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88-499: Following its 2012 merger with Boston-based NSTAR , Northeast Utilities had more than 4,270 circuit miles of electric transmission lines, 72,000 pole miles of distribution lines, and 6,459 miles of natural gas pipeline in New England . On February 2, 2015, the company and all its subsidiaries rebranded themselves as " Eversource Energy ". The stock symbol changed on February 19, 2015, from "NU" to "ES". Before its rebranding,

176-476: A Certificate of Public Good to install an outdoor diesel generator to replace a tie line from the nearby hydroelectric station as its station blackout power source. The outdoor generator would only operate if the plant's main emergency diesel generators located inside the turbine building were to fail. The outdoor generator is a self-contained unit that does not require cooling water from the plant's cooling water systems. The new generator would power instrumentation in

264-508: A cooling tower collapse in 2007, and other problems. Some businesses in Vermont were concerned there was an absence of a clear plan to replace the electricity generated by the plant. A spokesman for IBM, the largest private employer in the state, and the state's largest consumer of electricity, said "we have to be smarter than this". Larry Reilly, president of Central Vermont Public Service Corp., Vermont's largest utility, stated in 2011 that he

352-785: A joint statement decrying the NRC's action and noting the similarity of Vermont Yankee to units then in partial meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power station, Japan. In March 2012, more than 130 protesters were arrested at the corporate headquarters of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, on the first day of the plant's operation after the expiration of its original 40-year license. In March 2013, more than 500 people, carrying banners and chanting "shut it down", marched through downtown Brattleboro in protest against Vermont Yankee. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of

440-563: A joint venture with Hydro-Québec and Northeast Utilities to build a new High-voltage direct current (HVDC) line from Windsor, Quebec (connecting with the Quebec - New England Transmission line) to a location in central New Hampshire. It is projected that the line will either run in existing right-of-way adjacent to the HVDC line that runs through New Hampshire, or it will connect to a right-of-way in northern New Hampshire that will run through

528-680: A license extension of 20 years on January 27, 2006. In early 2010, the Vermont State Senate voted 26–4 to block the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB) from considering continued operation of Vermont Yankee. On March 10, 2011, the NRC voted to conclude proceedings regarding renewal of the operating license for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station near Brattleboro, Vermont, for an additional 20 years. On March 21, 2011,

616-627: A lower court's decision that allowed the Vermont Yankee plant to keep running despite a seven-year effort by the Vermont Legislature to close it, finding that states are "pre-empted" from regulating safety by the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, which made safety a federal responsibility. On August 28, 2013, Entergy announced that due to economic factors, notably the lower cost of electricity provided by competing natural gas-fired power plants , it would cease operations and schedule

704-498: A new state certificate of public good (CPG), but the Vermont legislature voted in February 2010 against renewed permission to operate. In January 2012, Entergy won a court case, invalidating the state's veto power on continued operations. In August 2013, Entergy announced that due to economic factors Vermont Yankee would cease operations in the fourth quarter of 2014. The plant was shut down at 12:12 pm EST on December 29, 2014. Since

792-442: A new substation across the street, and configuring a new 115 kV line from South Agawam to Southwick using a combination of both new and old line segments of the former 115 kV path between Agawam and North Bloomfield. The new Cadwell and Fairmont switching stations allowed a number of three-terminal 115 kV lines to be broken up into two-terminal lines. Finally, the project allowed a problematic underground 115 kV transmission path through

880-451: A portion of the electricity produced by the reactor at a cost of approximately 4.5 cents per kilowatt hour. On May 6, 2006, Vermont Yankee achieved its power of 1,912 MWth (120% of its original licensed thermal power of 1,593 MW-thermal) because of an NRC approved Extended Power Uprate. The power increase was carried out in steps to allow collection of data on the reactor's steam dryer at various power levels, in accordance with

968-501: A radius of 10 miles (16 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity. The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Vermont Yankee was 35,284, an increase of 1.4 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km)

