EDF seeks to end its U.S. nuclear misadventure

NRC file photo of Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant on the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay in Lusby, MDAs reported by the Baltimore Sun, Exelon/Constellation Nuclear will pay Electricite de France (EDF) a $400 million "special dividend" payment, in exchange for severing partnerships at three U.S. nuclear power plants, totaling five reactors, including Calvert Cliffs Units 1 & 2 on the Chesapeake Bay in Lusby, Maryland (photo, left), and the Ginna and Nine Mile Point Unit 1 & 2 nuclear power plants on the Lake Ontario shore of Upstate, New York. EDF then has the option to sell its 49.99% stake in the nuclear power plants to Exelon between 2016-2022.

When Constellation abandoned the project, not wanting to risk its own skin in the game in exchange for a $7.5 billion federal nuclear loan guarantee offered by the Obama administration, EDF was left holding the bag as majority owner of the proposed new reactor, Calvert Cliffs Unit 3. But foreign ownership is illegal under the Atomic Energy Act, and no other American partner stepped up. The proposed new reactor was to have been a French Areva EPR (1,600 Megawatt-electric Evolutionary Power Reactor). Numerous additional proposed new EPRs have been indefinitely postponed or outright canceled across the U.S. and Canada.

As reported in the article, 'EDF Chief Financial Officer Thomas Piquemal said Tuesday that the deal represents what he hopes is "the last chapter of our U.S. adventure with Constellation," Bloomberg reported.

The Baltimore Business Journal also reported on this story.

As reported by Power Engineering International, EDF's CEO, Henri Proglio, speaking at a news conference in Paris, stated: "The circumstances for the development of nuclear in the US are not favorable at the moment. We are a major player in nuclear, but we are not obsessed by nuclear. Our development in the US will focus on renewable energy – that will be our vector of growth in the US.” (emphasis added)

Entergy Nuclear announces 800 job cuts nationwide

Map showing location of Entergy's "dirty dozen" atomic reactors across the U.S.In an article entitled "Vermont Yankee to cut about 30 jobs: Critics argue loss of work force could pose operation hazards," the Burlington Free Press reports that nationwide, Entergy will slash 800 jobs across its fleet of a "dirty dozen" atomic reactors.

The article quotes Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, as to the safety risks associated with such workforce reductions:

' “Thirty is a big deal,” said Vermont Yankee critic Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear engineer who lives in Burlington. “It’s like a car. As a car gets older it needs more repair, not less and here they are cutting mechanics.”

Gundersen, who served on a 2008 state oversight panel that looked at Vermont Yankee’s operations, said he thought that cutting 30 jobs would have to affect the safe operation of the plant. He noted that the panel concluded that Vermont Yankee was understaffed at that time after increasing output by 20 percent without adding staff.'

FoxBusiness has reported that Entergy Nuclear CEO, Leo Denault, has admitted to investors that "all options are on the table" regarding its non-utility, "merchant" reactors, such as Palisades in MI and its fleet in the Northeast, in deregulated, competitive electricity marketplaces. Last February, Denault admitted in a Reuters interview that needed safety repairs were a major financial challenge for Entergy's age-degraded reactor fleet.

Update on July 31, 2013 by admin

Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer, Fairewinds Associates, Inc.Vermont Public Radio also reported on this story, quoting Arnie Gundersen (photo, left), Chief Engineer of Fairewinds Associates, Inc., who disagreed with Entergy's conclusion that the workforce reductions would have no impact on the safety risks of operations:

But Arnie Gundersen, a nuclear engineer and Yankee critic, said the reductions will put more pressure on a workforce that is already under stress.

“These cuts are going to cut muscle, there is no doubt in my mind,” he said.

Gundersen chaired a state oversight panel that looked at issues confronting the plant. He said that a decade ago Yankee boosted its power production by 20 percent without adding additional workers. He said the oversight panel concluded five years ago that the plant was under-staffed.

“So I think it’s only gotten worse. The same number of people are carrying the same amount of work, and now there’s going to be 30 less of them,” he said. “At some point, somebody is going to break and miss something. And when you miss something at a nuclear plant that can be a real problem.”

Gundersen said Entergy may choose to close the plant rather than invest about $70 million over the next few years to replace aging equipment and to comply with modifications required as a result of the Fukushima nuclear accident.

