Vermont Yankee’s license to operate expires in 2012. We have time to plan our future now! We can replace this dirty plant with clean, sustainable energy that can bring independence and jobs to our community, while at the same time protecting our environment.

We have a right to make sustainable energy choices. Entergy does not have our best interests in mind. Rather, this foreign corporation is solely focused on its profits. We have a right to safe, clean energy that provide jobs and community control.

Security Risk

Vermont Yankee is an aging reactor with a fuel pool located 70 feet in the air outside of containment. A National Academy of Sciences report found that reactor fuel pools are terrorist targets and that an attack on a reactor like Vermont Yankee could release plumes of radiation that would travel over 100 miles! No one is safe.

Power Uprate – Their Profit, Our Risk

Vermont Yankee received a power increase of 20% to make the reactor profitable. Since Vermont Yankee can not increase the size of its reactor vessel, it will run the reactor with hotter fuel. This hotter fuel will be stored in the fuel pool. 34% more deadly waste would be released in plumes in the event of a terrorist attack or accident! We can’t ransom our children’s future to a dirty dangerous technology.

Sustainable Energy Future

We can do better. On a global level sustainable energy choices like wind, solar, and small hydro are already out-pacing nuclear power in energy production. These already proven technologies will provide new jobs, new investment, and clean energy choices for New England.

We must act to create a really green energy future.

Contact your legislators and let them know that you are very concerned about New England's energy portfolio. You want to ensure that we make a substantial investment in renewable energy generation. It is imperative for New England to be able to generate at least 25% of our energy from renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass and small hydro by  2012. and 40% by 2018. This mandate would give us a jump start on establishing new businesses and jobs across the state that are well paying, local and sustainable.

Long Term On Site Cool Down = Job Security

Closure of Vermont Yankee does not mean loss of jobs for the community. If Entergy commits to long term cool down, the skilled workforce could be employed in a thorough clean-up of the site – one that we could all be proud of. The NRC permits decommissioning to take as long as 60 years. That ensures the retention of the present workforce in removal of the contaminated reactor, clean up of the ground water, and monitoring of the high level waste. It would enable the amassing of funds necessary to do a good job. Yankee Rowe, one of the smallest commercial reactors in the country, cost $39 million to build and over $630 million to clean up!