Whistleblower at Vermont Yankee

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Crystal Zevon

Crystal Zevon is author of 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon,' an oral history of the life of her former husband and lifelong friend and co-conspirator

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February 23rd, 2010 2:06 PM

Whistleblower at Vermont Yankee

By Crystal Zevon

The plot thickens. In fact, the plot seems to thicken on an hourly basis as more and more comes to light in the never-ending saga surrounding the mismanagement of Entergy’s Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant. According to the Rutland Herald the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has confirmed that a whistleblower who told Arnie Gundersen, a member of the Vt. Legislative Oversight Panel, that there had been an earlier radioactive leak of tritium at the VT. Yankee plant in the same general area as the current leak, was telling the truth. So… if they knew there was a leak way back in 2005, how is it that Entergy Nuclear executives repeatedly told Vermont regulators last year, under oath, that there were no underground pipes at the Vermont reactor carrying radionuclide?

To dig a little deeper... This guy, Neil Sheehan of the NRC, knew about the Vermont Yankee leak in the underground pipes in 2005. He, for some unknown reason, chose not to disclose that information and allowed Entergy to lie under oath. He did the same thing at Indian Point by not bothering to notify the public that over one million gallons of tritium-laced water was dumped into the Hudson River, the public water supply of New York City. It turns out that the NRC isn’t allowed to publicly talk about allegations made by whistleblowers – even if it means we’re all drinking radioactive water!

As long as we’re talking about water, let’s get back to my bathroom faucet – to my drinking water… It turns out that in spite of what Entergy refers to as ‘low levels’ of tritium (a radioactive hydrogen), they are evacuating an area near the plant’s advanced off-gas building… the exact same area the Whistleblower indicated as being in a “high-radiation” area involving a “radioactive steam leak” which drained into a drain pit. It turns out that in 2005, the company used a temporary plug to fix the leak, rather than shut down the plant to make it permanent…. Think about that, undoubtedly multiplied many times in nuke plants around the country, next time they tell you about the nuclear industry’s exemplary record of staying ‘on-line’… How many times has the public safety been jeopardized by band-aid fixes in order not to lose time and MONEY? As for my water worries… how am I supposed to believe my drinking water is safe when Entergy reports that it’s taking one of its own drinking water wells, near the leak’s plume, out of service as a precautionary measure?

Seriously, this is one of those ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ stories where what’s good is bad and what’s bad is good. Those of us who have been monitoring the operation of nuclear plants around the country for years don’t know whether to cheer or cry. Every time something more is uncovered, admitted to or suddenly worthy of attention, it brings our case to close this plant one step closer. But, the sad reality is that what helps us win our case against the nuclear giants is that the dangers and disasters we’ve been predicting for the last 30 or 40 years have become reality. So, by losing, we may eventually win. Let’s just hope the lessons learned here will be echoed loud and clear around the country as the administration champions building new nukes as an energy solution.

NOTE: Vermont’s legislature is the only one in the country that has the power to vote on whether a nuclear plant should get a license extension. Other states leave it to utility regulators and the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Vermont Senate vote on a bill authorizing (or not!) the re-licensing of Vermont Yankee in 2012 to operate for another 20 years is scheduled for Wednesday (that’s day after tomorrow). Today’s headlines are about groups, in particular the Vermont Energy Partnership, calling to postpone the vote. Stay tuned…

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