The state of Vermont can't force its only nuclear plant to shut down when its original 40-year license expires in March, a federal judge ruled yesterday.

Under Vermont law, the state Legislature has the power to veto its regulators' decision to keep a reactor open past its license expiration date. State lawmakers and Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) have been angling to close the Vermont Yankee plant on safety concerns. In 2007, rotting wood caused a cooling tower to collapse.

In its lawsuit filed last year, Entergy said the Vermont law was unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge J. Garvan Murtha ruled that the state has been attempting to usurp the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decision to extend the license by 20 years. He pointed to comments "too numerous to recount here" in which lawmakers said they were trying to close the plant based on "radiological safety concerns."

The judge also ruled that the state can't force Entergy Corp., the plant's owner, to sell its electricity at low prices to utilities in the state. Entergy had claimed the state was forcing it to sell at reduced prices in exchange for keeping the plant open.

Shumlin said he was "very disappointed" by the ruling and that he continues "to believe that it is in Vermont's best interest to retire the plant" (Matthew Wald, New York Times, Jan. 19). -- AP