VERNON, Vt. -
A major finance firm predicts Vermont Yankee operators will shut the facility down voluntarily this year.
UBS Securities concluded in a new report that Entergy Louisiana will likely shutter its plant in Vernon.
Analysts base their conclusions on forecasts for limited profits in the coming years, the facility's age and limited output compared to other plants, as well as pending legal disputes and concerns over decommissioning funds.
Republican Representative Mike Hebert of Vernon says company officials assured him the report's conclusions are inaccurate.
"Vermont Yankee has verified that they have no intention whatsoever of closing. They have spent a couple hundred million dollars on a refuel and the money they've put into the lawsuit; they have no plans to close the Vermont Yankee plant," Hebert said.
Entergy's official statement is less definitive. The statement makes no specific reference to Vermont Yankee. The company says it does not comment on the financial performance of individual plants, but expects the market for nuclear power to recover in the long term.
