New England's power grid operator said on Monday the grid needs Entergy's (ETR.N) Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to stay in service through at least 2015 to keep the grid reliable.
New Orleans-based Entergy is fighting the state of Vermont in U.S. District court over whether the 39-year-old reactor can keep operating after 2012, when its original 40-year operating license expires. ISO New England said in a release that 620-megawatt (MW) Vermont Yankee was needed to help meet demand
in Vermont and parts of New Hampshire and Massachusetts in 2014-2015.
When Entergy bought Vermont Yankee from New England power companies in 2002 for $180 million, the company agreed to seek permission from state regulators before continuing to operate the plant beyond March 2012. In March 2011, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a 20-year license extension.
But many state officials, including the governor, do not want the reactor to continue operating beyond 2012.
In April 2011, Entergy filed a complaint in U.S. District court in Vermont to block the state from forcing the plant to shut.
If the reactor is to keep operating, the court must act quickly. Entergy has said it will decide around July 7, 2011 whether to buy new uranium fuel for the reactor for its upcoming refueling outage this autumn.
Analysts say there would be no reason for Entergy to spend tens of millions of dollars to refuel the reactor if it could not operate beyond March 2012.
Because of the uncertainty of whether the plant would still be operating after 2012, Entergy asked ISO New England to withdraw Vermont Yankee from the grid's 2014-2015 forward capacity market auction. Read More
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