Re: ISP CISF: BEYOND NUCLEAR’S REPLY TO OPPOSITIONS TO HEARING REQUEST AND PETITION TO INTERVENE

On November 5, Diane Curran of Washington, D.C., and Mindy Goldstein of Atlanta, GA -- Beyond Nuclear's legal counsel -- filed a REPLY TO OPPOSITIONS TO HEARING REQUEST AND PETITION TO INTERVENE, addressing various U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff, and Interim Storage Partners (ISP), challenges (or, in NRC's case, lack thereof -- see immediately below) to Beyond Nuclear's request for a hearing, and petition for leave to intervene, in thge ISP irradiated nuclear fuel centralized interim storage facility (CISF) NRC license application proceeding.

(It is worth noting that NRC staff, in its filing, acknowledged Beyond Nuclear's legal standing claims, as well as the worthiness of its contention for admission to hearing. The NRC filing concluded:

"...the NRC Staff agrees that Beyond Nuclear has demonstrated standing and an admissible contention, and so the Petition should be granted.")

ISP is a consortium comprised of Orana (formerly Areva, formerly Cogema) of France, and Waste Control Specialists, LLC (WCS) of Andrews County, Texas. The WCS site in West Texas is targeted for the 40,000 metric ton commercial irradiated nuclear fuel CISF.

The NRC and ISP challenges had been filed on Oct. 29th. Beyond Nuclear filed its request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene on Oct. 4th.

Beyond Nuclear also filed a motion for the ISP CISF licensing proceeding to be dismissed, as it lacks legal authority to proceed. However, the NRC rejected that motion to dismiss.

Mobile Chernobyls--High-Level Radioactive Waste Shipping Through Northern Ohio, Oct. 30 Beyond Nuclear Presentation

For Immediate Release

October 30, 2018 

 

Beyond Nuclear * Don’t Waste Michigan * Toledo Coalition for Safe Energy

Contact:  Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear, (240) 462-3216, kevin@beyondnuclear.org

Mike Ferner, (419) 729-7273, mike.ferner@sbcglobal.net

Michael Keegan, Don’t Waste Michigan, (734) 770-1441, mkeeganj@comcast.net

Mobile Chernobyls? Fukushima Freeways? 

Educational Speaking Tour Re: High-Level Radioactive Waste Shipping Risks

 

Visuals: An inflatable, full-scale replica of a highly radioactive waste Legal Weight Truck-sized shipping cask will be deployed.

Toledo, OH—At the Reynolds Corners branch library, 4833 Dorr Street, an Atomic Age version of Paul Revere's ride will take place on Tuesday, October 30, 2018 beginning at 6:30pm.  The event is free and open to the public. 

2,314 rail-sized casks on trains, and another 657 Legal Weight Truck-sized casks on the interstates, would travel through Ohio, bound for Nevada, if the Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste (HLRW) dump opens. The shipments would take place over the course of not years, but decades (25-50 years). Northern OH would be particularly hard hit. The 2,971 high-level radioactive waste shipments by road and/or rail would directly cross through 13 of OH’s 16 U.S. congressional districts, including, in northern OH, many surface waters that then flow into Lake Erie. 

So-called “centralized interim storage facilities” in New Mexico and/or Texas could well mean even larger shipment numbers through OH. (Barge shipments upstream on the Great Lakes are also proposed.) Health, safety, security, and environmental risks include severe accidents, or even terrorist attacks, releasing catastrophic amounts of hazardous radioactivity, impacting an entire region; even routine, incident-free shipments would be like “mobile X-ray machines that can’t be turned off,” delivering a harmful dose at close range as they pass by. 

Come learn more about the risks, and how you can help prevent them. See the road and rail routes map for Ohio, a close up map of Cleveland region routes, as well as shipment numbers for OH (p.4/20), and the U.S. congressional districts crossed (pgs. 15-16/20). The opening of so-called centralized interim storage sites for HLRW, in New Mexico and/or Texas, as early as June 2022, would mean even larger numbers of shipments (as would a proposed expansion of the Yucca dump), beginning sooner, for northern OH. 

Toledo-based attorney Terry Lodge serves as legal counsel for a national environmental coalition opposing both CISFs, and the high-risk shipments they would launch.

 

In addition to plenty of Q&A/discussion time, the 90-minute program will include:

 

A presentation by Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Specialist, Beyond Nuclear, addressing the safety and security risks of transporting highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel on the roads and rails, as proposed in legislation currently before the U.S. Congress. He will also discuss the risks of irradiated nuclear fuel indoor wet storage pool fires for the entire region, and the interim alternative of Hardened On-Site Storage (HOSS), as well as the need to stop generating high-level radioactive waste.

 

An animation, prepared by Scott Portzline, Security Consultant, Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA), about radioactive waste transport risks in Ohio, will be shown. So too will a 90-second aerial drone-captured video, featuring transport routes in Pennsylvania. A short informational video, “Nuclear Transports – Eye-Witness to Rulebreaking,” also prepared by Portzline, will be shown. Lessons learned will be applied to Ohio.