The Kalamazoo Gazette has reported that about 30 job losses will occur at Palisades in Michigan as well, about 4% of the workforce there. Further reductions than even that are expected in the operations and engineering departments. Gundersen has previously expressed concern about safety risks at Palisades, as well, as in this Fairewinds Energy Education podcast interview with Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps.

Mayor, environmentalists declare victory of people power over nuclear power

As reported by the Sarnia Observer, the Mayor of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, Mike Bradley (photo, left), has declared victory in a years-long campaign to block the shipment of radioactive steam generators, by boat on the Great Lakes, from Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Ontario, across the Pacific, to Sweden. 

“It's a real testament to citizen power,” said Bradley, who has been a vocal critic of the move, along with a growing list of Ontario mayors, coalition groups, environmental activists, and U.S. Senators. “We're fighting a very large and powerful organization.”

First Nations, including the Mohawks, as well as hundreds of municipalities in Quebec representing millions of citizens along the targeted shipment route, made the difference for the resistance.

Kay Cumbow, the nuclear power watchdog in Michigan who first discovered the risky shipping scheme through her research, then warned and activated others, has said "Thanks to everyone who wrote letters, signed petitions and helped get the word out about the dangers of this scheme that would have put the Great Lakes at risk, endangered workers as well as communities enroute, and would have put radioactive materials into the global recycled metal supply."

Maude Barlow, national chairwoman of the Council of Canadians, was quoted by the Ottawa Citizen: "This is a huge victory for communities around the Great Lakes...The Great Lakes belong to everyone and communities have a right to say 'no' to any projects that will harm them."

As indicated by Mayor Bradley in a separate Sarnia Observer article, the next big fight against "nuclear madness" brewing at Bruce involves proposals by Ontario Power Generation, the Canadian Nuclear Waste Management Organization, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to bury all of Ontario's so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive wastes -- from 20 atomic reactors across the province -- within a mile of the Lake Huron shoreline. Several communities near Bruce, largely populated by Bruce nuclear workers and in effect company towns, have also volunteered to be considered for a national Canadian high-level radioactive waste dump (for 22 reactors).

Mobile Chernobyl bill revs its engines on Capitol Hill

The Mobile Chernobyl mock nuke waste cask, a full size replica of a truck shipping container, shown in front of the State Capitol in Jefferson City, MO during a cross-country educational tourAt 2:30 PM Eastern on Tuesday, July 30th, in room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (ENR) will hold a hearing on Senate Bill 1240 (S. 1240), the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2013.

The purpose of this hearing is to receive testimony on S. 1240, the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2013. Among those who will testify are David Lochbaum, Director, Nuclear Safety Project, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Geoff Fettus, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council. 

The hearing will be webcast live on the committee's website, and an archived video will be available shortly after the hearing is complete. Witness testimony will be available on the website at the start of the hearing.

As previously reported by Beyond Nuclear in late June when S. 1240 was introducted, if enacted, this bill would unleash unprecedented numbers of risky "Mobile Chernobyls," "dirty bombs on wheels," and "Floating Fukushimas" onto our country's roads, rails, and waterways. U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sites (the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in NM, the Savannah River Site in SC, and Idaho National Lab) are being targeted for "consolidated interim storage," de facto permanent parking lot dumps for high-level radioactive waste (HLRW). So too are Native American reservations, as well as nuclear power plants, such as Dresden in Illinois. 

The recent rail disaster in Quebec, which killed scores, serves as a cautionary tale against playing a radioactive waste shell game with some of the deadliest materials ever generated, HLRW. A train tunnel fire in Baltimore in July, 2001 could have caused tens of thousands of latent cancer fatalities, had HLRW been aboard. 

A national coalition of environmental groups has been raising such warnings for years, for example throughout the 2010-2012 Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future proceedings. See, as but one example, a group sign on letter spearheaded by Physicians for Social Responsibility in Feb. 2011, signed by scores of organizations nationwide. However, the BRC ignored these good faith efforts. So too has the Senate ENR's S. 1240 development process, thus far.

Please contact your U.S. Senators, as via the U.S. Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121), and urge that they block this dangerous bill, S. 1240. Urge that they instead enact legislation requiring Hardened On-Site Storage (HOSS). You can also work with friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, and groups in your area to request a meeting with your U.S. Senators during their upcoming August recess, as they travel back home, to discuss your concerns with S. 1240 face to face. To do so, contact your U.S. Senators' schedulers. Don't hesitate to contact Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps for any guidance needed (kevin@beyondnuclear.org or 301-270-2209 ext. 1).

