http://valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=13280
Due to decommission in 2012, Entergy the owner/operator of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is attempting to get permits to operate the plant for another 20 years. There have been numerous safety concerns about infrastructure and Entergys willingness to further invest in the aging power plant. There are cracks in the reactors, leaking underground pipes, contaminated areas which will already be uninhabitable for the forseeable future.
In Massachusetts we have already had one nuclear power plant fail and contaminate the Housatonic River, which GE is still being sued over 25 years later. You cannot fish or swim there and there are signs posted everywhere reminding you to stay away. Ground water in the area is contaminated and people who used to live along the banks of the Housatonic have mostly moved away. I for one certainly hope the NRC stays out of this and lets the people of Vermont decide whether or not they are willing to pay a little less for electricity and risk public safety, or to have the plant decommissioned as planned. I am not a resident of VT, but I live within 50 miles of the plant directly on the Connecticut River which the plant resides. Let the people decide, not the corporations.