Entergy asks court to block Vermont from forcing nuke plant shutdown

Washington (Platts)--18Apr2011/224 pm EDT/1824 GMT

Entergy has asked the US District Court for the District of Vermont to issue an order barring the state from forcing its Vermont Yankee nuclear plant to shut permanently in less than a year, the New Orleans-based utility said Monday.

The company said its request for declaratory and injunctive relief comes after the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on March 21 agreed to renew the unit's operating license for an additional 20 years, to March 21, 2032.

"We have made every reasonable effort to accommodate the state of Vermont and its officials while allowing the continued operation of Vermont Yankee an outcome that benefits all stakeholders, including Vermont consumers and the approximately 650 men and women who work at the plant," Richard Smith, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities subsidiary, said in a statement.

"Despite the fact that Vermont Yankee is important to the reliability of the New England electric transmission grid, emits virtually no greenhouse gases, and provides more than $100 million in annual economic benefits to the state of Vermont, it has been made clear that state officials are singularly focused on shutting down the plant," Smith added. "That has left us with no other choice but to seek relief in the court system."

Entergy said the Vermont Legislature in 2006 passed a law that "invalidated a key provision" of a 2002 memorandum of understanding it signed with state officials when it bought Vermont Yankee. Under the MOU, Entergy said it had agreed to seek approval from Vermont Public Service Board if it sought to operate the plant beyond March 21, 2012.

In the complaint to the court, Entergy charged that the state "repudiated the MOU, breaching that agreement."

"The 2006 state law took the decision about Vermont Yankee's future away from the Public Service Board, a quasi-judicial expert decision-maker, independent of legislative control," Smith said. "It instead placed Vermont Yankee's fate in the hands of political decision-makers, namely the state General Assembly and governor who could deprive [Entergy]...of the opportunity to operate the Vermont Yankee plant beyond March 21, 2012, for unsupported or arbitrary reasons. This is not what we signed up for in 2002."

--Jeff Barber, jeff_barber@platts.com

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