Vermont bucks Obama's nuclear call by voting to shut plant

Vermont  is bucking President Obama's call to revive the nuclear power industry by voting to shutter its only nuclear plant.

On Wednesday, its senators became the first legislators in the United States  to vote on a nuclear plant's future. By a 26-4 vote, they opposed a 20-year extension of Vermont Yankee's license, which expires in March 2012.

Vermont is the only state that requires its House, Senate and governor to approve a nuclear plant's extension, according toStateline.org. In most states, such decisions are made by state regulators or the federal  Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The vote comes one week after Obama offered $8.3 billion in loan guarantees to build two new nuclear reactors in Burke, Ga., which -- if approved -- would be the first such nuclear plant construction in three decades. 

Vermont Yankee, which provides about a third of the state's power, has drawn controversy. In January, the plant announced it was leaking tritium into groundwater near the plant. This is a radioactive substance that can be dangerous if ingested in large quantities.

Plant officials later acknowledged misleading investigators while under oath. A criminal investigation by the state attorney general ensued.

Anti-nuclear activists, who lobbied legislators to oppose the plant's extension, hailed the vote. Vermont Yankee and its owner, New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., remained defiant.

"The effort to win a 20-year renewal of Vermont Yankee's operating license is far from over," company spokesman Larry Smith said in a statement reported by the Associated Press. "We remain determined to prove our case to the Legislature, state officials and the Vermont public."

Unless the Vermont Senate reverses itself, Vermont Yankee will be the first nuclear power plant to go offline since 1998, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

 Source: usatoday.com