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1056-468: A water leak caused by a faulty weld caused a "conservative" four-day shutdown while the pipe involved was repaired. A company spokesman said that "if plant managers had known on Sunday night what they knew on Monday, they might have tried to fix the leak while the plant kept running." In 2010, Vermont Electric Power Company constructed a new substation, designated as the Vernon Substation, on

1144-502: Is a major energy distributor to 1.7 million customers across Massachusetts, including over 1.4 million electric customers in 140 communities and over 300,000 natural gas customers in 51 communities. The Rocky River Power Company, formed in 1905 by J. Henry Roraback , became the Connecticut Light and Power Company in 1917. Eversource predecessor Northeast Utilities (NU) was formed on July 1, 1966, under CEO Lelan Sillin , with

1232-500: Is licensed to contain up to 3353 spent fuel assemblies. In 1978, the Vermont Yankee reactor was the subject of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. , an important United States Supreme Court administrative law case which ruled that courts cannot impose procedures upon the NRC as this exceeds their power of judicial review . On July 31, 2002, Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC (EVY) purchased

1320-509: Is pumped through their pipe lines. In July 2007, NSTAR Electric introduced a new program called NSTAR Green. In May 2008, NSTAR Green signed ten-year contracts for sixty megawatts of wind power from two wind farms in New York and Maine. They offered their customers a chance to buy 50-100 percent of their power from these wind farms. Power purchased through NSTAR Green would reduce reliance on fossil fuels that are traditionally used to meet

1408-956: Is reviewing the findings, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to open an investigation on the matter, and both the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and the Massachusetts Public Utilities Department are launching inquiries of their own. On Feb. 27, 2018, FERC announced their investigation “revealed no evidence of anticompetitive withholding of natural gas pipeline capacity on Algonquin Gas Transmission by New England shippers.” It said that following an extensive review Commission staff “determined that EDF’s study

1496-807: The Longwood Medical Area of Boston. Electric power distribution in the New England area is coordinated by ISO New England , a regional transmission organization . In 2002, NSTAR Electric and Gas Corporation was cited by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for discharging oil into the Charles River . The EPA also stated that NSTAR had failed to prepare spill plans at four of its facilities, in Brighton, Cambridge, Needham, and West Roxbury, where oil

1584-750: The Northfield Mountain hydroelectric facility ) were transferred to Northeast Generation. In 2001, NU sold the assets and operations of its subsidiary, the Holyoke Water Power Company, to the City of Holyoke including the HWP electrical distribution system and customer base and all generation with the exception of the Mt. Tom coal-fired power plant which NU retained. The city's municipal gas and electric department assumed responsibility for

1672-697: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued their renewal of the operating license for the Vermont Yankee plant for an additional 20 years.; the renewed license will expire March 21, 2032. On April 14, 2011, Entergy, the owner of Vermont Yankee, sued the state of Vermont to stay open despite the Senate's blocking vote. On August 14, 2013, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled, upholding

1760-591: The 1970s, there have been many anti-nuclear protests about Vermont Yankee, including large protests after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011, and on the date of the original operating license expiry in March 2012. The plant's initial operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was the subject of a lawsuit that produced the U.S. Supreme Court 's 1978 decision Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. , in which

1848-582: The Democratic Governors Association in 2016, and payments made to trade associations that were used for lobbying or other political activities in excess of $ 135,000. In Massachusetts, Attorney General Maura Healey testified in March, 2017 before the DPU urging it to deny Eversource's proposed $ 300 million rate increase. In her testimony, she challenged the need for Eversource's rate increase, noting NSTAR's and WMECo's high returns over

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1936-468: The Eversource name. Eversource remains Connecticut's largest electric utility, serving more than 1.2 million residential, municipal, commercial and industrial customers in approximately 149 cities and towns. Eversource is also New Hampshire's largest electric utility, serving over 500,000 customers, including homes and businesses, in 211 cities and towns throughout the state. Furthermore, Eversource

2024-604: The Legislature appoint a panel to oversee an independent review of the plant's reliability. The panel gave Vermont Yankee a generally positive review. "What this report suggests to me is there is not a cause or reason to seek the closure of the plant because of operational or safety concerns," said Public Service Commissioner, David O'Brien. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission performed a tri-annual inspection July–August 2008. It found three "minor faults." An Associated Press report said that it had won "high marks." In May 2009,

