Charlotte, NC: Democratic National Convention, and nuclear power center

Charlotte, NC will be in the national spotlight this week, as it hosts the Democratic Party's National Convention. But Charlotte is also a hub for the nuclear power industry. As highlighted by Charlotte's Chamber of Commerce, the city hosts many a big name nuclear corporation, including: nuclear utility Duke Energy, with a dozen atomic reactors in its fleet nationwide; The Shaw Group; AREVA NP; Toshiba; Westinghouse; and Fluor.

Duke's McGuire Units 1 and 2 are just 17 miles north of Charlotte, and its Catawba Units 1 and 2 are just 18 miles south of Charlotte. All four units are ice condensor designs, a pressure-suppression containment, similar in that regard to the Fukushima Daiichi GE Mark I and II boiling waters.

CREDO Action has published an alert calling for action to pressure Duke Energy to stop funding the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its voter suppression and anti-environment efforts.

Charlotte-based Duke's other atomic reactors are: Brunswick 1 & 2 (GE Mark Is), NC; Crystal River, FL; Harris, NC; Oconee 1, 2, and 3, SC; Robinson, SC.

Update on September 4, 2012 by admin

As reported by The National Journal, two anti-nuclear protestors -- Pete Tridish and Paul Davis from Take the Money Out -- were arrested for disrupting a Democratic National Convention event, sponsored byNational Journal and The Atlantic, and "underwritten" by Southern Nuclear. Their banner read "CORPORATE CASH NUKES THIS ELECTION."

In Feb. 2010, President Obama personally announced the award, by his Energy Secretary Steven Chu, to Southern Nuclear of a conditional $8.3 billion federal loan guarantee for the construction of two proposed new atomic reactors -- Toshiba-Westinghouse AP1000s -- at Vogtle, Georgia. Toshiba and Westinghouse are both listed as having corporate headquarters in Charlotte (see above).

Take the Money Out tweeted "It’s time we replaced corporate-funded elections with people-led elections. It’s time we return to a government of the people."

Ironically, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) was called in to make sure that the "radioactive waste" the protestors also deployed (made from baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring) was not hazardous. PHMSA is the federal agency Beyond Nuclear and allies have been pressuring, so far successfully, for two and a half years, to block permitting a radioactive waste shipment on the Great Lakes, after PHMSA had previously, secretively, rubberstamped numerous radioactive waste boat shipments on our nation's Great Lakes, rivers, and sea coasts.

National Journal also reported that 1,000 marched through Charlotte, including against dirty energy. 2 marchers were also arrested.

Anti-nuclear drum beat continues against Vermont Yankee

Thanks to Debra Stoleroff of Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance for sharing with us news of "three opportunities to keep the fact that Vermont Yankee is still operating in the public eye and to voice your opinion regarding this fact that Entergy continues to undermine Vermont's democratic process for its own profits; gambling away the health of people in VT, MA, and NH as well as our environment.   Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant remains an accident away from devestating the region."

Sat, Sept. 1: We Are Not Going Away Until VT Yankee is Shut Down and Safely Decommissioned With a Greenfield

Sat, Sept. 8: Our River Runs Through It Flotilla Down the Connecticut River to VT Yankee (see event poster, left, and SAGE Alliance website for details)

Sun, Sept. 23: Burlington Friends Meeting at Vermont Yankee followed by NVCD at Vt Yankee

For more info., see Beyond Nuclear's NUCLEAR POWER website section.

The five member NRC Commission unanimously rubberstamped Vermont Yankee's 20 year license extension on 3/10/11, one day before the beginning of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe. NRC Staff then finalized the paperwork on the rubberstamp a couple weeks later. Vermont Yankee and Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4 are identidically designed: General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors.

Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Associates: "Can Spent Fuel Pools Catch Fire?"

Fairewinds Associates Chief Engineer Arnie GundersenReproduced verbatim from the Fairewinds Associates website: "In this Fairewinds’ feature, Fairewinds Associates Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen [pictured, left] analyzes a US government national laboratory simulation video that shows nuclear spent fuel rods do catch fire when exposed to air. This simulation video proves Fairewinds’ assertions that nuclear fuel rods can catch fire when exposed to air, and Arnie discusses the ramifications of this phenomena if the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent fuel pool were to lose cooling water. 

The Sandia National Laboratories video in its entirety can be seen here."

As Arnie explains in the video, the U.S. has 23 operating (and 1 permanently closed, at Millstone Unit 1) General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors, which hold significantly more irradiated nuclear fuel in their storage pools than does Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4. Beyond Nuclear has published a fact sheet on the risks of GE BWR Mark I high-level radioactive waste storage pool risks.

Beyond Nuclear cites NRC and industry for “lessons unlearned” at Fukushima

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has commissioned the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on the implications of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear catastrophe for US reactor operations.  In fact, it is the NRC that should be coming under investigation as a “captured regulator” of this increasingly dangerous industry. .

The most important lesson of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear catastrophe is that in the event of a severe accident, once fuel damage in the reactor core occurs there is a very high likelihood that the accident will proceed to catastrophic containment failure with widespread radioactive contamination to the environment.  Yet the NRC and the nuclear industry have explicitly disregarded this critical lesson in post-Fukushima Orders and industry actions.   Read the comments of Beyond Nuclear to the National Academy of Science newly formed study panel that regard dangerous half measures for venting the unreliable Fukushima-designed GE Mark I and Mark II Boiling Water Reactors here in the United States.

Thom Hartmann interviews Paul Gunter & Kevin Kamps on "Beyond Fukushima: When Will We Learn?"

As part of "The Big Picture: Conversations with Great Minds," Thom Hartmann interviewed Paul and Kevin at length about the situation at Fukushima Daiichi, as the first atomic reactors are restarted in Japan after the nuclear catastrophe began on 3/11/11, and what it means for the United States: Part 1; Part 2.