A new work group will work to monitor the plans for decommissioning the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. The Department of Homeland Security will lead the interagency partnership, which will include representatives from a wide selection of government agencies.
The group will keep tabs on the long and complicated process of taking apart the nuclear plant. Entergy executives have announced they will use what’s called the SAFSTOR approach to shutting down the plant, which means they will have 60 years to fully dismantle the site after it shuts down in 2014.
That means concerns about the safety of the site are likely to persist for some time, and the New Hampshire workgroup will be tasked with ensuring emergency preparedness plans are up to date.
Entergy will have until 2016 to come up with a decommissioning plan. When Maine Yankee was taken offline, its site cleanup was finished in nine years.
Other agencies who will participate include:
· Public Utilities Commission
· Office of Energy and Planning
· Department of Environmental Services
New Hampshire Employment Security
· Resources and Economic Development,
· Attorney General,
· And DHHS Division of Public Health Services, Radiological Health Section