2112-487: The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities on Thursday approved a much-reduced rate hike for Eversource Energy that will allow it to charge its Massachusetts electric customers tens of millions of dollars more a year. On December 20, 2017, Attorney General Maura Healey appealed the DPU ruling in the Eversource rate case, specifically the DPU's approval of a costly 10 percent shareholder return, one of

2200-470: The Massachusetts and Connecticut legislation. The company retained some of these assets by transferring them to a new subsidiary called Northeast Generation which functioned as a competitive supplier and sold the other assets entirely: WMECO's West Springfield Generating Station and several related hydroelectric and fossil fuel generating units were sold to Con Edison, while other assets (most notably

2288-526: The NRC imposed power ascension test plan. As of 2008, Vermont Yankee employed about 600 people including those in the corporate office on Old Ferry Road in Brattleboro, Vermont . Vermont Yankee used the Connecticut River as its source of cooling water for its two major water systems: the circulating water system and the service water system. The circulating water system removed heat from

2376-591: The NRC released a report on Vermont Yankee: Based on the results of this inspection, the NRC determined that Entergy-Vermont Yankee (ENVY) appropriately evaluated the contaminated ground water with respect to off-site effluent release limits and the resulting radiological impact to public health and safety; and that ENVY complied with all applicable regulatory requirements and standards pertaining to radiological effluent monitoring, dose assessment, and radiological evaluation. No violations of NRC requirements or findings of significance were identified. In early November 2010,

2464-507: The NSTAR facility, and possibly flowed into the Charles river, which is downstream of Sawins Pond. Many local activists lobbied for NSTAR to abide by state regulations and spend the $ 20–40 million required to perform a PCB remediation of the affected lands. By 1997 NSTAR was responsible for nearly 50 hazardous waste sites, and by 2006 all but 5 of these had been cleaned up. NSTAR has signed on

2552-518: The NU System. Public Service Company of New Hampshire ( PSNH , formed in 1926), a private company at the time, declared bankruptcy in January 1988 due to problems obtaining a license for the completed Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant . and in 1992 was merged into Northeast Utilities. In 1999, Con Edison and Northeast Utilities entered negotiations that would have created one of the largest utilities in

2640-750: The New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution in opposing construction of Vermont Yankee. In the 1970s and 1980s there were many anti-nuclear protests at Vermont Yankee which attempted to block access to the plant. More recent protests include: In February 2010, the Vermont Senate voted 26 to 4 against allowing the PSB to consider re-certifying the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant after 2012, citing radioactive tritium leaks, misstatements in testimony by plant officials,

2728-583: The New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee voted unanimously to deny Eversource's controversial Northern Pass project a permit, leaving the future of the project, and $ 1.6 billion of Eversource's Transmission Rate Base Growth Projections in doubt. On July 26, 2019, Eversource Energy announced that it was giving up Northern Pass after the New Hampshire Supreme Court rejected its appeal and sided with

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2816-551: The New Hampshire generation fleet was approved by the state's Public Utilities Commission on November 29, 2017, and completed on January 10, 2018. In June 2017 Eversource announced its merger with Aquarion Water Company for $ 1.675 billion. Aquarion would become a fully owned subsidiary and retain its own name, adding 300 employees and 230,000 customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. In December 2017,

2904-714: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This report estimated that the total cost for decommissioning the reactor would be $ 1.24 billion. The same document reported that only $ 665 million had been collected in the 42 years of operations of this plant for this purpose. Entergy hopes to raise some of the shortfall funds through "external financing". On September 28, 2016, Entergy began auctioning off more than 1,000 lots of goods in Brattleboro, Vt. Two cooling towers were demolished in July 2019. Cooling for

2992-552: The SEC. While Eversource reported that its electric transmission earnings were up 80 percent in Q2 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is now investigating the utility for having transmission rates that appear to be “unjust, unreasonable and unduly discriminatory or preferential”. Meanwhile, the potential for rooftop solar to prevent the need for new transmission lines is growing and Eversource wants to cap rooftop solar growth in

