People gather to show support for nuclear plant employees via Brattleboro Reformer

Monday October 24, 2011

VERNON — Supporters of Vermont Yankee spent several hours Sunday holding signs outside of the main entrance of the nuclear power plant to thank employees, whose jobs could be in jeopardy.

The plant is in the middle of a $100 million refueling outage and its continued operation is in the hands of a federal judge who’s scheduled to decide by the end of this year whether the Vermont Legislature passed acts that were based on regulating radiological safety, the sole jurisdiction of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Dick and Kay Trudell drove for more than three hours from their home in Grand Isle to show their support.

“We need the power in Vermont,” Dick said. “If we lose this plant it’s going to be a huge blow to our economy.”

Kay added that most of the time plant employees are dealing with people negatively reacting to them and that it’s vitally important to let them know that they don’t speak for everyone.

About 30 people greeted the employees arriving for the night shift and thanked those just leaving the plant. Each held signs that read pro-nuclear messages like “Clean and Safe” and “Keepin’ the lights on without climate change.”

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