Warren Buffett finally sees the light: MidAmerican Energy cancels proposed new "small modular reactor" targeted at Iowa

As reported by the Des Moines Register, Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy has finally pulled the plug on a proposed new "small modular reactor" it was hoping that the ratepayers of Iowa would pay for, through "Construction Work in Progress" (CWIP) surcharges on their electricity bills. A powerful coalition, including AARP, Green State Solutions, Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and others can claim credit for this environmental victory against nuclear industry greed, after a protracted three year long battle at the Iowa state legislature.

Most of those nuclear plants around Iowa depicted at the left are Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1-4 twin designs -- GE BWR Mark Is. Duane Arnold's Mark I is in fact owned by Warren Buffett's MidAmerican Energy. The Cooper Mark I in Nebraska is owned by Nebraska Public Power District, but operated by Entergy. The two Mark Is at Quad Cities are owned and operated by Exelon.

The only exception is Fort Calhoun, a Pressurized Water Reactor owned by Omaha Public Power District, but operated by Exelon.

Great Lakes Region Nuclear Hotspots Map

John Jackson of Great Lakes United (GLU) and Anna Tilman of International Institute of Concern for Public Health (IICPH) have released an updated map of Nuclear Hotspots in the Great Lakes Region (see image, left):

"Great Lakes United and the International Institute of Concern for Public Health (IICPH) released today the Great Lakes Nuclear Hot Spots Map, providing a detailed regional, binational view of nuclear facilities in the Great Lakes Region. As the map shows, with the exception of Lake Superior, each of the Great Lakes has numerous nuclear sites related to nuclear power generation, most of which are located within one kilometre of the Lakes. This raises concerns about the cumulative impacts of radioactive releases over the years from so many sites. It also shows the numerous places where a serious nuclear accident could occur in the region.

This map marks the first comprehensive update of this information in 15 years and highlights the lack of information about radioactive releases from these facilities. In 1998, the International Joint Commission’s (IJC) Task Force on Inventory of Radionuclides released an assessment of nuclear facilities around the basin. At the time, the Task Force concluded that releases from nuclear facilities were substantial, but that the extent of knowledge about the releases and their impacts was “limited”.   http://www.ijc.org/files/publications/C131.pdf

The map includes all aspects of nuclear power production in the Great Lakes region, including the 38 operating nuclear power plants, 12 closed plants, and four new plants proposed in Canada. It also includes the facilities that process uranium ore and manufacture the pellets, as well as tailings sites from uranium mining and milling, and facilities that store, and dispose of radioactive waste. Every site on the map is a radioactive waste site, whether operating or not.

The Great Lakes Nuclear Hot Spots Map provides a critical resource for communities concerned about the potential for radioactive waste releases into the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Additionally, it shows the sites under consideration by the Canadian Government for storing Canada’s nuclear fuel waste. Most of the proposed sites lie within the Great Lakes basin. With the potential for new disposal sites within easy access of the Great Lakes, communities are concerned that nuclear waste could be brought in via ships, creating substantial risks of spills along Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River shipping lanes and during loading and unloading near shore.

The Citizens’ Clearinghouse on Waste Management contributed funding to this project."

The map updates work from 1990-1991 published by Irene Kock and Dave Martin of Nuclear Awareness Project.

Beyond Nuclear has also compiled a listing of major U.S. municipalities downstream of the proposed Bruce DUD on the Great Lakes shorelines of MI, OH, PA, and NY, as well as a listing of major municipalities in upstate New York directly across Lake Ontario from the nuclear power plants (Pickering, Darlington) and uranium processing facility (Port Hope) east of Toronto.

As listd in Beyond Nuclear's "Freeze Our Fukushimas" pamphlet, GE BWR Mark Is (identical to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1-4) located immediately on the Great Lakes shores include: Fermi 2, MI; FitzPatrick, NY; Nine Mile Point Unit 1, NY. Nine Mile Point Unit 2 in NY is a very similarly designed Mark IIs on the Great Lakes shoreline. However, although outside the watershed, Mark Is (two at Dresden, and two at Quad Cities) and Mark IIs (two at LaSalle) in IL are located not far upwind of the Great Lakes. A vast amount of Fukushima Daiichi's radioactive releases fell out over the Pacific Ocean's surface, as the winds drove it to the east.

