It appears now that the fallout, no pun intended, from the Vermont Yankee problems of the last few weeks has now reached Washington D.C.
In the hours before Rep. Peter Welch announced he was introducing legislation giving governors in states with aging nuke plants in their midst the power to instigate independent safety assessments, he was able to find four co-sponsors for the bill -- two each from New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
It's a fact that wouldn't have happened if the VY problems hadn't happened. When Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced the identical bill six months earlier, he couldn't get a single co-sponsor, according to Ray Shadis of the nuke watchdog group New England Coalition. Sanders downplayed the lack of sponsors for his bill, saying co-sponsors aren't so critical to have when you need to get things done in the Senate. Not sure Sen. Patrick Leahy would agree, but maybe it's all perception.
It remains to be seen if the bills Welch and Sanders are boosting will ever become law.
These assessments are an anathema to the NRC and the nuke industry, as you could see in the comments from the NRC and Entergy spokesmen in today's story. Both said the assessments aren't necessary because the NRC's scrutiny of nuke plants encompasses the same work. Critics, of course, will argue that if that's true, then how come that VY cooling towerwork collapsed so unexpectedly.
Another reason the industry will fight the Welch/Sanders legislation is because of what happened at Maine Yankee a decade ago. MY was the subject of the only independent safety assessment ever conducted, and while it wasn't the sole reason why the joint subsequently was shut down, the problems it uncovered were nails in MY's coffin.
Sanders, by the way, is the godfather to the Welch's initiative. He said on the phone that he brought up the idea of Welch introducting a companion bill in the House during a conversation with Welch over the Labor Day weekend. Voila. Three days later we have a bill in the House with four co-sponsors.
Quick work by Welch. And smart politics by Sanders.
-- Sam Hemingway
