Deborah Katz: ‘What could go wrong?’

Twisted reinforcing bars are piled near the decommissioned Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt.

Twisted reinforcing bars are piled near the decommissioned Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt. STAFF FILE PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

This April 29, 2019 photo shows the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Vernon, Vt., as seen from across the Connecticut River in Hinsdale, N.H. In January, privately held NorthStar Group Services completed the purchase of Vermont Yankee from New Orleans-based Entergy after federal and state regulators approved the sale of the reactor, closed since 2014. It marked the first permanent transfer of an operating license to a nuclear cleanup specialist for accelerated decommissioning. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

This April 29, 2019 photo shows the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station in Vernon, Vt., as seen from across the Connecticut River in Hinsdale, N.H. In January, privately held NorthStar Group Services completed the purchase of Vermont Yankee from New Orleans-based Entergy after federal and state regulators approved the sale of the reactor, closed since 2014. It marked the first permanent transfer of an operating license to a nuclear cleanup specialist for accelerated decommissioning. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill) Jessica Hill—AP

Published: 12-26-2024 10:08 AM

Whether NorthStar has done a good job cleaning up Vermont Yankee is important, but doesn’t address the larger issues. The colossal failure of nuclear power is seen in decommissioning, with the years of shipments of “low-level” waste to Texas.

For all its claims of “clean and green,” this small reactor will cost close to $800 million, if not more, to clean up. That’s ratepayer money. This does not include the stranded high-level waste trapped at the site with no solution for the foreseeable future — paid for by taxpayers. Nor does it address the environmental racism in targeting working poor communities in west Texas for a “solution.”

Basically, the industry’s solution is to contaminate some other community with no political clout. Then there’s the issue of the dismantling the highly contaminated reactor building. Of course the corporation maintains that it’s safe for the elementary school across the street, but is it?

Citizens Awareness Network repeatedly called for the relocation of students at the school during cleanup. It seems precautionary as well as reasonable to put the safety of the children ahead of the bottom line of the corporation and, while engaging in this toxic cleanup, to pay for the removal of the children to a safe site for the duration. As they say, “What could go wrong?”

Deborah Katz

Rowe