Utility regulators in Vermont have signed off on an electricity purchase by Green Mountain Power that effectively moves its nuclear-sourced generation from the Vermont Yankee to the Seabrook plant out of state.Green Mountain and Seabrook owner NextEra Energy were required to submit the deal, announced in May, to the Vermont Public Service Board, which approved it Friday. VTDigger.org reported that the agreement initially will provide about a fourth of Green Mountain’s electricity.The utility previously derived much of its power from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant but chose not to renew its contract. Entergy’s single General Electric boiling water reactor at the plant received a license extension from federal regulators in March and was recently refueled, but a state law passed in 2006 would force it offline when its original license expires next year. Entergy challenged the state’s authority to close the plant, and a lawsuit is pending in federal court.Green Mountain, though, is not waiting for the results. Instead NextEra will provide 15 megawatts from its New Hampshire nuclear plant starting next year, increasing to 60 megawatts in 2015 before falling to 40 megawatts by the end of the 23-year contract.
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