Vermont Yankee union workers say plant is safe for re-licensing, despite recent problems

Workers say Vermont Yankee safe despite problems

MONTPELIER, Vt. — A labor union that represents workers at Vermont Yankee insisted Monday that the plant is safe, citing a recent report by the state Health Department and telling those who want it closed to “stick to the facts” in talking about it.

In a Statehouse news conference, eight members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 300 appeared with union business manager Jeffrey Wimette and said lawmakers should let regulators decide whether to extend the operating license of the 38-year-old nuclear power plant, which has been plagued by leaks and other problems in recent years.

Plant opponents weren’t buying it.

“It’s hard to believe that anyone could think of radioactive leaks, cracks in the steam dryer and a collapsed cooling tower as evidence of anything but a decayed and potentially dangerous facility,” said Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. “Add to that the fact that the plant’s Louisiana-based owners seem incapable of telling the truth and you have plenty of justification for retiring the plant on time and moving forward with safer and cleaner alternatives.”

The plant opened in 1972 and is scheduled to close in 2012, barring the approval of a new license. Vermont is the only state in the nation that gives itself the power to say no a nuclear plant’s re-licensing.

The state Senate voted 26-4 last February to block the re-licensing, but lawmakers may not have the final say on the matter. And the plant’s owners have said they hope to get a second vote — and a different result — from the Legislature in its upcoming session, since the roster of lawmakers is likely to change as a result of the Nov. 2 elections.

The union, which represents about 160 of the plant’s 650 workers, cited a Health Department report released last week saying there were no significant adverse health effects from radiological exposures from Vermont Yankee in 2009.

The plant was within compliance limits for radioactive releases for the year, despite its leak of tritium, which took months to plug, according to the Health Department.

The annual environmental surveillance report listed 1,300 measurements of air, water, milk, soil, vegetation, sediment and fish samples taken near the plant, from the Connecticut River and in towns surrounding the plant.

It didn’t cover 2010, when the leak — first reported in November and finally capped in March — worsened.

Wimette wouldn’t name names when asked who the union was urging to “stick to the facts.”

“What we are asking is that the individuals who are putting out this information, these stipulations that Vermont Yankee is unsafe, to stop. The old phrase, ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.’ Well, we are. We’re frustrated, we’re disappointed,” Wimette said.

Sandra Levine, senior staff attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, which is lobbying to close Vermont Yankee, said contamination at the plant continues to taint soil and groundwater and that it should be closed.

“I understand these workers are interested in saving their jobs,” said Levine, who attended the event. “I respect that. But frankly, Vermont Yankee is too old to reliably operate for another 20 years.”