Piece of metal lodged in reactor at Palisades Nuclear Power Plant

Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor, and the Great Lake and surrounding region it puts at riskThe Kalamazoo Gazette has reported that a hunk of extraneous metal has become wedged in the reactor at Entergy's Palisades on the Lake Michigan shore in s.w. MI. Although the hunk of metal is not supposed to be there, Entergy's spokeswoman has expressed confidence that it won't un-wedge in the future, during full power operations (which include a ton of pressure per square inch inside the reactor pressure vessel), and re-wedge in a very bad way.

A hunk of metal that came loose and blocked coolant flow to nuclear fuel assemblies at the Fermi 1 experimental plutonium fast breeder reactor in Monroe County, MI caused the October 5, 1966 partial meltdown there, chronicled in John G. Fuller's classic book We Almost Lost Detroit (Reader's Digest, 1975), as well as Gil Scot Heron's song of the same title.

Nuclear watchdogs object to threat to public safety and civil liberties from “deadly physical force” bill in MI House of Representatives

Palisades, Lake Michigan, and the region at riskBeyond Nuclear has joined with long-time watchdogs on the government-nuclear industry complex in Michigan, including Don't Waste MI and MSEF, to decry a proposed bill before the State House of Representatives as a violation of civil liberties, and a serious risk to public safety for residents and visitors near atomic reactors and radioactive waste storage sites in the Great Lakes State.

On Tuesday, March 4 at 9 AM, the Energy and Technology Committee of the Michigan House, chaired by Rep. Aric Nesbitt (R-66^th District, site of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant), will hold a hearing on HB 5282 (introduced by Rep. Pscholka, R-79^th District, site of the Cook Nuclear Power Plant), regarding the “right to use force when providing security at a nuclear generating facility.” HB 5282 is described as “[a] bill to create the security act for nuclear energy; and to clarify the rights and duties of officers providing security at nuclear generating facilities.”

Section 2 of HB 5282 allows use of “deadly physical force” at Michigan’s nuclear power plants. The hearing on HB 5282 will be held in Room 519, House Office Building, Lansing, MI. (To view text of legislation go to: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/mileg.aspx?page=CommitteeBillRecord)

“This ‘Deadly Physical Force’ bill is exhibit number one proving that nuclear power cannot co-exist with basic democratic freedoms and civil liberties, even something as ‘Pure Michigan’ as walking along the Great Lakes shorelines,” said Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear. “Solar photovoltaic panels, wind turbines, and energy efficiency upgrades aren’t known to be terrorist targets. Just having atomic reactors and radioactive waste in our midst undermines our safety and security on a daily basis.”

See the full press release from the environmental coalition.

Update on March 4, 2014 by admin

Michigan Radio has reported on this story.

"Exelon Nuclear -- Holding Illinois Hostage Yet Again?"

Dave Kraft, Director, Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) of ILDavid Kraft, Director of Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS) of IL, has published an analysis, "Exelon Nuclear -- Holding Illinois Hostage Yet Again?".

The Chicago business press has recently reported that Exelon has threatened to permanently close as many as five of its atomic reactors, unless the State of IL provides bailouts to keep them afloat. Specifically, those reactors are: two at Byron, two at Quad Cities, and one at Clinton.

Quad Cities Units 1 & 2 are Fukushima Daiichi twins -- GE BWR Mark Is.

NRC rubberstamped their 20-year license extensions years ago. As Dave's analysis mentions, Byron 1 & 2 have now applied for 20-year extensions as well. Despite the license extensions, the future of these reactors' operations is now quite dubious.

Dominion's Kewaunee atomic reactor in WI permanently shutdown a year ago, despite having already received a 20-year license extension rubberstamp from NRC.

Update on April 27, 2014 by admin

Dave Kraft at NEIS has published a related fact sheet, NO RATEPAYER BAILOUTS FOR EXELON’S “NUCLEAR HOSTAGE CRISIS."

Karl Grossman commemorating three years of Fukushima catastrophe

Karl Grossman, reknowned author and educator on the inherent hazards of nuclear technology, brings us up to date on the ongoing catastrophe of Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident which began on March 11, 2011.

Thirteen DOE workers contaminated in underground NM nuke dump accident: trace plutonium contamination detected above ground 1/2 mile from exhaust shaft

A nuclear accident has occurred at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Waste Isolation Pilot Plant deep underground near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The WIPP site stores nuclear waste, principally plutonium-239, plutonium-240 and americium-241 contaminated material and equipment from the US nuclear weapons program. On February 26^th, the DOE announced that 13 workers are internally contaminated with americium-241.   The employees were working above ground on February 14 when the contamination allegedly surfaced.  The WIPP site alarm initially went off on February 5 when a “vehicle fire” prompted the evacuation of DOE contract workers from the tunnel network burrowed more than 2000 feet underground in the salt dome formation.  New Mexico State health officials are upset that the federal officials withheld information for days on the radioactive leak. Americium and plutonium contamination has been monitored above ground, more than ½ mile from the waste storage tunnel network exhaust shaft to the surface. Details are still emerging.

The WIPP nuclear waste accident and releases of radioactivity raises serious questions and concerns about the reliability of licensing such facilities. WIPP is licensed for 10,000 years as an "islolation" facility but is now leaking radioactivity to the surface after only 15 years. The casks (TRUPACT) used to transport and geologically store plutonium contaminated materials have apparently failed to meet the quality control and assurance standards they were licensed to, as well.

WIPP has long been targeted for a "Centralized Interim Storage" parking lot dump for commercial high-level radioactive waste (as in Senate Bill 1240), and even for the burial of commercial irradiated nuclear fuel in a so-called "consent-based" geologic repository. This proposed permanent disposal persists, despite the fact that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) acknowledged in 2008 that burial of irradiated nuclear fuel in salt formations is not appropriate. The intense thermal heat could collapse the burial chambers. Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of IEER, and expert witness on behalf of a coalition of dozens of environmental groups, made this point in his testimony to NRC during the Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) on Nuclear Waste Confidence (see page 6, 9, 41, etc.) on Dec. 20, 2013. At pages 43-44 of his testimony, Dr. Makhijani quotes an NRC admission from 2010 that: "...no geologic media previously identified as a candidate host, with the exception of salt formations for SNF [spent nuclear fuel], has been ruled out based on technical or scientific information. Salt formations are being considered as hosts only for reprocessed nuclear materials  because heat generating waste, like SNF, exacerbates a process by which salt can rapidly deform. This process could cause problems with keeping drifts stable and open during the operating period of a repository."

Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping (CARD) and Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) have extensive background libraries online regarding WIPP.