Atomic reactor operators sue Green Mountain State for allegedly violating their civil liberties by closure of Vermont Yankee

As reported in the Brattleboro Reformer, in an odd twist on the theme "nuclear power and civil liberties," seven senior nuclear control room operators at Vermont Yankee atomic reactor have sued the State of Vermont for supposedly violating their civil liberties by forcing the shutdown of the atomic reactor on March 21, 2012 -- the expiration of its original 40 year operating license. The operators complain they would have to undergo rigorous training to become re-certified to operate any other atomic reactor in the U.S. In a follow on article in the Brattleboro Reformer, the Attorney General of the State of Vermont states that he thinks Entergy Nuclear is not only financing this lawsuit, but may have even written the legal brief, in an effort to put a human face on its own lawsuit against the Green Mountain State filed recently. The A.G. called the allegation of civil rights violations "a stretch." The aggrieved nuclear operators told the Reformer that Vermont is their home, having lived there for 11 to 15 years. However, Bob Stannard, "the People's Lobbyist" working on behalf of Vermont Citizens Action Network in Vermont's state legislature for the reactor's closure, traces his ancestry in Vermont back to the year 1760.