Vermont Yankee fund gap slowly closing

Vermont Yankee's decommissioning fund is still short of cash, but federal regulators say they see signs of improvement. The plant's owner, Entergy Nuclear, says the fund's shortfall has shrunk to $58 million. That's about $100 million less than the $513 million dollars the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says should be in the fund by the time the plant's license is set to expire in 2012. Entergy wants a 20-year extension of that license, and is hoping to have enough money in the fund to decommission the plant in the 2030s. NRC officials said yesterday they hope to resolve similar funding shortfalls with 26 plants around the country.