3080-523: The Supreme Court set forth a significant doctrine in American administrative law . Vermont Yankee was a BWR-4 Boiling water reactor that used a Mark I containment structure . It provided 71.8% of all electricity generated in Vermont in 2008 and met 35% of the overall electricity requirements of the state. It was originally designed and constructed for 500 MW electrical output. In 2006, it

3168-507: The United States. However, Con Edison backed out of the merger in 2001 after Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal threatened lawsuits to block it. Legislation passed in the late 1990s deregulated the electricity market in New England and required regulated utilities to divest generating stations to competitive suppliers. In 1999 the company divested all of the generating assets of WMECO and CL&P per requirements of

3256-451: The Vermont Yankee site to serve as the site's new main transmission facility and to connect a new 345 kV transmission line to Central Vermont as part of its Southern Loop project. The aging Entergy-owned Vermont Yankee substation could not handle the additional line or any additional transformers and VELCO desired to have a utility owned and controlled substation for what is probably the state's most important interconnection point. Additionally,

3344-501: The Vermont Yankee substation now connect to the Vernon substation, and three tie-lines, one at 115 kV and two at 345 kV, connect the Vermont Yankee substation to the Vernon substation. Each 345 kV tie line is capable of carrying the full power output of the plant. During the week of January 17, 2011, tritium was detected at a level of 9,200 picocuries per liter (below the federally required reporting level) in an area 150–200 feet north of

3432-580: The White Mountains. This 180- to 190-mile line, projected to carry 1,200 megawatts, will carry electricity to approximately one million homes. In October 2010, Northeast Utilities and NSTAR announced they would merge, with the resulting company retaining the Northeast Utilities name. Under the terms of the transaction, NSTAR shareholders received 1.312 Northeast Utilities common shares for each NSTAR share that they own. The merger

3520-617: The White Mountains. This 180- to 190-mile line, projected to carry 1,200 megawatts, would have carried electricity to approximately one million homes. The issue of buying hydropower from Hydro-Québec had been an issue during the Massachusetts gubernatorial election of 2010 . In November 2015, the Sierra Club of New Hampshire also expressed opposition for the new line, saying that it would not only benefit Connecticut and Massachusetts residents more than those in New Hampshire, but also

3608-561: The business which remain regulated. NSTAR sold its interest in the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant to FPL Group in 2002. On November 16, 2006, the company announced a 7.4% increase in its dividend to an annual rate of USD1.30 per common share from the previous USD1.21. NSTAR has ownership of unregulated district energy and telecommunications businesses, including Medical Area Total Energy Plant, LLC. which produces electricity, steam and chilled water for sale to customers in

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3696-789: The case was thrown out of court as the judge stated natural gas prices are federally regulated and could not be interfered with by the court. NSTAR (company) NSTAR was a utility company that provided retail electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Massachusetts , including the Boston urban area. NSTAR became a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities in April 2012. In February 2015, Northeast Utilities and all of its operating companies (Western Massachusetts Electric, Public Service New Hampshire, Connecticut Light and Power, Yankee Gas, and NSTAR Gas and Electric) became one large company known as Eversource Energy . NSTAR

3784-533: The city of Springfield that was vulnerable to thermal overloads to be removed from service by breaking it in half at the middle. The underground lines now function solely to supply the distribution load served out of the Breckwood substation in Springfield. A previously proposed costly project that would have replaced the underground cables is no longer necessary. On November 20, 2013, cutover of 115 kV lines to

3872-665: The company had essentially completed the divestiture of its competitive businesses. In 2006, NU decided to sell the generating units it had earlier retained in the 1999 divestiture as competitive suppliers and shut down its competitive generation business units. The Northeast Generation assets, including Mount Tom Station and Northfield Mountain, were all sold to Energy Capital Partners . PSNH continued to operate regulated hydroelectric and fossil fuel generation assets to serve its default/basic service customers who did not choose an alternative competitive supplier. In October 2010, Northeast Utilities announced that it would merge with NSTAR ,

