Beyond Nuclear testifies before NRC re: nuclear power plant decommissioning Community Advisory Boards; please submit your own public comments!

The Palisades atomic reactor, and the Lake Michigan shoreline it puts at worsening risk of a radioactive catastrophe.As announced by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), ten public meeting dates and venues, regarding the potential formation of "community advisory boards" (CABs) near decommissioning nuclear power plants, have been announced. The initiative began with an August 8th NRC webinar, attended by more than 300 concerned citizens, despite the agency only having given two days' notice (see NRC's webinar slides; and here is a link to a grassroots recording of the webinar, compliments of Nick Maxwell at WeTheFourth in Lea County, New Mexico).

The nation-wide meetings kicked off with Palisades atomic reactor in southwest Michigan on August 21st, at which Beyond Nuclear's radioactive waste specialist Kevin Kamps testified (see a photo, left, of Entergy Nuclear's Palisades, and Lake Michigan, which its reactor, and stored high-level radioactive waste, continually threaten, and into which even Palisades' "routine" operation expels hazardous radioactivity on a regular basis; Lake Michigan is part of the headwaters of the Great Lakes, providing drinking water, and much more, to 40 million people downstream, in two countries, and a large number of Native American First Nations).

Kevin's testimony focused on lessons that must be learned from the decommissioning of Palisades' sibling atomic reactor, Big Rock Point in Charlevoix, MI (see his 2006 report). 

Grassroots representatives of Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) of Chicago, Michigan Safe Energy Future, Sierra Club, Don't Waste Michigan, and Palisades Shutdown Campaign Coalition, as well as local residents from Palisades Park and Covert Township, also spoke out about their deep concerns.

Here is a video recording of the entire meeting, provided by Kimon Kotos.

NRC also committed to providing a transcript of the meeting, but did not say when it would become available. As soon as it is, we will post it here.

As Native Community Action Council secretary, and Western Bands of Shoshone Indians Principal Man, Ian Zabarte, made clear in a recent Las Vegas Sun interview, high-level radioactive waste cannot be dumped on their sacred, treaty-protected lands at Yucca Mountain. Therefore, as NEIS director David Kraft testified on August 21st, the call endorsed by more than 200 environmental organizations, for Hardened On-Site Storage (HOSS), first promulgated in April 2002 as an interim alternative to the dangerously bad Yucca dump scheme, should -- at long last -- be taken seriously by NRC, not to mention Congress, the White House, the nuclear power industry, the U.S. Department of Energy, etc.

Future NRC CAB public comment meetings include: Humboldt Bay, August 26th, Eureka, CA; Diablo Canyon, August 27th, San Luis Obispo, CA; San Onofre, August 29th, San Juan Capistrano, CA; Vermont Yankee, September 10th, Brattleboro, VT; Pilgrim, September 11th, Plymouth, MA; Kewaunee, September 24th, Kewaunee, WI; Zion, September 26th, Waukegan, IL; Indian Point, October 2nd, Cortlandt, NY; Oyster Creek, October 3rd, Manahawkin, NJ; Crystal River, October 10th, Crystal River, FL.

NRC will accept public comments re: CABs until mid-November, 2019.

The agency has provided a questionnaire, and various means for submitting public comments, including: fill out the questionnaire online and submit electronically; scan completed hardcopy questionnaire and send to <NEIMA108.Resource@nrc.gov>; or mail completed hardcopy questionnaires to Kim Conway, U.S. NRC, 11545 Rockville Pike, Mail Stop T-5 A10, Rockville, MD 20852.

To learn more about decommissioning issues, for ideas to include in your public comments to NRC, see recordings of May 13, 2019 and July 16, 2018 Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) Capitol Hill briefings, complete with links to extensive documentation and additional information. You can also visit Beyond Nuclear's Decommissioning website section. NRC also maintains a website regarding this decommissioning CAB public comment opportunity.