YANKEE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT SALE NOT GOOD
by Peter Moss

Based on some Burlington Free Press news items, I get a feeling that the "sale" of the Yankee Nuclear power plant (YN) is a ripoff by Entergy and a bailout by the present owners. As I reconstruct the Entergy scheme: they take the $300-million decommissioning fund, pay back the YN owners $180-million of their own money, pocket and invest the $120-million balance, and run the nuke into the ground collecting from rate payers who are just not a party to this outrage. If there is an accident, it will not kill the Entergy guys in Mississippi.
If the opeting license is not renewed, tough. Then they will decommission and pocket any balance (on top of the initial $120-miilion) after declaring bankruptcy. They will probably hire some "experienced" World Com accountants who know how to show that the decommissioning cost over $300-million. I don't expect anything good or honest from Entergy. Even unsophisticated regulators should have asked: (a) if YN is a good business, why sell it? And (b), if YN is bad business, why would Entergy or anyone want it?
Something is rotten in Denmark, er, Mississippi.