Use the money for what it's for

For all the people who thought that passing legislation requiring Entergy to put more money into the Vermont Yankee decommissioning trust fund was a bad idea, a document released Friday by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should put that notion to rest.

The NRC asked Entergy questions about the company's assumptions regarding the Vermont Yankee decommissioning fund and its future growth.

There's about $420 million in the fund now. It needs to roughly double that amount to deal with the costs of shutting down the plant. Yet the current investment climate has led to a $17 million loss in the fund over the last few months.

Fluctuations in the rate of return on investments is normal. Yet Entergy is still counting on an annual rate of return -- 5 percent -- that is much higher than the standard 2 percent that the NRC says companies should use for long-term planning purposes.

But what has people even more upset is that Entergy is planning to use $157 million from the decommissioning fund to pay for management of Vermont Yankee's spent nuclear fuel.

The NRC says the decommissioning fund is supposed to be used for dismantling the plant upon shutdown, not for

spent fuel handling.

Entergy responded that we shouldn't worry about it, because once Vermont Yankee gets its 20-year license extension from the NRC later this year and is allowed to keep running until 2032, there will be time enough for the fund to grow to cover any future shutdown costs.

Granted, the NRC has not rejected a license renewal request, so Entergy is reasonably confident it will not have to worry about closing Vermont Yankee until 2032 at the earliest.

As for using decommissioning funds for long-term waste storage, Entergy and other nuclear companies have sued the federal government over its failure to provide a high-level nuclear waste repository as promised. If Entergy wins the case, then it might put the money it took out back into the decommissioning fund.

But we think it shows arrogance on the part of Entergy to simply assume that it will be allowed to stay open and fail to prepare for the possibility that it might not. If the plant has to close in 2012, Entergy is prepared to simply mothball the plant and let it sit for decades until there is enough money to decommission.

Entergy thinks it has no further obligations to Vermonters regarding decommissioning costs. That's why its lobbyists fought so hard to stop the Legislature from passing a bill to require Entergy to live up to the financial commitment it took on when it bought the plant in 2002.

The bill is now sitting on Gov. James Douglas' desk. When we asked him about it during a visit to the Reformer on Monday, Douglas wouldn't tip his hand. He said he is still examining the NRC report and will wait until he hears from the state Public Service Board before he makes a decision on whether to sign the bill.

We'll help you out, governor. This isn't a pro- or anti-nuclear issue. This is not a pro- or anti-business decision. This bill is about making sure a hugely profitable corporation will not stick Vermonters with a bill in the hundreds of millions of dollars when Vermont Yankee closes -- whether it is in 2012, or 2032. It ought to be signed into law.