 

When and Where:  Toledo Lucas County Public Library Reynolds Corners branch (4833 Dorr Street, Toledo, Ohio 43615). Complimentary food and beverages will be provided.  

-end-

Advocates for CISFs hit back against Beyond Nuclear's resistance in NM and TX proceedings

The other side hit back against Beyond Nuclear on Oct. 29th.

In response to Beyond Nuclear's motions to dismiss both the Holtec International/Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA) and the Waste Control Specialists/Interim Storage Partners (WCS/ISP) centralized interim storage facility (CISF) proposals, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has rejected them. Thus, it's off to the races on both licensing proceedings. The NRC has ordered the establishment of Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panels (ASLBPs), which will begin to issue orders, set schedules, and publish rulings.

NRC staff can be fully expected to advocate strongly in favor of approving the CISF licenses. ASLBPs, and the NRC Commissioners themselves, can be expected, eventually, in the end, to rubber-stamp the CISF licenses. Only then, will Beyond Nuclear have exhausted all administrative remedies, enabling us to challenge such license approvals in federal court.

Beyond Nuclear's motions to dismiss focused on the lack of legal authority for NRC to even be considering license applications from Holtec and ISP, which are predicated on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) taking title to, and liability for, commercial irradiated nuclear fuel at CISFs. Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as Amended, such title transfer (onto the backs of federal taxpayers, forevermore) can only take place at an open and operating permanent repository. In essense, Holtec and ISP (looking to DOE to pay all costs for the CISFs, including a large profit margin), have based their proposals on the illegal acceleration of the transfer of title, and liability, for irradiated nuclear fuel, onto DOE (that is, taxpayers).

Early in the administration of President Barack Obama, the Yucca Mountain, NV repository was abandoned, wisely. Several years ago, DOE predicted that a repository (at an unnamed location) could not open in the U.S. before 2048.

Holtec/ELEA is targeting southeastern New Mexico for a 173,600 metric ton irradiated nuclear fuel CISF. WCS/ISP is targeting Andrews County, West Texas with a 40,000 metric ton CISF. The two proposed facilities are but 40 miles apart, across the TX/NM border. If approved, built, and operated to capacity, the two CISFs would -- at 213,600 metric tons -- dwarf the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada permanent repository for highly radioactive waste (currently limited by law to 70,000 metric tons, at least until a second repository is opened and operating in another state). This would correspondingly result in a significant increase in the number of shipments -- by road, rail, and/or waterway -- of irradiated nuclear fuel through most states, bound for the Southwest.

Also on Oct. 29, both NRC staff, as well as WCS/ISP, filed responses to Beyond Nuclear's hearing request and petition to intervene in the TX CISF proceeding.

The NRC staff acknowledged Beyond Nuclear has established legal standing, as well as presented a contention worthy of a hearing on the merits -- a rare admission for NRC staff.

However, WCS/ISP has challenged Beyond Nuclear's legal standing to even bring such a request and petition in opposition to the proposal, and has attacked the legal and technical merits of Beyond Nuclear's contentions. WCS/ISP has argumed the ASLB should block Beyond Nuclear's intervention, and deny us a hearing.

Holtec/ELEA, and NRC staff, have filed similar legal challenges to Beyond Nuclear's intervention in the New Mexico proceeding, as well. However, it is significant to point out that NRC staff recognized that Beyond Nuclear has established and proven legal standing in that proceeding, as well as the worthiness of our contention for a hearing on the merits.

Beyond Nuclear now has seven days to reply to the NRC staff's and WCS/ISP filings of Oct. 29.

Beyond Nuclear's legal counsel in both the Holtec and ISP CISF proceedings are Diane Curran of Washington, D.C., as well as Mindy Goldstein and Caroline Reiser of Emory University Turner Environmental Law Clinic in Atlanta, GA.

Update on November 1, 2018 by admin

In the context of the Holtec/ELEA CISF licensing proceeding, on Oct. 31st, the NRC established an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, comprised of three administrative law judges (formerly known as hearing examiners).

"Fukushima Freeways?!" Recap of Just Completed Educational Speaking Tour Re: High-Level Radioactive Waste Shipping Risks across Eastern and Central Iowa

Mike Carberry of Green State Solutions, and Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear (wearing ballcap), with the inflatable mock nuclear waste cask, Iowa City.See the press advisory at this link, or posted in the web site entry below, for additional links to more information.

The events -- in Davenport and Iowa City, Iowa on Mon., Oct. 22, and Des Moines, Iowa on Oct. 23, went well. We had good turn outs with quality discussion, and really planted seeds for future collaboration. We'd like to thank everyone who came out to make the events a success. And we'd especially like to thank Mike Carberry of Green State Solutions (see photo, left) for doing all the logistical support work, that made the entire three-city tour possible. We'd also like to thank the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club, and PSR Iowa (Physicians for Social Responsiblity) for not only co-sponsoring the tour, but also attending.

(Please note, the event scheduled for Omaha, Nebraska on Oct. 23 was cancelled. We look forward to rescheduling it in the not too distant future. Anyone who would like to help us pull a Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska event together in the near-ish future, please contact Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps at (240) 462-3216, or kevin@beyondnuclear.org.)

