I am happy to report that the Vermont Senate refused to extend the license to operate the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant after 2012 by a vote of 26 to 4. There are 7 Republicans in the Vermont Senate so three of them must have voted for the closure. The plant needed approval from both the Vermont House and Senate in order to continue to operate after 2012. So unless the Vermont Senate reverses itself, the plant must be closed.
The reason for the vote is summarized in the following paragraph from Matthew Wald's article in The New York Times this morning entitled, "Vermont Senate Votes to Close Nuclear Power Plant". The full article is here.
In a small, ornate chamber packed with plant opponents, the Vermont senators voiced frustration over recent leaks of radioactive tritium at the 38-year-old plant as well as the collapse of a cooling tower in 2007 and inaccurate testimony by the plant’s owner, the Louisiana-based nuclear operator Entergy.The plant is 38 years old. The plant leaks tritium. A cooling tower at the plant collapsed. The plant's owner and operator lied to Vermont by saying there were no underground pipes that could leak tritium, but there were.
I don't know how to make a better case against nuclear power. Oh except the article continues:
Mr. Hébert [spokesperson for the plant's owner and operator] acknowledged in an interview that the leaks, the cooling tower collapse in 2007 and other problems had been “almost a perfect storm” for the plant.It is lucky it was just "almost a perfect storm". How many lives of people alive today and future generations would have been destroyed if it were a perfect storm?
Oh, I also almost forgot we still have no place to store the radioactive waste created by this plant and all the other nuclear power plants.
So today the Vermont Senate comprised primarily of Democrats is doing well. It stood up and did the right thing.
Thanks for reading and please comment,
The Unabashed Liberal
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