Earth Equity News

Vermont Senate Votes to Close Nuclear Plant. By Matthew L. Wald, New York Times, February 25, 2010. "In an unusual state foray into nuclear regulation, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 Wednesday to block operation of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant after 2012, citing radioactive leaks, misstatements in testimony by plant officials and other problems. Unless the chamber reverses itself, it will be the first time in more than 20 years that the public or its representatives has decided to close a reactor. The vote came just more than a week after President Obama declared a new era of rebirth for the nation's nuclear industry, announcing federal loan guarantees of $8.3 billion to assure the construction of a twin-reactor plant near Augusta, Ga. While it is unclear how Vermont Yankee's fate could influence the future of nuclear power nationally, the reactor's recent troubles are viewed by some as a challenge to arguments that such plants are clean, well run and worth building. Vermont's governor, Jim Douglas, a Republican, said after the Senate's vote that he and other governors had met with Mr. Obama on Monday and that Mr. Obama had spoken 'passionately' about the need for more reactors."