Posted below are links from the just completed Iowa events:

1. The power point presentation by Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear's Radioactive Waste Watchdog.

2. An animation, prepared by Scott Portzline, Security Consultant, Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA), about radioactive waste transport risks in Iowa.

3. A 90-second aerial drone-captured video, featuring transport routes in Pennsylvania. (Lessons learned are certainly applicable to Iowa.)

4. A short informational video, “Nuclear Transports – Eye-Witness to Rulebreaking,” also prepared by Portzline. (Again, lessons learned are certainly applicable to Iowa.)

The PHOTO OP, an inflatable, full-scale replica of a highly radioactive waste Legal Weight Truck-sized shipping cask, was a big hit when deployed in Iowa City (see photo, above left).

Please note, one would not want to stand so close to a real high-level radioactive waste shipping or storage container. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's permissive rules allow for 10 millirem per hour of gamma and neutron radiation to be emitted at a distance of six feet away (one to two chest X-rays worth, per hour); at the cask's surface, the dose rate goes up to 200 mR/hr (20 to 40 chest X-rays per hour); surface contamination of the exterior of the container makes such dose rates much worse.

Fukushima Freeways?! Educational Speaking Tour Re: High-Level Radioactive Waste Shipping Risks Sets Off across Iowa to Nebraska

Iowa's Green State Solutions logo, featuring the Earth symbolBeyond Nuclear * Green State Solutions * Iowa Chapter/Sierra Club * PSR Iowa

Press Advisory: Monday, October 22, 2018 to Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Contact:  Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear, (240) 462-3216, kevin@beyondnuclear.org

Mike Carberry, Green State Solutions, (319) 594-6453, mikecarberry@gmail.com

Fukushima Freeways?!

Educational Speaking Tour Re: High-Level Radioactive Waste Shipping Risks

Sets Off across Iowa to Nebraska

3,066 rail-sized casks on trains, and another 1,789 Legal Weight Truck-sized casks on the interstates, would travel through Iowa, bound for Nevada, if the Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste dump opens. In addition to all 4,855 casks entering from IA, Nebraska would be burdened with another 3,673 rail-sized casks traveling through. So-called “centralized interim storage facilities” in New Mexico and/or Texas could well mean even larger shipment numbers through IA and NE. (Barge shipments into the Port of Omaha are also proposed.) Health, safety, security, and environmental risks include severe accidents, or even terrorist attacks, releasing catastrophic amounts of hazardous radioactivity, impacting an entire region; even routine, incident-free shipments would be like “mobile X-ray machines that can’t be turned off,” delivering a harmful dose at close range as they pass by. Come learn more about the risks, and how you can help prevent them. (See route maps and shipment numbers for IA and NE, with a close up map of Omaha, posted at: http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/whatsnew.htm.)

PHOTO OP: At each event, an inflatable, full-scale replica of a highly radioactive waste Legal Weight Truck-sized shipping cask will be deployed.

In addition to plenty of Q&A/discussion time, the 90-minute program will include:

A presentation by Kevin Kamps, Radioactive Waste Specialist, Beyond Nuclear, addressing the safety and security risks of transporting highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel on the roads and rails, as proposed in legislation currently before the U.S. Congress. He will also discuss the risks of irradiated nuclear fuel indoor wet storage pool fires for the entire region, and the interim alternative of Hardened On-Site Storage (HOSS), as well as the need to stop generating high-level radioactive waste.

An animation, prepared by Scott Portzline, Security Consultant, Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA), about radioactive waste transport risks in Iowa and Nebraska, will be shown. So too will a 90-second aerial drone-captured video, featuring transport routes in Pennsylvania. A short informational video, “Nuclear Transports – Eye-Witness to Rulebreaking,” also prepared by Portzline, will be shown. Lessons learned will be applied to Iowa and Nebraska.

When and Where:

12:30pm-2pm CDT, Mon., Oct. 22, Davenport Public Library, 6000 Eastern Ave., Davenport, IA;

6:30pm-8pm CDT, Mon., Oct. 22, Johnson County Ambulance, 808 Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA;

12:30pm-2pm CDT, Tues., Oct. 23, Des Moines Public Library (Central), 1000 Grand Ave., Des Moines, IA;

***PLEASE NOTE, THE FOLLOWING PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED, DUE TO CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL: 6:30pm-8pm CDT, Tues., Oct. 23, UNO Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Ctr., 6400 South, University Drive Road North, Omaha, NE

[However, we would love to reschedule it in the not too distant future. If you would like to help pull an event together in the Omaha, Nebraska and/or Council Bluffs, Iowa area, please contact Kevin Kamps at Beyond Nuclear, at (240) 462-3216, or kevin@beyondnuclear.org. Thanks for your patience.]***

Complimentary food and beverages will be provided at each event.

For more info.:

www.beyondnuclear.org

https://www.facebook.com/GreenStateSolutions/

https://www.sierraclub.org/iowa

http://www.psriowa.org/