Find me on Substack »
Bye Bye Yankee
Last one out the door, turn off the lights. Vermont Yankee, our aging nuclear plant, announced today that it would close at the end of next year. So much for the plant’s green-washed moniker: “Safe, Clean, Reliable.” We tend to think of it as “Dangerous, Leaky, Tenuous.” Vermont Yankee is only as reliable as its profits to plant owner Entergy Corporation. And those profits aren’t high enough. So economics – and not Vermont’s court fight to close the plant – killed Yankee. So be it.
This is great news for Vermont, sad news for VY’s 630 employees, and sad news as well for my pal Tim Newcomb, the artist and cartoonist who has made paltry sums illustrating the senility of this plant for more than three decades. Sorry, Tim. Time for a new monstrosity. Big banks?
8 comments
yuh-but, Entergy want to wait 60 years to clean it up! Did i hear that right? Dry cask storage, anyone?
z
Thanks, Zara. Yep, the struggle continues…
Don’t want to rain on the parade but I think we need to fully understand the implications/ramifications
of SAFSTOR versus immediate total decommissioning
Yes, a single day for celebration. Now reality bites. Thanks, Ed.
Tim could take up the F-35 basing issue!
I’ve relayed the great suggestion to Tim. Thanks, Horace!
New monstrosity awaits your attention, Tim: Gaz Metro’s proposed pipeline to carry fracked gas through the farms, forests, and wetlands of Vermont, and under Lake Champlain, to deliver it to International Paper in Ticonderoga, NY.
Ah, a much better culprit than big banks. I’ve mentioned it to Tim. Thanks, Bobbie!