Future of Vermont Yankee site being explored: Options include data center, nuclear reactor or battery storage

VERNON, Vt. — The state of Vermont and the Texas-based company that is exploring the redevelopment of the former Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant are working on a letter of intent that would govern how the project would proceed and what the public engagement process would be.

Kerrick Johnson, commissioner of the Department of Public Service, said the state of Vermont actually had the first option on the 140-acre parcel, and not PowerTransitions, the company exploring putting either a data center, a small modular nuclear reactor or a battery energy storage facility on the property.

Two years ago, PowerTransitions, a Houston, Texas-based power development company, signed a lease and right of first refusal with NorthStar Group Services Inc., the owner of the Vermont Yankee site, without notifying the state, according to Johnson.

He said he was reminded about the state’s option — which was included in one of the memorandums of understanding signed in 2018 between the state and Entergy Nuclear when the Vermont Yankee site was sold — by Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-Dover, when news of PowerTransitions’ interest first surfaced.

“I didn’t like how we found out,” Johnson said of NorthStar’s agreement with PowerTransitions.

Since then, he said the state’s discussions with PowerTransitions have been professional and cordial.

“PowerTransitions is in the early stage of the development process. We look forward to responsible engagement with the Vernon community and other stakeholders,” company spokesperson Carrie Hitt wrote in an email, declining further comment.

PowerTransitions is in the power business, particularly redeveloping old utility sites — it is currently planning a data center at a former gas-fired power plant in Kansas City, Kansas. PowerTransitions is owned by a private equity firm, Partners Group, also of Texas.

PowerTransitions’ original plans included building a battery energy storage facility on a portion of the 140-acre site along the Connecticut River, but since then, it has expanded its options to include a data center or a small modular nuclear reactor.

Johnson, a longtime Vermont energy executive who became Gov. Phil Scott’s public service commissioner in 2014, said he is committed to the redevelopment taking the town of Vernon’s wishes and concerns into consideration first, followed by the state’s and the region’s.

Johnson said that in a way, any discussion is very preliminary because decommissioning hasn’t been completed at Vermont Yankee, although NorthStar has said it would complete the physical work in 2026. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has to review the work and any future plans, and “release” the site to future use, Johnson noted, and there is no timetable for the NRC’s decision.

NorthStar, which bought the closed nuclear reactor site and its $500 million decommissioning fund from Entergy Nuclear in 2019, has been busy over the past seven years, demolishing the plant and shipping the waste to a low-level nuclear waste site in west Texas. NorthStar is ahead of schedule and on budget for the project, which will remain the site of 59 concrete and steel casks containing more than 42 years of radioactive spent nuclear fuel until the federal Department of Energy builds a nationwide storage facility.

Johnson, who until recently was chair of the state’s Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel, said he believes Vernon’s priorities are to get a tax-producing entity on the site to help with property taxes, as well as provide good employment, which he said he expects a modular reactor would, compared to the other suggestions.

At a recent meeting of the Vernon Selectboard, it was noted that nothing has been formally submitted to the town by PowerTransitions, although it has been talking informally with both the state and the town. PowerTransitions was introduced to the town, state and regional officials two years ago by NorthStar.

Much of the discussion centered on a real estate option PowerTransitions has on a former private home on Governor Hunt Road, which NorthStar had used for offices, as well as concerns associated with data centers. It was pointed out that any redevelopment project is years away, and would either fall under Act 250, the state’s land use law, or Section 248, the state’s utility expansion law.