Watch NRC webcast of groups call to revoke GE reactors license

On May 2, 2013, Beyond Nuclear and thirteen citizens organizations testified before the NRC calling for the revocation of the operating licenses of the 31 GE Mark I and Mark II boiling water reactors in the United States.  You can watch and listen to the citizen testimony on the NRC's web portal archival  webcast by selecting from the archival footage by date. Select "Video."

The groups have requested an additional to-be-scheduled supplemental meeting with the federal agency in the on-going campaign to promptly and permanently shut down these dangerous Fukushima-style reactors.

The only relevant protection is prevention: Freeze Our Fukushima's.  Shut them down before the next meltdown.

Sign on to stop nuclear exports from Japan to India!

We stand in complete opposition to the India-Japan nuclear cooperation agreement that is currently under intense negotiation. The governments of both countries must refrain from promoting nuclear commerce, jeopardising the health and safety of their people and environments.

The Fukushima accident in Japan should provide an eye-opener to the Indian government and it must realise that cooperation in/supply of nuclear technology comes with insurmountable safety risks. Nuclear accidents result in totally unacceptable damages to people and the environment. Even more than two years after the accident in Fukushima the reactors are far from being under control and massive radioactive releases have contaminated the ground, air and water, contaminations that coming generations will have to endure even after it has taken its toll on the current generation. The criminal nexus of the nuclear Industry and policy makers now stands exposed.

For the poor villagers in India, this would mean more displacement, land-grabbing, radiation and loss of livelihood. They are already under siege from their own government at the Koodankulam and Jaitapur nuclear sites.  

Support the people of India and Japan by signing the petition today!

Interestingly, per a 4 to 1 vote at the US NRC Commission in March 2013, the U.S. joined only India and Mexico in not requiring emergency radiological filters on Mark Is and IIs. NRC Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane, the sole dissenting vote (that is, she voted for requiring filters) pointed out that all other Mark Is and IIs in the world either already have filters, or plan to install them.

States tell NRC to review nuclear waste storage at reactors

From AP: Attorneys general in Vermont, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut announced Thursday they are petitioning the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a more thorough environmental review of storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste at plant sites.

"Federal law requires that the NRC analyze the environmental dangers of storing spent nuclear fuel at reactors that were not designed for long-term storage,’’ said Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell.

In a landmark ruling last year, a federal appeals court in Washington said the NRC needed to do a full environmental review of the risks of storing the waste — spent nuclear fuel — in storage pools and casks made of steel and concrete on the grounds of nuclear plants while the search continues for a disposal solution.

Activists in Vermont have come to mistrust the NRC "dog and pony" shows that show up in their state. Now four attorneys general are demanding some meaningful accountability from the agency on prolonged on-site storage of high-level radioactive waste. The position of Beyond Nuclear is that this waste must not be moved to so-called "interim" sites but properly stored in hardened, protected casks - a process known as Hardened On-Site Storage.

‘‘NRC staff is continuing to ignore serious public health, safety and environmental risks related to long-term, on-site storage,’’ New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a news release. ‘‘The communities that serve as de facto long-term radioactive waste repositories deserve a full and detailed accounting of the risks.’’

As shown by Beyond Nuclear's "Freeze Our Fukushimas" pamphlet, New York "hosts" Mark Is (identical to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1-4) at FitzPatrick and Nine Mile Point Unit 1, as well as Mark IIs (very similar in design) at Nine Mile Point Unit 2. Vermont "hosts" the Mark I at Vermont Yankee. Connecticut "hosts" the permanently shutdown Mark I at Millstone Unit 1. And Massachusetts hosts the Mark I at Pilgrim.

These Mark Is and Mark IIs' high-level radioactive waste (HLRW) storage pools contain multiple times the amount of hazardous HLRW stored in the pools at Fukushima Daiichi. For example, the most HLRW stored in any of the wrecked reactors at Fukushima Daiichi was in Unit 4 -- 219 tons metric tons, according to Dr. Hisako Sakiyama, Member of the Japanese Parliament's Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission -- pales by comparison to the more than 600 metric tons of irradiated nuclear fuel that have piled up in the Pilgrim pool near Boston -- every single irradiated nuclear fuel assembly ever generated there since 1972!

More.

Update on May 27, 2013 by admin

Vermont Digger has also reported on this story, including a link to the multi-state coalition filing with the NRC itself.