VERNON — I am a 27 year employee of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp., and subsequently, Entergy. I am a registered professional engineer and hold myself and my coworkers to the highest of standards of trust, fairness, honesty, and integrity.
I am treated every day with those same standards of trust and displaying those qualities has been expected of me every day for 27 years. At Vermont Yankee, we hold ourselves to such high standards that it makes working here very pleasant. When I see an editorial attacking the credibility of Entergy, it makes me think of how drastically different the accusations are from reality.
In 27 years, I have never been asked to compromise my standards of safety and have been expected and encouraged to be open and honest if I have questions or concerns with decisions that are made at any level.
I have been trained to be critical and to challenge information that is presented to ensure that it is factual and has a sound basis in engineering and science. I have always felt that my voice is being heard and that the overriding determinant in decision making is safety. This includes industrial, nuclear and radiological safety.
I live in Vernon, just a few miles from the plant and can actually see the plant from my front yard. I have raised five children during these 27 years and have never regretted my decision to move to Vermont.
Trust, fairness, honesty and integrity are core values here at Vermont Yankee, and I can think of no other way to operate a nuclear power plant.