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 (see map, left).

Of those 12 reactors in Entergy's fleet, 7 already have received U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rubberstamps for risky 20-year license extensions: Arkansas Nuclear One, Units 1 & 2; Palisades, MI; FitzPatrick, NY; Cooper, NE; Vermont Yankee; and Pilgrim, MA.

The rest of Entergy's fleet either has applied for license extensions, or plans to do so. Indian Point Units 2 & 3 in NY, as well as its Grand Gulf reactor in MS, have already applied for 20-year license extensions. Waterford and River Bend, in Entergy's home state of Louisiana, plan to apply for 20-year license extensions in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

In addition, NRC has also rubberstamped risky power uprates at the following Entergy reactors: FitzPatrick; River Bend (twice, for a total 6.7% uprate); Waterford (twice, for a total 9.5% uprate); Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 2 (7.5% uprate); Grand Gulf (twice, for a total 14.8% uprate); Indian Point 3; Pilgrim; Indian Point 2 (twice, for a total uprate of 4.66%); Palisades; Vermont Yankee (a whopping 20% uprate, all in one fell swoop); and Cooper.

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.

Help hold NRC's feet to the fire -- please attend Palisades Webinar, Tues., July 16, 5:30 PM Eastern

MI Radio photo showing the location of the SIRWT, located on the roof directly above the control room; the reactor containment building towers to the leftAs announced by a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) meeting notice, the agency will hold yet another Webinar about Entergy's problem-plagued Palisades atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shore in Covert, Michigan. This one will focus on the May 5th spill of 82.1 gallons of radioactive water from the leaking Safety Injection Refueling Water Tank (SIRWT) into Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes represent 20% of the surface fresh water on the entire planet, and serve as the drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations.

The Webinar will be held on Tuesday, July 16th (the 68th annual commemoration of the world's first atomic weapon blast, "Trinity," at Alamagordo, NM on July 16, 1945).

To register to attend the Webinar, do so by filling out the required information (your name and email address) by July 15th at the following website: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/431957345

A broad coalition opposed Palisades' 20-year license extension from 2005-2007, but NRC rubber-stamped it anyways. Palisades now has NRC's permission to operate till 2031, despite its worsening breakdown phase risks.

More.

Coalition rebuts motions to strike at Davis-Besse, while FOE defends legal victory at San Onofre

Terry Lodge speaks out against Davis-Besse's 20-year license extension at a press conference in Oak Harbor, OH, in August 2012. The main bone of contention at that time was the recently revealed severe cracking of Davis-Besse's concrete containment structure.The environmental coalition challenging safety shortcuts by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC), on its proposed 2014 steam generator replacements at the Davis-Besse atomic reactor along the Lake Erie shore east of Toledo, has responded this week to motions to strike filed by FENOC and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff. The coalition's Reply to FENOC's motion to strike was filed on July 8th; its Reply to NRC staff's motion to strike was filed on July 11th.

If the NRC's Atomic Safety (sic) and Licensing Board (ASLB) rules in favor of the motions to strike, whole sections of the coalition's intervention petition arguments could be erased from the record, and would no longer allowed to be raised.

The coalition challenging the risky steam generator replacements at Davis-Besse consists of Beyond Nuclear, Citizen Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario (CEA), Don't Waste Michigan, and the Sierra Club.

An overlapping coalition comprised of Beyond Nuclear, CEA, Don't Waste MI, and the Green Party of Ohio has also challenged FENOC's application to NRC for a 20-year license extension at Davis-Besse. The problem-plagued reactor's original 40-year license expires on Earth Day (April 22), 2017. If granted, the license extension would allow Davis-Besse to operate until 2037. This coalition's contention against NRC's bogus Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision, regarding the on-site storage risks of irradiated nuclear fuel, is still live. For example, little known is the fact that Davis-Besse's high-level radioactive waste storage pool has leaked radioactivity into the ground, precariously close to the Great Lakes shoreline. The Great Lakes represent 20% of the planet's surface fresh water, and supply 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations with drinking water. NRC has announced that a public comment meeting regarding its court-ordered Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision environmental impact statement will be held in the Toledo area sometime this autumn. More.

Help hold NRC's feet to the fire -- please attend Palisades Webinar, Tues., July 16, 5:30 PM Eastern

MI Radio photo showing the location of the SIRWT, located on the roof directly above the control room; the reactor containment building towers to the leftAs announced by a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) meeting notice, the agency will hold yet another Webinar about Entergy's problem-plagued Palisades atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shore in Covert, Michigan. This one will focus on the May 5th spill of 82.1 gallons of radioactive water from the leaking Safety Injection Refueling Water Tank (SIRWT) into Lake Michigan. The Great Lakes represent 20% of the surface fresh water on the entire planet, and serve as the drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations.

The Webinar will be held on Tuesday, July 16th (the 68th annual commemoration of the world's first atomic weapon blast, "Trinity," at Alamagordo, NM on July 16, 1945).

To register to attend the Webinar, do so by filling out the required information (your name and email address) by July 15th at the following website: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/431957345

You will receive a confirmation email in return, which will provide you with the web link needed for plugging into the Webinar on Tuesday, July 16th, at 5:30 PM Eastern. You'll then be able to watch NRC's slideshow presentation, and listen to their oral presentation. During the entire Webinar, you'll be able to type in questions to NRC via a box that appears on your computer screen. 

