MONTPELIER, Vt. — Entergy Nuclear and NorthStar Group Services have withdrawn their objections to the state Public Utility Commission’s plan to hire a consultant to evaluate the proposed sale and decommissioning of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
In a filing Monday, Entergy’s attorneys said they learned of the provisional selection of nuclear engineer William Jacobs as the consultant and were withdrawing their objection.
“The Entergy petitioners are satisfied that Dr. Jacobs does not have a bias that would preclude him from serving as a consultant to the commission in this docket. Accordingly, the second portion of the Entergy petitioners’ objection is now moot,” wrote Entergy and NorthStar’s three law firms, one from New York and two from Vermont.
Earlier this month, Entergy had said the state’s plan “improperly goes beyond what has traditionally been allowed.”
Jacobs, a principal of GDS Associates of Marietta, Georgia, has worked for the state in the past. He was a consultant in 2008 for the Department of Public Service during a case involving Vermont Yankee’s request to expand its storage of spent nuclear fuel. According to Entergy’s filing, Jacobs’ hiring is subject to the finalization of a contract. While Entergy and NorthStar’s concerns about the consultant’s impartiality were withdrawn, the two companies said they still wanted access to Jacobs’ analysis, so they could question him at January’s technical hearings on the sale.
Nov. 16 was the deadline for parties in the Vermont Yankee case to file objections to the PUC’s plans to hire the consultant, which was first announced by the state on Oct. 30. Both the New England Coalition and the Conservation Law Foundation said the PUC had the right to hire the consultant, and that they both had the right, under PUC regulations, to examine his recommendations to the commission.
The state plans to spend between $50,000 and $100,000 for the nuclear consultant, with the costs billed back to Entergy Nuclear and NorthStar, as allowed under Vermont state law.