forever

the Connecticut River will overflow thanks to ignorant decisions made regarding climate change, turning the casks into pontoons filled with long-lived radionucleides hurtling toward the sea.

Antinukes are truly experts at fucking themselves, which I wouldn't care about if they didn't fuck everyone else too.

[Throckmorton]

16. I doubt they will float,

more like concrete boulders fracturing into rubble when they go over Turners Falls.

[wtmusic]

17. True.

Most of the world might be spared the radiation, and some nth generation of Vermonters will have to bear the burden their ancestors created.

So there is some measure of karma here, although downstreamers living in 2313 Connecticut wouldn't deserve it.

[RobertEarl]

44. Your hatred of no nukers is disgusting

You actually wish they get some kind of nuclear radiation karma visited upon them just because they don't want to have a man made nuclear environment like there now exists at Chernobyl and Fukushima?

WTMofo kind of crap are you spreading?

[Mopar151]

37. You obviously not seen the northern Connecticut river.

Or understand the huge seasonal flow variations innherent in our climate. Check the altitude of Vernon, Vt. - it's well above sea level.

[RoccoR5955]

48. No, they just didn't fuck the planet. n/t

[wtmusic]

52. They're fucking the planet faster than anyone

by pushing their ineffectual toys as a solution to climate change.

[seabeckind]

8. So the cost/benefit ratio

just swung the other way.

Got all they could get, now hand over the shutdown, cleanup costs to the taxpayer and move on.

Afterthought: I assume they'll be claiming a loss on their next tax return?

[Auntie Bush]

28. That's what I call GOOD NEWS!

[magical thyme]

55. GREAT NEWS!!!!

Living in Maine, love to see the risks art going down.