Federal regulators want more information about Entergy Corporation’s finances after the company dropped the value of its Vermont Yankee plant by more than two-thirds.
Entergy told financial regulators in November that the fair value of Yankee had dropped to $162 million.
That’s down from $517 million. The fair value is what the company could expect to earn if the plant were sold.
The November disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission caught the attention of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Neil Sheehan is a commission spokesman.
"Based on that, we did issue a request for additional information for the company about what exactly this latest information means and how it could impact the company’s financial qualifications to continue to operate the plant," Sheehan said.
Sheehan says the commission usually probes a company’s financial health if it’s buying a nuclear plant.
But he says the NRC can also seek assurances that a company has enough money to decommission a plant, and to run it safely.
"For us, the bottom line is do they still have the financial qualifications to continue to operate the plant safely and if not, what are they going to do to address that?" he said.
A Yankee spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment. Vermont Yankee is currently shut down for refueling.