Beyond Nuclear Motion for Leave to Reply, and Reply to NRC's staff's, Holtec's, and ISP's Responses, re: CISF proceedings

Regarding centralized interim storage facility (CISF) proceedings, targeting New Mexico and Texas, at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Beyond Nuclear filed a Motion for Leave to Reply on 9/28/18.

On 9/28/18, Beyond Nuclear also filed a Reply to NRC staff's, Holtec's, and ISP's Responses.

See NRC's, Holtec's, and ISP's Responses, dated 9/24/18.

See Beyond Nuclear's Motions to Dismiss, as well as its request for a hearing and petition for leave to intervene, in the Holtec CISF proceeding, filed 9/14/18. (Links to requests for hearing, and petitions for leave to intervene, filed by a broad coalition of other environmental groups opposing Holtec's CISF, are also posted there.) Holtec is targeting Southeastern New Mexico with 173,600 metric tons of highly radioactive commercial irradiated nuclear fuel.

Beyond Nuclear also fully intends to intervene against the Interim Storage Partners (ISP, a consortium of Waste Control Specialists, LLC, and Orana, formerly, Areva, of France) CISF, targeting Andrews County, West Texas with 40,000 metric tons of irradiated nuclear fuel.

Anti-nuclear waste tour kicks off in Houston, crossing Texas in opposition to CISFs

Inflatable mock nuke waste cask (English language signage -- the opposite side is in Spanish)As reported by the Texas Tribune, SEED Coalition, Public Citizen, and other Texas environmental allies have launched a mock nuke waste cask tour of the state, in opposition to both the Waste Control Specialists/Interim Storage Partners centralized interim storage facility (CISF) for irradiated nuclear fuel in Andrews County, West Texas, both also the Holtec International/Eddy-Lea [Counties] Energy Alliance CISF targeted at Southeastern New Mexico. The two CISFs are only 40 miles apart, across the TX/NM border. If either one opened, "Mobile Chernobyl" shipping risks through TX would be significant.

The San Antonio Current has also reported on the mock nuke waste cask tour.

Below is a message from Karen Hadden of SEED Coalition, including a full scheduel for the mock nuke waste cask tour:

[Below] is our Protect Texas from Radioactive Waste Tour schedule.

The threats of nuclear reactor waste coming to our state are very real and it's a big fight. We can win if we all work together!

We appreciate any help in getting the word out and inviting your friends, neighbors and organizational members. (Some changes to the schedule could still occur - but this is our plan! Hopefully the weather cooperates, etc.)  We start in Houston on Sept. 24, and then travel to San Antonio, Dallas, El Paso, Midland and Andrews, wrapping up on Oct. 1st.

The tour is sponsored by SEED Coalition, Public Citizen, Beyond Nuclear and NIRS - Nuclear Information and Resource Services. We're grateful for help from the Sierra Club in putting out the word and to all of our amazing local allies. Our special guest, Kerstin Rudek, will be able to share the successful experiences of her community's fight against radioactive waste in Gorleben Germany.

We look forward to a great time on the road - meeting people and hearing their great ideas on how we can collectively halt the threat of high-level radioactive waste in our state!

More information will be coming soon. We're updating NoNuclearWaste.org - and more will be coming soon.

Best wishes and thanks for all of your help!

Karen Hadden SEED Coalition

512-797-8481 

Protect Texas from Radioactive Waste Tour

Please join us at these Texas events!

The Protect Texas from Radioactive Waste Tour will go to major cities across the state with an inflatable full-scale mock radioactive waste transport cask, holding press conferences at railroad crossings where the radioactive waste could travel and hosting community meetings.

Houston   Monday 9/24/18 

• ·      Public Meeting at 7 pm - True Love Baptist Church, 4029 Falls St.

Houston  Tuesday 9/25/18

• ·      Press Conference at 10 am - Intersection of Hutchins and Commerce
• ·      City Council at 1:30 pm – 901 Bagby, City Hall, 2^nd floor

San Antonio  Wednesday 9/26/18

• ·      Press Conference at 2 pm – Alamodome Parking Lot A, near RR tracks
• ·      Public Meeting at 7 pm – William R. Sinkin EcoCentro, 1802 Main. Ave.

Dallas  Thursday 9/27/18

• ·      Press Conference at 2 pm - Dallas County Commissioners Court parking lot , by 411 Elm St, behind the building (to the West, near RR tracks)
• ·      Public Meeting at 6:30 pm – First Unitarian Church, 4015 Normandy Ave. Room 301

El Paso Friday 9/28/18

• ·      Press Conference at 2 pm – E. Mills Ave., between Ochoa and Virginia Streets (Approximately 728 E. Mills Avenue – at paid parking spaces)
• ·      Public Meeting at 6:30 pm – Sinbad (Restaurant) 2716 N. Mesa St. 

