"The Rust-Bucket Reactors Start to Fall"

Harvey WassermanHarvey Wasserman, editor of Nukefree.org and author of Solartopia, has written a blog inspired by the announced closure of the Kewaunee atomic reactor in Wisconsin. He begins by stating 'The US fleet of 104 deteriorating atomic reactors is starting to fall. The much-hyped "nuclear renaissance" is now definitively headed in reverse.'

He points out that Kewaunee may be but the first domino to fall, describing the impact of "low gas prices, declining performance, unsolved technical problems and escalating public resistance" at numerous other old, age-degraded, troubled reactors across the U.S., including San Onofre, CA; Crystal River, FL; Cooper and Fort Calhoun in NE; Vermont Yankee; Indian Point, NY; Oyster Creek, NJ; and Davis-Besse, OH. But Harvey also points out the momentum applies to new reactors as well, such as at Vogtle, GA and Summer, SC, as well as overseas, in the wake of Fukushima, not only in Japan, but also India, and even Europe, led by Germany's nuclear power phase out.

Harvey, a senior advisor to Greenpeace USA and Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), will address "From Fukushima to Fermi-3: Getting to Solartopia Before It's Too Late" in Dearborn, MI on Dec. 7th at the official launch event for the new organization, the Alliance to Halt Fermi-3.

Anti-nuclear activism intensifies in Great Lakes Basin

In addition to Dominion Nuclear's announcement this week that it will close its Kewaunee atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shore in northern Wisconsin, and the quickly approaching "Mountain of Radioactive Waste 70 Years High" conference scheduled for Chicago on December 1st to 3rd, Beyond Nuclear has more Great Lakes anti-nuclear news to report.

Participants in "The Nuclear Labyrinth on the Great Lakes" conference, that was held on October 4th to 6th in Huron, Ohio on the Lake Erie shoreline, have published a "Huron Declaration." The declaration focuses on international opposition to the proposed "Deep Geologic Repository," or DGR, as the Canadian nuclear establishment likes to call it (or, as opponents call it, the DUD, for Deep Underground Dump). The "Huron Declaration," signed by 40 individuals and organizations from the U.S., Canada, and Native American First Nations, has already been delivered to every U.S. House and Senate office on Capitol Hill, and will soon be delivered to the Obama administration as well. Beyond Nuclear was proud to co-sponsor this conference, send its Radioactive Waste Watchdog Kevin Kamps to speak on several workshop panels, and provide an extensive information table from start to finish.

On November 5th and 6th, Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps will return to Ohio, this time for U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Atomic Safety (sic) and Licensing Board (ASLB) oral argument pre-hearings in Toledo, concerning FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company's (FENOC) bid for a 20-year license extension at its problem-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor on the Lake Erie shoreline. FENOC will be attempting to have nixed what little the NRC Commissioners and ASLB itself have left remaining of environmental interveners' Severe Accident Mitigation Alternatives (SAMA) analysis contentions (the coalition consists of Beyond Nuclear, Citizen Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Ohio Green Party). The ASLB will also consider the environmental interveners' concrete containment cracking contention, which was initially filed on January 10, 2012, and which they have supplemented several times this year, as with "smoking gun" documentation, un-earthed via a Beyond Nuclear Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. At the launch of its intervention against Davis-Besse's 20-year license extension in late 2010, Beyond Nuclear prepared a backgrounder on the atomic reactor's many close calls with disaster -- which U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) later introduced into the congressional record as a concise summary of Davis-Besse's decades of serious problems. On August 9, 2012, Beyond Nuclear also published a summary of the concrete containment cracking scandal. Congressman Kucinich has praised Beyond Nuclear's grassroots efforts to block Davis-Besse's dangerous license extension.

On Friday, December 7th in Dearborn, Michigan, the brand new organization, Alliance to Halt Fermi-3, will celebrate its official launch with a presentation by Harvey Wasserman entitled "From Fukushima to Fermi-3: Getting to Solartopia Before It's Too Late." Wasserman serves as senior advisor to both Greenpeace USA as well as Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS). Beyond Nuclear is proud to currently serve as the Alliance to Halt Fermi-3's fiduciary agent, as well as to be a member of the environmental coalition (including Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Citizen Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and Sierra Club Michigan Chapter) officially intervening against the proposed new Fermi-3 reactor targeted at Frenchtown Township near Monroe south of Detroit.

"Aging and Expensive, Reactors Face Mothballs"

The Kewaunee atomic reactor on Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shoreThe New York Times has reported on the economics that have not only led to the Kewaunee atomic reactor's (photo, left) announced closure in Wisconsin, but also other pressures and forces on reactors, from Entergy's Indian Point near New York City to Vermont Yankee, Duke's Crystal River in Florida, Exelon's Oyster Creek in New Jersey, and Southern California Edison's San Onofre. The article speaks of "[t]he industry’s renewed glimpse of its mortality" and states "the nuclear industry may be nearing its first round of retirements since the mid-1990s."  Kewaunee's closure will be the first at an American atomic reactor since several (Yankee Rowe, Massachusetts; Zion 1 & 2, Illinois; Big Rock Point, Michigan; Millstone Unit 1, Connecticut) in the mid to late 1990s. 

