The owner of Vermont’s only nuclear power plant plans to move forward with a $60 million refueling this fall despite uncertainty about whether it will be able to operate beyond March, when its current operating license expires, The Associated Press reports.
New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., which is locked in a legal battle with the state over the future of the Vermont Yankee plant, said the company’s attorneys felt the company would eventually win its legal battle with the state.
Earlier this year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued Vermont Yankee a 20-year license extension that would allow the plant to remain open until 2032. But the state, which claims it has jurisdiction over the plant’s operation, wants the plant to close and has so far not acted on a state certification that it says is needed for Vermont Yankee to remain open.
Entergy’s lawsuit challenging the state is scheduled to go to trial in September.
