Entergy Places Fuel Order For Vermont Yankee, Despite License Expiration In March 2012

[hatrack]

Unless a court intervenes, the clock is winding down on the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor. Its initial license expires next March, and the state of Vermont is blocking a permit that it needs to run beyond then. But its owner, Entergy, which is suing the state in federal court over the permit, announced on Monday that it would order a new load of fuel for the plant, essentially betting that the legal proceedings will come out in its favor.

Fuel for reactors is ordered in batches, and at Vermont Yankee, in Vernon, on the Connecticut River just north of the Massachusetts border, the fuel is supposed to last four and half years. The next refueling is scheduled for October, when one-third of the fuel bundles are supposed to be replaced at a cost of about $50 million.

The shutdown for refueling, which is supposed to last about 30 days, will cost about $92 million, according to Chanel Lagarde, a spokesman for the company. The plant will bring in 800 to 1,000 temporary workers for the job, which includes various maintenance tasks, the company says.

The plant was last shut for refueling in April 2010. Entergy stressed at the time that it had run for 532 days continuously without having to shut down to address a problem; one of the arguments by plant opponents is that it should be retired because it is unreliable.

EDIT

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/25/biting-the-bullet-vermont-yankee-orders-fuel/?partner=rss&emc=rss

[FBaggins]

1. Thus proving that their recent court argument was less than entirely honest.

I'm sure we all find that shocking.

The move does show, however, that they're more optomistic about the outcome of the case than I see reason for them to be.