This commentary is by Ann Darling, a member of the Citizens Awareness Network, a New England grassroots environmental organization working to end the use of nuclear power and replace it with sustainable, reliable and affordable energy generation. I could have written this letter any time in the past 10 years. Why now and not then? I suppose I was hoping I wouldn’t need to make my opinions so public, because they are quite critical. But something is happening at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant site that leaves me no choice but to speak out.  First, a little background. The Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor stopped operating at the end of 2014, and it is now almost completely decommissioned. The most significant things remaining are 60 concrete-and-steel casks of extremely radioactive waste, along with electric transmission and railroad infrastructure that can be used for other purposes. Its owner, NorthStar, a decommissioning company, has leased the site to a Texas-based energy development company called PowerTransitions, which is apparently considering options including a small modular nuclear reactor, battery storage or a data center. READ MORE Vermont Yankee has an associated Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP) chartered by the legislature whose job is to advise the governor and the legislature on decommissioning, and to serve as a “conduit for public information and education” and to encourage “open communication and community involvement in matters related to the decommissioning process.” In my opinion, they have failed to fulfill this latter part of their charter. They hold meetings, fewer and fewer over the years, but they do no outreach to attract people to those meetings. I’ve raised this issue repeatedly and gotten nods of agreement to my suggestions — and absolutely no action. Even though they have money donated by Vermont Yankee’s owner, they don’t use it for public education events or media outreach. As a result, they regularly hear from a handful of anti-nukers like me, but they do not hear a peep out of the many people whose lives are impacted by how the site is cleaned up and used.  Here’s why I’m writing now. There are supposed to be three meetings a year of the NDCAP, and there has been only one so far, with none scheduled. The May 2026 meeting was postponed, ostensibly because they wanted a report on the chemical contamination at the site from the state’s contractor. We know there are PFAS. We don’t know exactly where or how much.  And then there’s the whole piece about leasing the Vernon site, which has chemical and radiological contamination, along with 60 concrete-and-steel casks of radioactive waste, to an out-of-state power development company. Although we have asked about the lease contents, waste ownership and how plans are being made and with whom, we have received no answers.  This is all happening in a broader context. Gov. Phil Scott is promoting legislation that would define nuclear power as clean energy so that it can count toward meeting the state’s climate goals. Nuclear power emits ionizing radiation and makes people sick. Its entire fuel chain, from mining to waste management, is a net carbon emitter. It is not clean. The governor is also trying to repeal the statutory requirement that the legislature vote on whether nuclear power could be used again in Vermont, and he has vetoed legislation placing guardrails on data centers. If the governor, Public Service Department and NDCAP are interested in transparency and building trust with the public, they’ve got me fooled. To me, this looks like they’re hiding something. Is it a really bad report about the PFAS and NorthStar balking at the cost? Is it their attempt to hide plans for a new nuclear reactor or data center in Vernon until it’s too late for the public to stop it? What is going on, really? We all deserve an answer. We deserved it a long time ago.  Ann Darling, Easthampton, Mass. Read the story on VTDigger here: Vermont’s nuclear watchdog has gone quiet. ...read more read less