Entergy won't fight NRC shortfall decision
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By Susan Smallheer STAFF WRITER - Published: July 2, 2009
BRATTLEBORO — Entergy Nuclear is not contesting the decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that its decommissioning trust fund is short millions of dollars.
But exactly how much money the fund is short, the NRC still won't say.
Vermont Yankee's dismantling fund was at $400 million at the end of 2008, but during the economic downturn, the fund fell to $347 million, although the fund has since rebounded to $384 million by the end of May.
The total cost of decommissioning, which includes dismantling of the reactor and cleaning up the site of any contamination, is currently estimated to be close to $1 billion.
NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Wednesday NRC staff had completed a round of talks with the owners of the 26 nuclear reactors. The NRC had notified the owners last month that their decommissioning trust funds were short.
"The NRC staff is completing calls today with the owners of the 26 reactors involved," Sheehan said, while noting that the NRC talked with Entergy officials on Monday.
He said NRC staff clarified plant-specific calculation methodologies and "reached alignment on shortfall amounts." The companies will now need to submit their plans to address any shortfalls within 45 days, he said.
Those reports will contain the shortfall amounts, he said.
"The NRC is also discussing other means of communicating the shortfall information," he added, refusing to release the shortfall information about Vermont Yankee.
"Entergy indicated it needs 45 days because it needs to go before its Board of Directors to request approval for its plan to remedy the shortfall," Sheehan said.
Robert Williams, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear, said Entergy would be responding to the NRC in the next few weeks.
"As we have said in the past, as the responsible owner of this plant, we will ensure that our decommissioning fund meets all NRC requirements to ensure adequate decommissioning," he said. "We wanted to ensure a common understanding of their calculations for growth of the decommissioning fund and their expectations on the expected extent of detail that would be in our written response. Our representatives also discussed the expected timing of the Vermont Yankee response," Williams said. Sheehan said Entergy officials told the NRC on Monday that it didn't contest the shortfall amount, but that it had to go to its Board of Directors to get approval for the contribution to the fund.
Since Entergy bought Vermont Yankee in July 2002, it hasn't made any contributions to the decommissioning fund, which was about $165 million at the time of the sale. It was a condition of the sale that Entergy didn't have to make any contributions, the company says.
"We will ensure that our decommissioning fund meets all NRC requirements to ensure adequate decommissioning," Williams said.
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com
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