Closed Millstone Unit 1 should secure its Mark I roof top nuclear waste

Connecticut's Millstone nuclear power plant complex in Waterford, CT includes the permanently closed  Unit 1, a GE Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactor which voluntarily shut down in 1995 following safety violations exposed by industry whistleblowers and publicly disclosed in Time Magazine.

Unit 1 finished moving all of its nuclear waste from the reactor to the roof top storage pool in 1998.The Millstone design is identical to Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1 reactor in Japan.

Beyond Nuclear is calling upon Dominion Electric and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to move hundreds of tons of vulnerable nuclear waste into more secure onsite and fortified dry storage casks.

Rally in Vermont March 20th

JAPAN SOLIDARITY VIGIL AT VERMONT YANKEE
SUNDAY, MARCH 20, 1:00 PM
As a public expression of solidarity with the thousands of Japanese workers and residents affected by the still worsening nuclear disaster in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, there will be a solemn, peaceful vigil in front of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant on Governor Hunt Road in Vernon, Vermont, this Sunday, March 20, at 1:00 pm.  

 “We who live in the shadow of Vermont Yankee regard the people living near the Fukushima reactors as our sister reactor communities,” said Deb Katz, executive director of Citizens Awareness Network. “Their suffering is breaking our hearts, and it’s a suffering which, given the long-lasting effects of the radioactivity spewing from these melting-down reactors, could continue for many years – and is unacceptable.”
 
New England Coalition trustee Leslie Staudinger said, “Our compassion for the nuclear plant workers and Japanese families in the evacuation zones is deep and heartfelt. Under these circumstances, our sadness moves us to act beyond the Coalition’s usual role as legal and scientific advocates and educators.”
 
In addition to expressing concern for the suffering of the Japanese people, the vigilers will continue calling for the closure of Vermont Yankee, a 39-year-old, accident-plagued facility of the same or very similar age and design (Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactor made by General Electric) as the failed nuclear reactors in Japan.  
 
“If this could happen in Japan, with all its technological sophistication and disaster preparedness,” said Nancy Braus of the Safe & Green Campaign, “what unexpected event might overtake the alleged safeguards we’re told are protecting Vermont Yankee?”
 
Vigil organizers have suggested that those who plan to attend wear black, bring a sign or banner in keeping with the purpose of the vigil, and park in the parking lot of the Vernon Elementary School across from the plant.  All are welcome.

The vigil is being sponsored by the Safe & Green Campaign, Citizens Awareness Network, and the New England Coalition.  

Update on March 20, 2011 by admin

The coalition call for a solemn vigil in front of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant brought more than an estimated 600 people in solidarity with the Japanese people suffering from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants hit hard by the March 11 Great Tohoku  Earthquake and tsunami.

Could Japan rekindle US anti-nuclear movement?

In today's New York Times: "Paul Gunter, the director of the reactor oversight project at the advocacy group Beyond Nuclear, said a protest vigil planned for Sunday at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant could prove a test case. The reactor, whose troubles in recent years have included the collapse of a cooling tower and leaks of radioactive tritium from underground pipes, is a near twin of Unit No. 1 at the troubled Daiichi nuclear station. The State of Vermont argues that the plant is unreliable.

“Sunday will be the first indicator of the depth of the public mood,” Mr. Gunter said of the protest. Just before the earthquake and tsunami in Japan hit, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted to reject all challenges to extending the operating license of the Vermont Yankee plant."

Update on March 19, 2011 by admin

CORRECTION: NYT quotes "1978" as year of the the last reactor order successfully completed. In fact, it was 1973.

Ralph Nader, Ira Helfand,Philip White on DemocracyNow! on Japan

Brilliant new Mark Fiore animation

From Mark Fiore. See Cutzilla emerge from a Republicanactive dome! Watch Lobbymon from the NEI spew radioactive talking points worldwide! See President Hope-a-Tron support nuclear and "clean" coal!