Nuclear CEO says - "We're all gonna die"

Entergy CEO, Wayne Leonard, in charge of 10 nuclear facilities, including Vermont Yankee, Pilgrim and Indian Point, started a presentation to his investors with a quote "By the way, we're all gonna die!" from the movie "The Hangover". 

With lapses of judgment like that - one has to ask if this is the right person to be in charge of managing the nuclear reactors closest to our homes. 

The irony is that the movie is about a bachelor party for four friends that unfolds into a series of unmitigated disasters that are beyond their control. It's about "...how one thing leads to another when you lose control of what's taking place," Leonard said of the movie.

Here's a reminder from the NY Times about Entergy's management of Vermont Yankee - only 30 miles from the Quabbin and our drinking water supply. 

In recent years, the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in Vernon, Vt., has had several serious operational problems.


Situated on the banks of the Connecticut River, the 39-year-old Vermont Yankee, whose reactor is similar in design to the stricken plant in Japan, suffered the partial collapse of a cooling tower in 2007. In January 2010, the plant's operator, Entergy, discovered that nearby soil and groundwater had been contaminated by radioactive tritium, which had apparently leaked from underground piping. Just months before, the company assured state lawmakers that no such piping existed at the plant.


The Vermont Senate, concerned about the problems, voted overwhelmingly last year to prevent the plant from operating beyond the scheduled expiration of its license on March 21, 2012 — invoking a 2006 state law, unique to Vermont, that requires legislative approval for continued operations.