Yankee’s emergency plan gets state’s OK

The Associated Press BRATTLEBORO — The Douglas administration has signed off on the Vermont Yankee emergency plan, despite a lack of approvals by towns within 10 miles of the Vernon reactor. A letter signed by Albert Lewis, director of the Vermont Emergency Management Agency, and Public Safety Commissioner Kerry Sleeper listed problems with the Vermont Yankee evacuation plan, as well as successes. “All we were certifying was that the Dean administration did its job last year and evaluated the plan,” said Jason Gibbs, spokesman for Gov. James Douglas. He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency “does not require that individual towns certify the plan.” None of the six Windham County towns within the emergency zone surrounding the nuclear plant has approved the plan; two have rejected it. Gibbs said the Douglas administration could approve the plan again next year, regardless of what the towns do. He noted that Hinsdale , N.H., had rejected the VY plan and that the state of New Hampshire had implemented a “compensatory plan” for the town. “We could do the same thing,” Gibbs said. But even without state or local approvals for the emergency plan, federal regulators could still license the plant, experts say. A law passed after the near meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania calls for local, state and federal officials to work together to create viable emergency plans. But a Reagan administration rule change allows states or the federal government to require towns to accept an evacuation plan for nearby nuclear plants against their will.