Greenpeace

The last time we updated you all on the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant our air division was making a splash with the “One World” hot air balloon. We had toured around Vermont raising awareness of the issue and hearing from Vermonters directly that they are ready to shut this dinosaur down. Since then we have been working hard on the ground to get the messages of Vermonters to lawmakers in Montpelier.

We have drawn heavily on Vermont Yankee’s history of mismanagement and accidents in the past, and the plant has once again messed up.  This time around they have leaked a substantial amount of radioactive hydrogen, known as tritium, into the groundwater surrounding the reactor. This has been a remarkable revelation considering that less than a year ago the plant’s chief Engineer, David McElwee, told state officials that a leak was impossible because the pipes did not exist and that he considered “this issue closed.”

It also appears that not only were their statements inaccurate, but that they actually knew there were pipes carrying radionuclides and were intentionally misleading lawmakers and regulators. This shows that we can't trust this plant or its owner, Entergy. The tritium levels in the groundwater near the plant have been found to be above federal drinking water standards, and Cobalt-60 and Zinc-65 (both much more radioactive than Tritium) have started showing up in tests.  Yankee sits on the Connecticut River, and an elementary school is right across the street, so these radioactive leaks have public health implications. On top of health and safety the presence of tritium is likely to increase the cost of decommissioning several hundred million dollars, a cost that could end up being dredged from the pocket books of Vermonters.

To ice their deception cake the discovery of the tritium leak was preceded by a new Vermont Yankee ad campaign in December where the company set their employees up as human shields. They were hoping to present the positive face of the workers who love the plant, but their original cast included the very same chief engineer who had lied about the underground pipes. At some point in the last couple of weeks the company realized their mistake and took the profile for David McElwee off their site. On further examination we noticed that they had also edited the profile of another employee, Beth Bristol, who is McElwee’s daughter. They removed the part about that said “she couldn’t be happier working side by side with her dad.”
See the ad changes here

We have known for a long time that this plant was not safe, clean, or reliable, but now we are seeing that Vermonters are getting fed up. Can we trust this company for the next 20 years? No. The only answer now is for the state legislature to vote against relicensing, that’s what Greenpeace and Vermonters all over are asking for now. We’re not happy that the company is leaking radioactive materials into the ground, nor are we happy that they lied about the pipes that are the likely source, but we are happy that we know about it now and are getting closer and closer to making Phil’s new year resolution come true as Entergy continues to shoot themselves in the foot.