The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it needs more financial information from Entergy and NorthStar Holding Co., before it makes a decision on whether to approve the sale of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
The NRC said an incomplete application for Yankee’s license transfer means any decision on the sale would be pushed back by several months.
In an Oct. 12 letter released recently, the NRC said it needed assurances from NorthStar and Entergy that there would be enough money available to take care of the high-level radioactive fuel being transferred from the Yankee spent fuel pool into concrete and steel canisters. The canisters are expected to be stored in Vernon for decades.
NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan did not say it would be the last request from NRC staff for additional information. And, he noted the commission still hadn’t made a decision on requests from both the state of Vermont and the antinuclear group, the New England Coalition, to hold federal hearings on the license transfer.
NorthStar says it can demolish and clean up the Vernon nuclear power plant quicker and cheaper than Entergy, which had proposed to put the plant into mothballs that could last for decades while the plant’s decommissioning trust fund grows to $1.2 billion.
The fund is currently less than half that amount.
Entergy and NorthStar said last year they needed a decision from the NRC on the sale by the end of 2017 or the deal wouldn’t make sense financially. The Vermont Public Utility Commission isn’t slated to hold its technical hearings into the proposed sale until late January 2018, with a decision months later.
Both companies declined to comment on the timing issue.
“Entergy is reviewing the NRC’s requests for more information pertaining to the Vermont Yankee license transfer application, and together with NorthStar will respond in a timely manner,” said Michael Twomey, Entergy Wholesale Commodities’ vice president for external affairs.
NorthStar CEO Scott State said in a statement, “NorthStar will be promptly answering the limited number of questions posed by the NRC in its requests for additional information, which are all within the scope of the issues we have been addressing in the state of Vermont certificate of public good process.”
Entergy shut down Vermont Yankee in 2014 and started the process of shutting down its other Northeast reactors, citing unfavorable markets and competition from fracked natural gas that drove down the price of electricity on wholesale power markets.
The administration of Gov. Phil Scott has also raised questions about the financial ability of NorthStar to fund the decommissioning and to cover any unexpected expenses, as well as the long-term storage of high-level radioactive waste.
The NRC letter noted NorthStar’s budget called for using money in the decommissioning trust fund for waste storage, something that is not allowed by the NRC without a waiver.
The NRC noted Entergy and NorthStar had submitted supplemental information in August to its original application. The NRC said it wanted a response within 30 days.