VERNON — Even some people in Vernon have questions about Vermont Yankee.

While more than a dozen Vermont towns voted Tuesday that it was time to pull the plug on the future operation of Vermont Yankee, it was clear the residents of Vernon still support the controversial plant.

But even the loyal residents of hometown of the plant had questions for two Entergy Nuclear officials Tuesday evening about the tritium leak at the reactor, which has made headlines all over New England. The future of Vermont Yankee was not on the ballot in Vernon.

Two Entergy Nuclear officials, both of whom live in Vernon, gave an update of the tritium leak at the reactor, saying that while a "pathway" to groundwater contamination had been identified, the search for the source of the tritium leak continued. Finding the leak and stopping it and protecting the public is the company's priority, said Michael McKinney of Entergy.

Residents interrupted the second night of Vernon's marathon town meeting to allow the presentation by Entergy Nuclear officials, and residents responded with questions. But their concerns were nothing like other Vermont towns, which overwhelmingly voted Tuesday in favor of shutting the Vernon reactor down in 2012.

The statewide issue involving 16 towns resulted in 14 towns voting against relicensing Vermont Yankee, and the only town voting in support of Yankee, Rockingham, passed it only by three votes. Cambridge voted to table.

Towns voting in favor of shutting the plant down included Thetford, Bristol, Fayston, Brookfield, Montgomery, Woodstock, Moretown, Waitsfield, Danville, Cabot, Huntington, Sharon and Jamaica.

In Vernon, only one resident asked even semicritical questions, asking why Entergy hadn't told residents about testing of private property by a private lab.

The same resident, George Pond, also wanted to know about the testing protocol of the Connecticut River, and exactly how often the river was being tested.

"I hear you've only tested it twice," said Pond, who said he lives three miles south of the plant.

But Pond was certainly in the minority at the Vernon meeting, with several Entergy employees posing questions to their fellow employees, saying it might help them understand the radioactive leak and contamination at the town's largest taxpayer.

While many of their Vermont neighbors said it was time to pull the plug on the Vermont Yankee reactor, residents in its hometown have no such thoughts.

According to Sheldon Shippee, who has lived in Vernon his entire 35 years and has worked at Vermont Yankee the past five, nine out of 10 Vernon residents support Vermont Yankee.

Shippee disagreed with Pond's assessment that support of Vermont Yankee was eroding in Vernon; by Pond's estimation the reactor was supported, but only on a 60 to 40 margin.

But one thing was clear from Vernon residents, they wanted close representation by the town's lobbying firm, and they more than doubled their budget from $20,000 to $42,000 for utility representation.

Earlier in the day, there was no doubt that residents of other towns that took up Yankee's future didn't want it as part of Vermont's energy future.

The overwhelming number followed the lead set last week by the Vermont Senate and said 40 years was enough for the state's aging nuclear reactor.

Vermont Yankee's original federal license expires in March 2012, and Entergy Nuclear, owner of the plant, is seeking a 20-year extension to that license.

But town meeting residents said no in nonbinding ballots, with the exception of the town of Rockingham, where the vote taken near midnight Monday was 36 to 33, after more than 100 Rockingham residents had already gone home.

Organizer Ellen Tenney said she was sure the result, which was brought up under "other business" close to midnight, would have been different earlier in the meeting.

"It was a long night. Plus we lost half the people by the time it came up. It was one of the biggest town meetings I've seen, but by the time the VY issue came up, half the people had left. Thank god we have people in the Senate doing it for us," said Tenney of Saxtons River.

Dan DeWalt of Newfane, one of the organizers of the Yankee ballot, said 50 towns spread out through the state had voted on the Yankee issue. Thirty-six towns voted on the issue last year. The overwhelming majority were against continued operation.

DeWalt worked closely with Jim Leas, a Burlington attorney, and the two men were later joined by former state Sen. Elizabeth Ready, an Addison County Democrat, in getting the issue on the ballot.

DeWalt was particularly impressed with the decision by Danville, a Northeast Kingdom town that voted to shut Yankee down on a 110 to 66 tally.

"Danville is pretty far away … but nobody likes being lied to," said DeWalt, attributing most of the wave of opposition to the plant to the "misstatements" made by Entergy Nuclear executives to state officials about the existence of underground pipes.