Funds would be used for nuclear-emergency education

Burlington Free Press, July 9, 2003
The Associated Press

BRATTLEBORO -- The town plans to apply for federal funds that would be used to educate residents about what to do if an emergency occurs at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.

Public Safety Commissioner Kerry Sleeper told a gathering of regional and state officials involved in the emergency planning effort at the Vernon reactor that he supports a grant request for a portion of the state's $14 million Homeland Security funds.

Sleeper said $11 million of that money earmarked for planning in the event of a nuclear, chemical or biological attack must go to local efforts, "and no plan is effective unless the people have a clear understanding of what to do," said Sleeper, who estimated the educational campaign could cost $200,000.

Instead of waiting for the Legislature to appropriate the money, the Homeland Security funds could be in local hands within 60 days, Sleeper said.

The town has recently rewritten its emergency evacuation plan, although it has not started the public comment period on it.

Town Manager Jerry Remillard told emergency planners that his town's priority was a regional public education campaign and said local officials plan to apply for the federal dollars.

However, some attending the planning budget session did not approve of federal funds' paying for the educational campaign.

Some anti-nuclear activists who attended the emergency planning budget session told Sleeper that that any Homeland Security money amounted to a subsidy by taxpayers of Entergy Nuclear.

Entergy Nuclear should be paying for the cost of the campaign, and not taxpayers, according to Clay Turnbull of Nuclear Free Vermont. Entergy Nuclear, which owns the plant, pays about $800,000 to the state of Vermont for emergency planning.