NRC ASLB to hear oral arguments Wed., July 24th on risky Davis-Besse steam generator replacements

Toledo attorney Terry Lodge represents the environmental coalition. Here he speaks out against Davis-Besse's 20-year license extension at an NRC hearing held at Oak Harbor High School in August 2012DAVIS-BESSE HEARING DOCKET: Click here to link to all the official documents filed in the environmental coalition intervention against FirstEnergy's risky steam generator replacements at Davis-Besse

Davis-Besse Steam Generator Replacement Hearing before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board

“Telephonic Oral Hearing” will begin at 1:30 pm EST Wed., July 24, 2013.  Please phone into Hearing @ 800-779-1642  passcode is 8093521

Contact: Michael J. Keegan, Don’t Waste Michigan (734) 770-1441; Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear (240) 462-3216; Patricia Marida, Sierra Club Ohio (614) 890-7865

ASLB Hearing Notification link 

ASLB TO HEAR ORAL ARGUMENTS WED., JULY 24^th ON DAVIS-BESSE STEAM GENERATOR REPLACEMENTS

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will hear oral arguments Wed., July 24, 2013 on the Davis-Besse nuclear plant steam generator replacements. The contention alleges that at least nine major nuclear plant modifications have not been scrutinized and must do so, in a full license amendment proceeding.  A very similar contention led to the permanent shutdown of two reactors at San Onofre nuclear plant in CA on June 7th.

The contention was filed May 20^th by Interveners including Beyond Nuclear, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don’t Waste Michigan, and the Sierra Club of Ohio. The oral arguments will discuss standing and whether the ASLB should admit the contention on the merits.  The (ASLB) Board intends to ask questions regarding the Joint Petitioners’ standing and the admissibility of the proffered contention.

The steam generator replacement concerns at Davis-Besse are nearly identical to the engineering shortcomings at the San Onofre reactors which led to their failure and ultimate closing of those reactors.  Fairewinds Associates,Inc's Chief Engineer Arnold Gundersen provided expert testimony, on behalf of Friends of the Earth, which led to the closing of the two San Onofre reactors.  Arnold Gundersen is now expert for the environmental interveners on the Davis-Besse steam generator replacements.

Background narratives with updates are posted at Beyond Nuclear at the following links: 

May 21, 2013, Environmental coalition challenges experimental steam generator replacements; 

June 22, 2013, Coalition defends its challenge against risky steam generator replacements; 

July 9, 2013, Coalition defends intervention against risky steam generator replacements by rebutting FirstEnergy "Motions to Strike";

July 12, 2013, Coalition defends intervention against risky steam generator replacements by rebutting NRC "Motions to Strike".

The entire ASLB docket, including environmental interveners' testimony and petition, is posted online. Documents will also be sent upon request (see contacts above).

Interveners are seeking to prevent the unregulated installation of replacement steam generators which are not “like-for-like”, “same-for-same”, “fit-form-function”.  FirstEnergy’s attempts to install steam generators without adequate oversight put the entire Great Lakes basin at risk of a catastrophic cascading steam generator failure leading to Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA) resulting in meltdown and potentially catastrophic radioactivity releases.

Post hearing individual interviews can be arranged by contacts listed above.

Update on July 25, 2013 by admin

Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, Inc., serves as the environmental coalition's expert witnessThe Toledo Blade has reported on this story. The article quotes Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps: 

“We need for FirstEnergy to prove that these new steam generators are safe,” said Kevin Kamps, a radioactive-waste specialist for Beyond Nuclear, one of the environmental groups seeking to intervene.

Mr. Kamps, in an interview after the roughly 90-minute oral arguments, called for “an open, transparent process.”

Attorney Terry Lodge (photo, above left) represented the coalition, including Beyond Nuclear, and Arnie Gundersen (photo, left), Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, Inc., serves as its expert witness. Gundersen also serves as Friends of the Earth's expert at San Onofre, where a botched replacement of steam generators put 8 million southern Californians at risk, and has led to a mutli-billion dollar boondoggle, and the permanent shutdown of two reactors. In addition, Gundersen was involved at Crystal River, Florida, where a botched steam generator replacement fatally cracked the concrete containment dome, leading to that reactor's permanent shutdown as well. Davis-Besse also has a severely cracked concrete containment.

The NRC ASLB has released the transcript from the July 24th oral argument pre-hearing.