A number of Vermont residents called for the closure of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant during a public meeting with federal regulators on the plant’s safety.
Six Nuclear Regulatory Commission members took questions and comments last night in Brattleboro from over 150 local people. Some support Vermont Yankee but most in attendance were opposed to its 20-year relicensing which the NRC recently approved.
One audience member shouted "Close it NOW, close it NOW!" moments after the public meeting began, and other outbursts punctuated the proceedings.
The state Senate voted last year to block the nearly 40-year-old plant from operating past March 2012, when its state permit expires. Vermont Yankee’s owner, Entergy Corp., has sued state officials to stop the plant closure.