Ex-Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power plant in Haddam to become wildlife refuge

Jan 9 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Luther Turmelle New Haven Register, Conn.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that it has acquired a 38-acre piece of land owned by the operator of the former Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power plant for $900,000.

The land will become part of the Salmon River Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. With the acquisition of a piece of the Connecticut Yankee property, the Salmon River Division now includes 416 acres of land in the state, said Andrew French, a Massachusetts-based project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Conte refuge was established in 1991 to conserve native plants, animals and their habitats in the 7.2 million acre Connecticut River watershed, which stretches across four states. It is the only refuge in the country dedicated to a river's entire watershed.

"This is a piece of a larger mosaic of environmentally important lands that will be protected in perpetuity," French said. "The investment of this property ... is a tremendous accomplishment given its location along the Salmon River and outstanding value to wildlife and people."

Ultimately, the newly acquired land will be made available for public use, French said.

The Salmon River Division of the Conte refuge includes extensive beds of submerged aquatic vegetation, which provides a multi-purpose habitat for a large number of fish species, including commercial finfish and shellfish, according to French. The cove where the Salmon River meets the Connecticut includes freshwater tidal wetlands, flats that provide migratory birds and shorebirds with sources of food, water, and shelter and serve as bald eagle winter roost and perch sites.

Wayne Norton, president and chief executive officer of Connecticut Yankee, said the company welcomed the opportunity to be able to sell the land to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Connecticut Yankee is owned by nine New England utilities including the Connecticut Light and Power Co. and United Illuminating.

"The success of this land transaction is due to the cooperative efforts of the service and grassroots organizations in the Haddam community," Norton said.

Connecticut Yankee acquired the piece of land it is selling to the Fish and Wildlife Service in August 2000. The land is located adjacent to the 544-acre site of the former plant.

The plant operated from 1968 until 1998 and was decommissioned in 2007. A portion of the land is still used for storage of the casks of spent nuclear fuel and cannot be sold until the U.S. government develops a national repository for the material or develops some kind of interim solution, said Bob Capstick, a spokesman for Connecticut Yankee.

"Connecticut Yankee has made no decisions about the disposition of the original 544-acre former plant site property and has established no timetable for making such a decision," Capstick said. "You can't really begin to fully reuse the property until that issue (interim storage of spent nuclear fuel) is resolved."

Capstick said a blue ribbon presidential commission released a set of recommendations last summer on both interim and long-term storage plans for used nuclear fuel. Included in those recommendations are plans to consolidate the number of sites around the country where used nuclear fuel is stored.

Among the sites being considered for storage of spent nuclear fuel are locations in New Mexico and South Carolina. Capstick said Connecticut Yankee officials are hopeful that federal lawmakers will move forward with the process of determining the interim locations for spent nuclear fuel in the coming months.

Norton said the fact that the land the Fish and Wildlife Service acquired was never used for any of the nuclear plant's operations, including storage of the spent fuel, made it easier for the sale of the property to move forward.