For those without a computer, you can also listen-in via a teleconference line, although you won't be able to ask questions. To access the teleconference option, you need to contact NRC staffperson Swetha Shah as soon as possible at (630) 829-9608.

NRC's Meeting Notice and Agenda for this Webinar can be viewed at the following link: http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1317/ML13178A350.pdf

Although NRC has assigned an "ML #" for the Webinar's Meeting Slides, ML13190A255, they appear either to have not been posted, or else there is a glitch with the ML #. Normally, the ML # can be cut and pasted into the search field at the upper right hand side of the NRC homepage (www.nrc.gov). That should provide a link to the Meeting Slides. However, doing so currenlty yields only an error message. Beyond Nuclear will try to get to the bottom of the problem, and urge NRC to make the meeting slides available ASAP.

The SIRWT is a storage tank for 300,000 gallons of water, used to flood the reactor cavity during refueling operations (where it picks up radioactive contamination, such as tritium and hot particles), and held in safety-significant reserve for emergency situations as a reactor core and containment cooling water supply.

The SIRWT has been leaking into the Palisades control room for over 2 years now, "a crisis in the control room" first revealed by U.S. Represenative (now Senator-elect) Ed Markey (D-MA) in June 2012, based on a courageous whistleblower tip communicated to him via nuclear whistleblower attorney Billie Pirner Garde in Washington, D.C.

Beyond Nuclear has posted extensive background information on the SIRWT spill of radioactive water into Lake Michigan. This has included the recent admission that Palisades failed to install support structures beneath the floor of the SIRWT 45 years ago (instead of the sand bed region and nozzle grout rings called for in the original design, Palisades has substituted asphalt and fiberboard, with no public process involved in the slapdash patchjob decision making!), and a June 3rd leak of rainwater into the control room through an age-degraded roof and ceiling, due to welding sparks burning holes through a tarp.

Beyond Nuclear, along with local residents associated with the Michigan Safe Energy Future, organized a vigil at Palisades' front entrance in mid-May to protest U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) and NRC Commissioner Svinicki's refusal to even acknowledge the request, much less meet with them, during their emergency tour of Palisades after the early May radioactive spill into Lake Michigan. This direct action garnered extensive media coverage. Upton and Svinicki didn't even respond to the public meeting requestion, despite the fact that concerned local residents and environmental group representatives have met with NRC Chairman Jackzo, NRC Commissioner Magwood, U.S. Sen. Stabenow's staff, and attended countless NRC public meetings, in just the past year alone.

The Kalamazoo Gazette has just published an op-ed submitted by Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps and Michigan Safe Energy Future--Kalamazoo Chapter's Iris Potter regarding the SIRWT leakage, calling for Palisades' "shutdown before meltdown." 

This is but the latest in a large number of spills and breakdowns at Entergy's age-degraded, problem-plagued Palisades atomic reactor in just the past few years. Palisades is truly one of the single most risky atomic reactors in the country. Dave Lochbaum, Director of the Nuclear Safety Project at Union of Concerned Scientists, has documented that Palisades has experienced 3 near-misses in just the past 2 years, more than any other reactor in the U.S. Over the past 3 years, it is tied for 2nd most near-misses in the country (3) with Fort Calhoun, NE, trailing behind only Wolf Creek, KS, with 4 near-misses in the past 3 years.

NRC Region 3 has held a Webinar about Palisades every other month since October, 2012. This resulted from Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps' request to NRC Region 3 Administrator, Chuck Casto, for maximum NRC transparency and accountability at Palisades, given one of President Obama's very first acts in office -- a pledge to have the most transparent and accountable administration in U.S. history. Turn outs for these ongoing Webinars have been huge -- with 119 participants asking 85 questions at a Webinar in early 2013, for example.

Please help us to continue to hold NRC's feet to the fire at Palisades by registering for and attending this Webinar, and asking a lot of hard-hitting questions!

One question could be, why did NRC Region 3 Office of Public Affairs spokeswoman Viktoria Mytling tell area media immediately after the May 4th spill that there was "absolutely no risk" to human health? Doesn't this fly in the face of the National Academy of Science's conclusion, affirmed for decades now, that any exposure to radioactivity, no matter how small, still carries a health risk for cancer, and that these risks accumulate over a lifetime of exposures?! In fact, on the last NRC Palisades Webinar, NRC senior staff member Jack Geissner said he never would have used those words.

Coalition defends intervention against risky Davis-Besse steam generator replacements

Terry Lodge, Toledo-based attorney, speaking out against Davis-Besse's 20-year license extension in August 2012 at Oak Harbor High School, OHTerry Lodge (pictured left), Toledo-based attorney representing an environmental coalition intervening against FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company's (FENOC) risky steam generator replacements at its Davis-Besse atomic reactor, has filed PETITIONERS’ REPLY IN OPPOSITION TO FENOC ‘MOTION TO STRIKE.’

The coalition includes Beyond Nuclear, Citizen Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Sierra Club. Its expert witness, Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, Inc, has warned that FENOC has taken similar shortcuts on safety as did Edison International with its dangerously flawed steam generator replacements at San Onofre, CA. Edison was forced to permanently shut San Onofre 2 & 3, after Friends of the Earth (FOE) successfully intervened for license amendment hearings after the replacement steam generators suffered extensive, premature degradation, putting 8 million residents and workers within 50 miles at risk. Arnie serves as FOE's expert at San Onofre, as well.

The coalition plans to reply in opposition to similar U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff motions to strike in coming days. More.