Midland Saturday 9/30/18

• ·      Press conference at 2 pm – parking lot of the Rutter & Wilbanks Building (301 S. Main St.) E. side of Main and south side of RR tracks.
• ·      Public Meeting at 6:30 pm - Casa Lopez,

Andrews Sunday 10/01/18

• ·      Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church – following 8:30 and 10:30 am services, 201 NE Avenue K

Update on September 27, 2018 by admin

See the related Public Citizen Texas Office press release, dated September 27, 2018:

Government’s Decision to Consider Dangerous West Texas Radioactive Waste Dump Is Opportunity to Block It

Public Involvement Has Stopped Poorly Designed Waste Dumps in the Past

Sept. 27, 2018

Contact: Angel Amaya, Public Citizen, aamaya@citizen.org, (361) 779-2572
Tom “Smitty” Smith, Public Citizen, smitty@citizen.org, (512) 797-8468
Karen Hadden, SEED Coalition, karendhadden@gmail.com, (512) 797-8481

AUSTIN, Texas – The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) decision to restart its review of a high-risk, high-level radioactive waste dump in West Texas creates an opportunity to halt a dangerous mistake, Public Citizen, the Sustainable Energy & Economic Development (SEED) Coalition, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) and Beyond Nuclear said today.

Waste Control Specialists (WCS) is seeking to expand its existing low-level waste site to take high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants across the country. If the site is approved, 40,000 tons of spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors around the country would be transported to Texas and stored for 40 years or longer, risking the creation of an unsafe de facto permanent disposal facility. The waste likely would be shipped throughout the country on its way to the storage site.

The NRC put a hold on the application when WCS changed ownership. The clock is ticking for public input on the Texas proposal, which is important because public opposition has stopped the establishment of radioactive waste dumps in the past.

“This plan is all risk and no reward – not only for Texas but for the whole country, and it should be halted immediately. People across the country should be concerned, because putting this waste on the nation’s railways would invite disaster,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, special projects director for Public Citizen’s Texas office. “The amount of radioactive waste on a single train car would contain as much plutonium as the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Radioactive waste moving through highly populated cities across the country could be targeted for sabotage by terrorists or could cause catastrophe in the event of an accident.”

The NRC will conduct safety and environmental reviews before it decides whether to approve the radioactive waste dump application, but the agency will not hold any public hearings, despite holding five hearings on a similar proposal this spring in New Mexico and two dozen for the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada. Texans are demanding public meetings; a public comment period is not enough to address these grave concerns.

A planned protest, called the Protect Texas from Radioactive Waste Tour, is visiting rail crossings across Texas where the waste may be shipped with a mock full-scale size radioactive waste transport cask. Public Citizen and the SEED Coalition are hosting town hall meetings this week in give Texas cities – Houston, Dallas, El Paso, Midland and Andrews – to help citizens prepare comments and organize.

Read the full release here. 

###

View this on our press page.

© 2018 Public Citizen • 1600 20th Street NW / Washington, D.C. 20009

Update on October 1, 2018 by admin

The Texas mock nuke waste cask tour generated a lot of media coverage. Thomas "Smitty" Smith of Public Citizen Texas Office has compiled it here.

CAN High Level Nuclear Waste Tour in the News

As reported by Citizens Awareness Network on Sept. 25th:

September 18—Montpelier, VT and
September 19—Brattleboro, VT

Anti-nuclear waste rally in Montpelier

Activists oppose potential transport of Vermont Yankee nuclear waste to Texas

Anti-Nuke Groups Concerned About Plans For Vermont Yankee's Radioactive Waste

Activists protest plan to transport nuclear waste to Texas

We made the Daily 7!—Seven Days Vermont

Leona Morgan, Chris Williams, Kerstin Rudek, Deb Katz, and Tim Judson in Montpelier, VT

September 20—Greenfield, MA Activists rally against nuclear waste transport

The Wildcat O'Halloran Band with Bob Stannard at Hawks and Reed in Greenfield

September 21—Boston, MA Environmental group raises concerns over transport of nuclear waste

September 22—Plymouth and Hingham, MA at the First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church

Read more on our blog and on Facebook.

Thank you! Putting this tour together is a lot of work! We are so thankful for the people and organizations who helped us to make this happen, from the rehab of the cask, to the people who'll give us food and a place to sleep on the tour, to the speakers who coming in from far and near, and the hosts for the events, our sponsors, and our supporters. Special thanks to Claire Chang and John Ward of The Solar Store of Greenfield

Replacing nuclear and fossil fuel one house
at a time with Solar PV installations!