3960-493: The company operated six main subsidiaries: Connecticut Light and Power (CL&P), Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSNH), Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO), Yankee Gas Services Company (Yankee Gas), NSTAR Electric, and NSTAR Gas. NSTAR itself was the product of corporate mergers, and included the former Boston Edison Company, Cambridge Electric Light Company, Commonwealth Electric Company, Commonwealth Gas, and Cambridge Gas Company. All now currently operate under

4048-507: The company signed on a joint venture with Hydro-Québec and NSTAR to build a new high-voltage direct current (HVDC) line from Windsor, Quebec (connecting with the Quebec grid ) to a location in Franklin, New Hampshire . It was projected that the line would either run in an existing right-of-way adjacent to the HVDC line that runs through New Hampshire, or it would connect to a right-of-way in northern New Hampshire that would run through

4136-600: The concern of the flooding of boreal forests during the construction of Hydro-Québec's dams in northern Quebec, disputes with the Innu First Nations, and the effects of tourism and the environment within the White Mountain National Forest . On January 25, 2018, Massachusetts Governor Baker selected this "Northern Pass Transmission" (NPT) project as the winner for a clean energy procurement RFP. However, days later on February 1, 2018,

4224-438: The control room and would be capable of providing emergency AC power to one train of each of the plant's emergency cooling systems. On August 27, 2013, Entergy announced in a press release that it would close Vermont Yankee by the end of 2014. Among the reasons cited for the closure were ongoing low energy prices resulting from increased shale gas production, and the high operating costs of the plant. In 1971, Esther Poneck led

4312-728: The day for others to use that capacity. Those orders had the effect of driving up wholesale prices for natural gas during peak winter heating periods and in turn increasing the costs of electricity generated by gas-fired power plants. The two utilities “engaged in behavior that would tend to have the largest impact on prices,” said N. Jonathan Peress, a senior director at the New York-based environmental group. “That implies they knew their efforts would have some sort of pricing impact that would provide them with some commercial benefit.” Representatives for both utilities denied they did anything improper. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey

4400-473: The earlier testimony was a "miscommunication." On June 4, 2010, VPR reported that, because they had provided misleading information, Entergy Nuclear would be liable for legal expenses incurred by certain parties. In January 2010, the Vermont Department of Health reported that tritium , a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, had been discovered in a sample of ground water taken from a monitoring well

4488-401: The fourth cell of the west cooling tower collapsed, spilling some of the non-radioactive, cooling water. The collapse was an "industrial safety event," which did not threaten the integrity of the reactor or release any radiation into the environment. The NRC stated that the remaining cooling tower had enough capacity to allow the plant to operate at full output, however, until September 16, 2007,

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4576-476: The generators and absorbed the HWP distribution customer base. Between 2000 and 2002 due to state laws, NU divested WMECO, CL&P, and PSNH's nuclear generating assets which consisted of their stakes in the Seabrook , Millstone , and Vermont Yankee stations. In November 2005, the company announced it would sell its unregulated competitive businesses, including generation and energy services. In November 2006

4664-424: The highest rates allowed by an electric distribution company regulator in the last five years. On January 30, 2018, Massachusetts Rep. Thomas Golden and Sen. Michael Barrett held an Oversight Hearing on the DPU's decision to approve Eversource's proposal to include a demand charge as part of a monthly minimum reliability contribution on net metering customers. Rep. Golden accused the utility of purposefully making

4752-427: The last few years. Referencing NSTAR's 2015 return of more than 13 percent, Attorney General Healey told the DPU that “[l]ast year, no state public utility commission in the country allowed a return that high.” Between 2010 and 2015, Eversource's shareholders of common stock received a cumulative total return (including quarterly dividends and the change in the market price per share) of 89 percent. On November 30, 2017,

4840-402: The local 115 kV system was relying exclusively on Entergy's single 345 kV to 115 kV transformer. The construction of the Vernon substation included a second 345 kV to 115 kV transformer to supplement the existing Entergy owned transformer. The additional transformer also provided redundancy for Vermont Yankee's source of offsite power. The four transmission lines that formerly connected directly to

