To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Close down Vermont Yankee
The Vermont Yankee power plant is out dated and leaking various kinds of radiation. Aging power plants, Insufficient storage space and poor maintence all add up to a long term health threat to all Vermonters.
We need to tell our reps that we do not want to be exposed to any radiation from Vermont Yankee or live with the threat of a possible Fukishima accident in our state. This technology is not worth the risk it presents to people or the environment
Why is this important?
Yankee's plant is one of the oldest in the world: its infrastructure is precariously decrepit and in need of urgent repair. The plant's $100 million condenser needs to be replaced immediately and, according to Arnie Gunderson, speaking at Richmond's Free Public Library in VT back in November of '09, Yankee's turbine-pull rotates in a fashion that when it malfunctions, shrapnel is shot back toward the reactor containment box. This too needs to be replaced.
VT Yankee has had radiation leaks time and again. There has been more than one leak at Yankee because of its aging, wooden infrastructure. In fact, in just the initial two years of operating, the plant had to be shut down seventeen times -- radioactive gases exceeding legal limits were pouring out. In July of 1976, 86,000 gallons of radioactive tritium spilled into the Connecticut River. In 1980 a thousand gallons of radioactive water spilled on the plant floor. Incidents like these rack up to well over a dozen. At the beginning of 2009, two pipes leaking radioactive water and steam were reported. And then there was a leak in April, and another in the condenser was discovered in June. In 2002, the USNRC (the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission) reported that 47 percent of facility employees are afraid to report safety issues to management.
let's tell our representatives that we do not want to put our families lives at risk and risk future generation because of this irresponsible and dangerous industry.