The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant's decommissioning fund lost money in October, after several months of recovering from last year's big stock market declines.

From a $440 million high in September of 2007, the fund had dropped to $361.5 million by the end of this past January. It had been climbing since then, to just under $420 million at the end of September.

It declined again in October, by a bit more than $3 million, finishing the month at about $416.8 million.

Some estimates have put the eventual cost of dismantling Vermont's lone reactor, taking care of its waste and restoring the site at nearly $1 billion.