4928-545: The location where it was detected a year earlier. According to the State's radiological health chief at the Vermont Health Department , Bill Irwin, and Vermont Yankee spokesman, Larry Smith, the source of the leak was not yet known. Irwin and Governor Peter Shumlin expressed concern about the discovery. On January 19, 2012, Judge J. Garvan Murtha of United States District Court in Brattleboro ruled that

5016-485: The major electric and gas provider in Greater Boston , with the resulting company retaining the Northeast Utilities name for the next several years. After government approvals, the deal closed in April 2012. In 2015 the company (now known as Eversource) agreed to sell all of its New Hampshire generation assets in the same manner it sold its assets in Massachusetts and Connecticut between 2000 and 2006. The sale of

5104-624: The merger of the Connecticut Light and Power Company (CL&P, formed in 1917), Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO, formed in 1886), and the Hartford Electric Light Company (HELCO, formed in 1878) under a single parent company, creating the first new multi-state public utility holding company since the enactment of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 . In 1967, Holyoke Water Power Company (HWP) (formed in 1859) joined

5192-401: The merger was completed after government approval. In 2016, Eversource started joint ventures for wind farm developments with Ørsted . In 2023, Eversource announced it would sell off its equity in these projects ( Bay State Wind , South Fork Wind , Revolution Wind , and Sunrise Wind ) at an expected loss of $ 200 million. Eversource Energy has participated in a number of projects to improve

5280-570: The new Fairmont Switching Station was complete, marking substantial completion of the GSRP. Eversource has taken action to support the use of electric vehicles . Starting in 2018, the company began spending $ 45 million over five years to install over 400 electric vehicle charging stations in Massachusetts. The project is part of the company's Grid Modernization plan. The company has switched much of its power source from coal to natural gas , wind, hydroelectricity and solar power. As Northeast Utilities,

5368-549: The new charges "as confusing as possible." He said, "Let me tell you something gentlemen, I'm not happy how this was rolled out. I'm not happy with the lack of information my office has received." Golden, co-chairman of the Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, helped write the 2016 law that permits utilities to levy a new minimum monthly charge, and he told Eversource executives they were making it "extremely, extremely difficult" for him to continue to support them in

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5456-625: The other south to North Bloomfield, Connecticut. The new 345 kV corridor added a new strong interface between Massachusetts and Connecticut. The project also involved rebuilding all of the 115 kV lines along the transmission corridor between South Agawam and Ludlow to increase their capacities, building a new 115 kV transmission substation in East Springfield (Cadwell), replacing the Fairmont 115 kV transmission substation in Chicopee with

5544-432: The plant from Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corporation (VYNPC) for $ 180 million. Entergy received the reactor complex, nuclear fuel, inventories, and related real estate, as well as the liability to decommission the plant and related decommissioning trust funds of approximately $ 310 million. The acquisition included a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) under which three of the former owners committed to purchase

5632-514: The plant's decommissioning in the fourth quarter of 2014. Vermont Yankee was shut down at 12:12 pm EST on December 29, 2014. All fuel in the reactor was transferred to the spent fuel pool by January 12, 2015. By August 2018, all VY's remaining spent nuclear fuel was relocated from the spent fuel pool into in dry fuel storage casks. In December 2014, Entergy submitted the Post Shutdown Decommissioning Report to

5720-485: The plant's initial 40-year operating license was scheduled to expire; in March 2011, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) extended its license for another 20 years. Vermont Yankee's continued operations were complicated by the Vermont state legislature's enactment of a law providing the state legislature authority to determine the continued operation of the plant, in addition to the federal government. Entergy requested

5808-408: The plant's steam condenser was provided by circulating water through it, drawn from the adjacent Connecticut river. This water did not come in contact with the nuclear reactor and was not radioactive. The cooling towers were used to cool water returning from the condenser before it was discharged back into the river at times when it was too warm to comply with the environmental discharge permit. In 2007

