DUMMERSTON — I wonder how many of the pro-nuclear letters that have been appearing in The Commons and in he Reformer lately were written by people who work for Entergy, or who otherwise have a financial stake in keeping Vermont Yankee open.
Al Blakley writes in his letter in the Sept. 13 issue of the Reformer: “Three Mile Island [TMI] was the worst disaster in U.S. nuclear history. It experienced a complete core meltdown, yet had no long term impact to the health and safety of tens of thousands of people within the 50-mile radius of the plant.”
The owner of the TMI nuclear power plant paid the families of people who died, or were made sick because of the meltdown, millions of dollars on one condition: that the families not tell anyone their stories.
The still-unfolding nuclear disaster in Japan (the reactors that are melting down are the same make and model as Vermont Yankee) is expected to kill more than 1 million people. Vermont Yankee is extremely dangerous. That's why no private insurance company will insure it, and why taxpayers would be stuck with the bill for the costs of an accident at the reactor.
Another reason to close Vermont Yankee immediately is the cost - and impact on global warming - of storing Entergy's nuclear waste for the next 1 million years, during which time it must be protected by armed guards 24 hours a day.
A final reason I support a nuclear free Vermont is that there are cheaper ways to meet our need for electricity. Spending $1 on energy efficiency programs like Efficiency Vermont saves approximately three times as much energy as spending $1 on nuclear power generation.
The dollar spent on energy efficiency also creates more jobs than the dollar spent on nuclear.
Sources for the facts in this letter are at ValleyPost.org.