Sanders Says Yankee Should Close In 2012

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AP File Photo/Toby Talbot

Sanders appeared on VPR's Vermont Edition.

(Sanders) "What I have always said is that Vermont Yankee in a sense signed a contract with the people of the state of Vermont for, I think it was, 40 years."

(Host) Sanders says that means the nuclear plant should close on schedule in 2012.

Sanders stops short of calling for Yankee to close immediately.

(Sanders) "Entergy's problem from day one is they haven't engendered a whole lot of trust with the people of the state of Vermont. To the degree that there were misleading statements about these underground pipes, that's just another indication of the skepticism that people have about Vermont Yankee."

(Host) Yankee has been under scrutiny because radioactive tritium has been found to be leaking, apparently from underground pipes at the plant.

Yankee officials previously denied that there were any underground pipes on the site that carried radioactive material.