5896-461: The plant. The company withdrew the plant from consideration for sale in late March 2011. In March 2011, 600 people gathered for a weekend protest outside the Vermont Yankee plant, in the wake of the Fukushima I nuclear accidents . On March 22, 2011, the day after the NRC issued Vermont Yankee's license extension, Vermont's congressional delegation, Senator Patrick Leahy (D), Senator Bernie Sanders (I), and Representative Peter Welch (D), issued

5984-478: The policy. In 2017, an environmental group accused Eversource and Avangrid of driving up electric, gas rates over several winters by buying up shipment capacity on a major pipeline that they ultimately did not use. The Environmental Defense Fund said both utilities routinely reserved big deliveries of natural gas on the Algonquin pipeline system for frigid days, but then sharply reduced those orders too late in

6072-425: The power generation process of the plant by cooling the plant's main condenser. The service water system cooled both safety and non-safety related auxiliary components in the nuclear facility and the turbine facility of the plant, and absorbed decay heat from the reactor's cooling systems in emergencies or in times when the reactor was shut down. Entergy Vermont Yankee applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for

6160-477: The previous November. The level of the isotope was initially below the acceptable limit for drinking water set by the Environmental Protection Agency . By mid-January, however, the level had risen to 20,000 picocuries per liter (pCi/L), the federal limit for drinking water. The head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Vermont's congressional delegation that the agency would devote more resources to addressing concerns about Vermont Yankee, and that he expected

6248-424: The reactor was kept at 50% power. The cause of the collapse was found to be corrosion in steel bolts and rotting of lumber. Entergy asserted that future inspections would be much more stringent in order to prevent further problems. The cooling tower collapse caused Vermont's then governor, Jim Douglas , to question the reliability of the power station: In March 2008, a State Senate committee recommended that

6336-420: The region’s electricity demand. NSTAR has had its share of environmental mishaps, including nearly a dozen spills at its former Watertown, Massachusetts facility. The spills, most of which occurred during the 1980s, consisted of transformer oil, which contained PCBs in high concentrations (6,200 Parts Per million). These spills have contaminated nearby Sawins and Williams Pond , both of which are downgradient of

6424-415: The reliability of the power grid in southwest Connecticut. The first project was construction of the $ 350 million 345 kilovolt Bethel–Norwalk transmission line through the western part of the state, and was constructed entirely by the company when it was still known as Northeast Utilities. With United Illuminating , an upgrade to the 69-mile (112 km), 345 kilovolt Middletown-Norwalk transmission line

6512-477: The risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Vermont Yankee was 8.1 × 10 per year, or a chance of one incident occurring on average every 123,000 years, according to an NRC study published in August 2010, based upon a 2008 USGS survey. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with

6600-519: The river. During the search for the source of the tritium leak, other radionuclides were found in the soil at the site. Levels of cesium-137 were found to be three to ten times higher than background levels. Silt in a pipe tunnel contained 2,600 picocuries/kg, but contamination outside the pipe tunnel was limited to a small volume, about 150 cubic feet (4.2 m ) of soil. According to the Vermont State Department of Health, there

6688-467: The source of the leak was found to be a pair of steam pipes inside the Advanced Off-Gas (AOG) pipe tunnel. The pipes were repaired, stopping the leak. Samples taken from the river and other drinking water sources by the Vermont Department of Health showed no detectable levels of tritium. The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services made a similar statement after several tests of

6776-445: The source of the tritium leak would be located within the next several weeks. On February 4, 2010, Vermont Yankee reported that ground water samples from a newly dug monitoring well at the reactor site were found to contain about 775,000 pCi of tritium per liter (more than 37 times the federal limit). On February 5, 2010, samples from an underground vault were found to contain 2.7 million pCi/L. On February 14, 2010,

6864-452: The state of Vermont could not force Vermont Yankee to close down, as the legislation that attempted to do so was based on radiological safety arguments that are the exclusive concern of the NRC. The judge also held that the state cannot force the plant's owner, Entergy, to sell electricity from the reactor to in-state utilities at reduced rates as a condition of continued operation. On June 7, 2013, Vermont's Public Service Board issued Entergy

