House passed S. 373, “Full Funding of Decommissioning Costs of a Nuclear Plant.”
Statement by Speaker Symington Regarding the Passage of S. 373, “Full Funding of Decommissioning Costs of a Nuclear Plant.”Today the House passed S. 373, “Full Funding of Decommissioning Costs of a Nuclear Plant.” This bill will protect Vermonters from a potential financial risk if the Entergy Corporation sells Vermont Yankee to a highly leveraged company, NewCo.The provisions of S. 373 are straightforward. It requires that if Vermont Yankee is sold, the Public Service Board (PSB) must determine that its decommissioning fund has enough assets and financial guarantees to pay for immediate restoration of the site upon closing of Vermont Yankee. If the fund currently is adequate, the PSB will require nothing further. If the fund is inadequate, the deficiency can be alleviated by either adding funds or supplying a letter of credit or other guarantee.When decommissioning does occur, S. 373 assures that the fund will be adequate to cover all costs, regardless of whether the corporation that owns the plant is financially strong or not. S. 373 ensures that Vermonters will not be saddled with the responsibility for clean up costs at Vermont Yankee. When Vermont Yankee was built Vermonters were told that its decommissioning would be fully paid for. This bill ensures that this promise will be kept.
In the Philippines, there were threeconfirmed cases of 2019 nCoV ARD, all of them Chinese national from Wuhan,China. One of them died earlier this month at the San Lazaro Hospital inManila. The new novel coronavirus cases in UAE,which were identified through periodic screening of people showing symptoms ofthe disease, are “under observation” and are being given “necessary medicalcare according to the highest health standards applicable in the country.” MANILA – Another Filipino was confirmedto have contracted the 2019 novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease(2019-nCoV ARD) in the United Arab Emirates, its state news agency said in areport on Saturday. The Emirates News Agency reported that aFilipino and a Chinese national were confirmed to have contracted the disease,bringing the total number of infected individuals in the UAE to seven. The UAE Ministry of Health andPrevention said all its health facilities would continue reporting suspectednew cases of the virus, which has been spreading from China since last month. The Filipino from UAE was the secondFilipino to have contracted the new coronavirus outside of the country after aFilipino onboard a cruise ship in Japan also tested positive to the disease. As of Saturday, the novel coronavirushas killed more than 700 people, mostly in China, and infected nearly 35,000.Several countries have enforced restrictions on travel to and from China tocontain the disease./PN