Vt. Yankee argues state has no business guarding people’s safety

In an argument that defies common sense, attorneys for Entergy Corp., owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, argued in federal court in Burlington last week that the state of Vermont has no role in deciding whether or not the plant should continue operating based on safety considerations.  Further, they argued that legislators who have voted against re-licensing were responding to their constituents.

How out of touch can they get?

The arguments are summarized in a Brattleboro Reformer article last week.

Much of the argument revolves around semantics. Under Vermont law, the state has final say over the relicensing of any nuclear plant in the state. Entergy agreed to abide by this law when it purchased the plant several years ago. But now that the Vermont legislature has voted not to approve relicensing of the troubled plant, Entergy disputes the state’s right to deny licensing.

Their claim is that the state can only base its decision on the “reliability” of the 40-year-old plant, not safety concerns. Entergy argues that only the Nuclear Regulatory Commssion can address safety concerns.

At this same time, the Associated Press has been running a series of investigative articles showing that the NRC has repeatedly eased up safety regulations in order to bring aging nuclear plants into a semblance of compliance.