6952-574: The state. In 2015, Eversource fought the rooftop solar industry and supported anti-solar policies. In Massachusetts, they staffed the State House with lobbyists in order to end legislation promoting growth of the solar industry. During the 2015 legislative session in New Hampshire, Eversource opposed an increase to the state's solar net metering cap. New Hampshire's cap is lower than all neighboring states. Eversource disclosed on its website politically related organization expenditures of $ 110,000 to

7040-581: The vice-president of operations at Vermont Yankee told the PSB during the reliability review that he did not believe there was any radioactively contaminated underground piping at the plant, but that he would check and respond to the panel. In October 2009, Arnold Gundersen , a member of a special oversight panel convened by the Vermont General Assembly , confirmed that radioactive contamination had been detected in underground pipes. An Entergy spokesperson told Vermont Public Radio (VPR) that

7128-454: Was a boiling water reactor (BWR), designed by General Electric . It operated from 1972 until December 29, 2014, when its owner Entergy shut down the plant. In 2008, the plant provided 71.8% of all electricity generated within Vermont, amounting to 35% of Vermont's electricity consumption. The plant is on the Connecticut River , upstream of the Vernon, Vermont Hydroelectric Dam and used the reservoir pool for its cooling water. In March 2012,

7216-415: Was completed in 2012. On February 2, 2015, Northeast Utilities and all its subsidiaries, including NSTAR, began to brand themselves as Eversource Energy . Vermont Yankee Vermont Yankee was an electricity generating nuclear power plant , located in the town of Vernon, Vermont , in the northeastern United States. It generated 620  megawatts (MWe) of electricity at full power. The plant

7304-555: Was energized in 2009 at a cost of $ 900 million. In 2013, the Greater Springfield Reliability Project, a component of the ongoing New England East-West Solution, was energized at a cost of $ 795 million. The project addressed numerous reliability issues with the Springfield, MA area's 115 kV transmission system by constructing two new 345 kV lines to the Agawam substation; one line north to Ludlow and

7392-582: Was flawed and led to incorrect conclusions about the alleged withholding.” A class-action lawsuit filed on November 14, 2017, against Avangrid, Inc. and Eversource Energy claims the two companies caused electricity consumers to incur overcharges of $ 3.6 billion in a years-long scheme that impacted six states and affected 14.7 million people. The lawsuit states that 7.1 million retail electricity customers and an overall population of 14.7 million people have been affected by Eversource and Avangrid's “unique monopoly” spanning at least from 2013 to 2016. On June 10, 2019,

7480-461: Was formed in 1999 by the merger of BEC Energy and Commonwealth Energy System and had the following operating units: Boston Edison Company , Cambridge Electric Light Company , Commonwealth Electric Company , and NSTAR Gas Company (formerly Commonwealth Gas and Cambridge Gas Company ). As a part of deregulation of the local electrical power industry , NSTAR has divested itself of all electric generation facilities, keeping only those elements of

7568-434: Was no health risk from the cesium, as the quantities were small and it had not migrated. Since cesium-137 is a fission product, it is an indicator of a nuclear fuel leak, but the consensus was that the cesium-137 probably leaked from defective fuel assemblies during or prior to 2001, when the last leak of that type was reported by Vermont Yankee. (Problems with fuel rods were common in the 1970s and 1980s.) On May 20, 2010,

7656-574: Was untroubled by the prospect of closure: "There's plenty of power out there"." Analysis by researchers at the University of Vermont estimated that an increase of "slightly more than 3 percent" in the retail price of electricity in Vermont would result from closing Vermont Yankee. Ex-Governor Peter Shumlin was a prominent opponent of the Vermont Yankee. Two days after Shumlin was elected governor in November 2010, Entergy sought offers to purchase

7744-427: Was upgraded to 620 MW electrical output. The reactor produces 1912 MW of heat which is converted to electricity at 32% efficiency. In comparison, the average residential power demand for all of Vermont in 2012 was 239 MW. The nearby Northfield Mountain hydroelectricity facility was built to balance the supply from Yankee. The reactor core held up to 368 fuel assemblies and 89 control rods. The spent fuel pool

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