Where is vt yankee

Strontium and cesium are both products of nuclear fission, and do not occur naturally in the environment. These isotopes give off radiation and decay over a long period of time.

Strontium has a half-life of 29 years, and cesium has a half-life of 30 years. Strontium is considered one of the more hazardous of the radionuclides associated with nuclear reactors. It is a strong beta emitter. This means that its radiation can dose our skin, but it is stopped by a layer of wood, a sheet of aluminum, or sometimes clothing. It behaves chemically much like calcium, and tends to concentrate in the bones, teeth and bone marrow.

Strontium is linked to bone cancer, cancer of the soft tissue near bone, and leukemia. Cesium is a moderately strong gamma emitter. This means that its radiation can pass through the human body, stopped only by a lead shield or several feet of concrete. Zinc, manganese and cobalt are all corrosion products. They are produced when steel components in the nuclear reactor corrode.

Tiny amounts of the corroded metals circulate in the reactor water and may be released during refueling or maintenance operations. These isotopes give off radiation and decay over time.

Zinc has a half-life of days. Manganese has a half-life of days. Cobalt has a half-life of 5. Contact Us. Meet the Team. Order Channel 3 News Stories. Stream News Live and On Demand. RSS Feed. National Politics. Submit Photos and Videos. Gray DC Bureau. Investigate TV. Across the Fence. And while each plant — and each community — is unique, Vernon can offer one major takeaway for towns like Plymouth: They are on their own. It's a private sector issue. In the s, state utilities constructed Vermont Yankee on the site of the Williams dairy farm in Vernon, a small town in the southeastern corner of Vermont.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission had renewed the plant's operating license through , but in , on the day the new license took effect, more than a thousand anti-nuclear demonstrators converged on the Brattleboro headquarters of Entergy. Vermont Yankee was the same model as those that melted down in Japan's Fukushima disaster the previous year, and it had its own troubles.

Part of the cooling tower had collapsed and radiation had leaked into the ground and water. Protesters said the plant was unsafe and demanded it be shut down.

Just months later, Entergy announced it was closing Vermont Yankee. Entergy says it was declining profits — not protests — that led to the decision. Nuclear-generated electricity couldn't compete with plants powered by cheap natural gas. The plant shut down in December and disconnected from the grid, leaving Vernon in a economic lurch.

Running a nuclear plant requires more workers than operating other power plants, says Cooper, of the nuclear host communities group. If you're looking at coal, it's about Nothing tops nuclear in terms of total jobs.

The plan offers a number of options which include housing, industrial development and recreation, and the town seems willing to move forward with using the site — even if high level radioactive waste remains there.

Last month the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a plan to build a new site in Texas, where nuclear waste from Vermont Yankee would be stored. At the bottom, there's a machine sitting among the twisted shards of steel and pipes that are spread out across the ground level.

The nearby nuclear reactor used to send steam into this building to make the turbines spin. It produced about a third of the energy Vermont used while Vermont Yankee was still running. Northstar is about a third of the way through the job here. State says most of the heavy work will be done by , and he says the whole project should be completed before the end of Northstar saw that pile of money, and figured they could get the job done for a lot less.