Holtec, ISP, and NRC object to Beyond Nuclear's motions to dismiss NM and TX CISFs

Holtec International’s Answer Opposing Beyond Nuclear Motion to Dismiss Licensing Proceeding for HI-STORE Consolidated Interim Storage Facility;

INTERIM STORAGE PARTNERS LLC’S RESPONSE OPPOSING BEYOND NUCLEAR, INC.’S UNAUTHORIZED SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 FILING [Beyond Nuclear, of course, takes issues with ISP's characterization of our filing as "unauthorized"! We assert and allege their CISF proposal is unauthorized!];

NRC STAFF’S RESPONSE TO MOTIONS TO DISMISS LICENSING PROCEEDINGS.

Beyond Nuclear will, of course, respond to these legal filings.

See Beyond Nuclear's Sept. 14, 2018 motions to dismiss, and request for petition to intervene, request for hearings, and contentions.

Update on September 28, 2018 by admin

Beyond Nuclear filed a Motion for Leave to Reply on 9/28/18.

On 9/28/18, Beyond Nuclear also filed a Reply to NRC staff's, Holtec's, and ISP's Responses.

Public comments to NRC needed in opposition to the WCS/ISP CISF scheme, by Oct. 19 deadline!

(Please note, on Oct. 18, the public comment deadline was extended by NRC till NOVEMBER 19.)

*When submitting comments, always be sure to include Docket ID NRC-2016-0231. Include that in the subject line of the email, and at the top of the body of your text, so that the comments will be directed to the correct proceeding.*

On August 31, 2018, NRC announced another round of public comment opportunity, open until October 19, 2018. [Per above, the deadline is now NOVEMBER 19.] (The day before, NRC had also announced the resumption of the Waste Control Specialists/Interim Storage Partners licensing proceeding for a 40,000 metric ton commercial irradiated nuclear fuel centralized interim storage facility, or CISF. The proceeding had been suspended for a year, due to the CISF proponents' financial difficulties.)

As announced by NRC:

You may submit comments by any of the following methods:

·         Federal Rulemaking website: Go to http://www.regulations.gov and search for Docket ID NRC-2016-0231. Address questions about NRC dockets to Jennifer Borges; telephone: 301-287-9127; email: Jennifer.Borges@nrc.gov. For technical questions, contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document.

·         Mail comments to: May Ma, Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001.

·         Email Comments to: You may email scoping comments to the Project's email address: WCS_CISF_EIS@nrc.gov.

(However, due to serious past problems with Regulations.gov, we urge folks to submit their comments to the email address given immediately above, and hold onto your SEND copy as a receipt of your comments.)

Below are sample comments you can use to prepare your own for submission to NRC by the NOVEMBER 19 deadline. These sample comments were originally prepared by Beyond Nuclear, and other groups, in Feb. 2017, but are still entirely relevant at the present time:

Public comments are needed in opposition to Waste Control Specialists (WCS) in West Texas, which seeks to open a de facto permanent parking lot dump for up to half the commercial high-level radioactive waste in the U.S., upstream of the Ogallala Aquifer, vital drinking and irrigation water supply for numerous High Plains states, from Texas to South Dakota.

The region around WCS has a high proportion of low income, Latin American residents, and is already heavily burdened with nuclear activities (radioactive waste dumping, uranium enrichment, etc.) and dirty fossil fuel industries (widespread, heavily polluting oil extraction and natural gas fracking). WCS would launch unprecedented numbers of high-risk irradiated nuclear fuel train (and even barge) shipments through many states.

Sample comments you can use to write your own:

(Beyond Nuclear sample comments on a variety of inter-related subject matter)

*When submitting comments, always be sure to include Docket ID NRC-2016-0231. Include that in the subject line of the email, and at the top of the body of your text, so that the comments will be directed to the correct proceeding.*

Mobile Chernobyl Shipping Risks (see here for WCS's own map, from its construction and operating licence application to NRC, showing the main line railways nation-wide that would be used to transport irradiated nuclear fuel from atomic reactors to West TX; see here for another map, made by SEED Coalition, which includes some Interstate highway routing that could also be used, if NRC were to rubber-stamp a license amendment by WCS to allow Legal Weight Truck shipments);

Risks of Routine or Incident-Free Shipments Nonetheless Being Like Mobile X-ray Machines That Can't Be Turned Off, and Risks of Externally Contaminated Shipments;

Risks of De Facto Permanent Parking Lot Dump at WCS; 

Risks of Loss of Institutional Control if De Facto Permanent Parking Lot Dumps are Abandoned, Containers Fail, and Release Catastrophic Amounts of Hazardous Radioactivity into the Environment;

Why Are These Risks Being Taken?;

SEED Coalition & Public Citizen's Texas Office have prepared sample comments you can use to write your own for submission to NRC by the [NOVEMBER 19, 2018] deadline;

Public comments previously submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a proceeding re: Private Initiatives to carry out centralized interim storage can now also be used -- "recycled," so to speak! -- to prepare comments to NRC re: WCS's scheme (the comments to DOE were due Jan. 27, 2017; however, they can be "recycled" now for submission on the WCS/ISP CISF docket).