Nearly half of the atomic reactors on Lake Michigan's shores have closed over the past 15 years

NRC file photo of KewauneeFrom The Washington Post: "Dominion Resources Inc. said Monday that it plans to close and decommission its Kewaunee Power Station in Wisconsin after it was unable to find a buyer for the nuclear power plant".

As nuclear power continues to crumble under the weight of its own disastrous economics, Dominion CEO, Thomas F. Farrell II,  becomes the latest industry CEO to lose confidence in the nuclear business. "This decision was based purely on economics," Farrell said. Dominion also operates the two North Anna, VA reactors, where a proposed third reactor plan looks fragile at best. It also operates Millstone, CT and Surry, VA.

Reuters also reported on this story, stating that more atomic reactors could follow suit, their bad economics forcing their closure:

"Especially vulnerable under this scenario would be small, old single reactor sites.

Other units that could be on the hit list because they fit the profile include Exelon Corp's Oyster Creek in New Jersey, Xcel Energy Inc's Monticello in Minnesota, and Entergy Corp's Palisades in Michigan, Vermont Yankee in Vermont and Pilgrim in Massachusetts."

In 1997, Big Rock Point in Michigan was permanently closed, as were Zion 1 & 2 in Illinois in 1998. Kewaunee's closure in 2013 will be the fifth reactor shut down on Lake Michigan's shores in 15 years. This will leave Point Beach 1 & 2 in WI, Palisades in MI, and Cook 1 & 2 in MI still operating on Lake Michigan's shores. Lake Michigan is a headwaters for the Great Lakes, 20% of the world's surface fresh water, providing drinking water for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Americans.

Several years ago, Kewaunee had more U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) "yellow findings" (the second highest category of safety violation) than the other (at the time) 102 operating reactors in the entire country. The very same year, Point Beach had more "red findings" (NRC's worst category of safety violation) than the rest of the industry combined. Kewaunee and Point Beach are a mere seven miles apart, the same distance as between Fukushima Daiichi and Daini in Japan. Daiichi and Daini's proximity, as well as their proximity to Tokai nearer Tokyo, led the Japanese federal government to prepare worst case scenario plans to evacuate 30 million people from Tokyo in the event of a "demonic chain reaction" of reactor melt downs and radioactive waste storage pool fires.

An NRC daily event report revealed that Dominion's announcement to decommission Kewaunee caused a security incident, as reporters descended on the reactor to cover the story.

The New York Times and Greenwire have also reported on this story, as has World Nuclear News.

Update on October 24, 2012 by admin

A number of Wisconsin news media outlets have reported on this story: the Fond du Lac Reporter; a number of stories by Fox 11, including one about local residents' safety, environmental, public health, and security concerns about decommissioning, dismantlement releasing radioactivity, and high-level radioactive waste storage for decades along the Lake Michigan shoreline; the Green Bay Press Gazette; Wisconsin Radio Network; and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which quoted a Dominion Nuclear spokesman admitting that maintaining safe operations at Kewaunee was cost prohibitive at the age-degraded reactor:

"Owning more plants in one area would [have] allowed one company 'to leverage the megawatts and the shared staff,' said Richard Zuercher, a Dominion spokesman.

'We looked at all alternatives to keep the unit operating, but we could not make the reductions in the cost without it affecting safety,' Zuercher said." (emphasis added)

Beyond Nuclear debates "thorium power" proponent at Sierra Club meeting

On October 10th, Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps debated Timothy Maloney, a proponent of so-called "thorium (nuclear) power," at a meeting of the Nepessing Group of the Sierra Club's Michigan Chapter, at Mott Community College's Regional Technical Center in Flint. The Nepessing Group of Michigan represents Sierra Club members in Genesee, Lapeer, and northern Oakland counties.

Kevin's research in preparation for the debate depended on: a Beyond Nuclear backgrounder compiled by Linda Gunter; "Thorium Fuel -- No Panacea for Nuclear Power," by Dr. Arjun Makhijani of Institute for Energy and Environmental Research and Michele Boyd of Physicians for Social Responsibility (2009); a Science Friday program entitled "Is Thorium a Magic Bullet for our Energy Problems?" featuring Dr. Makhijani (May 4, 2012); "Thinking about Thorium" by Dr. Gordon Edwards of Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (Sept. 16, 2012); "Thorium Reactors: Back to the Dream Factory," by Dr. Edwards (July 13, 2011); and "What is the Thorium Cycle?" by Dr. Edwards (1978).

The Thorium-232/Uranium-233 nuclear fuel chain shares many similarities with the Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239 nuclear fuel chains, including the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation, the risk that reactors could unleash catastrophic amounts of radioactivity (particularly from intentional terrorist attacks or acts of warfare), the unsolved (unsolvable?!) radioactive waste problem, the astronomical expense of RDD (research, development, and demonstration) for "thorium reactors," and the environmental ruination downwind and downstream (as well as up the food chain and down the generations) from reprocessing facilities.