New Beyond Nuclear fact sheet on Mark I fuel pool risks

Beyond Nuclear has published a new backgrounder, "Catastrophic Risks of GE BWR Mark 1 High-Level Radioactive Waste Storage Pools."

Judge rules Vermont Yankee Mark I can stay open. Citizens will feel differently

The decision on January 19 by federal judge Garvan Murtha, ruled that the state of Vermont cannot order the closure of its reactor, Vermont Yankee, on March 21, 2012 when its current license expires. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission had already re-licensed the plant for another 20 years (doing so 10 days after the inception of the Fukushima-Daiichi reactor meltdowns that are the same design as Vermont Yankee.) Murtha said federal law pre-empts the state's ability to determine the licensing of a nuclear power plant because the reasoning was "radiological safety" concerns which the judge said the state is not authorized to regulate. The decision effectively deprives the state of the ability to protect its own citizens even though the regulator, NRC, clearly did not have the safety of Vermonters in mind when extending the plant's operating license. The decision is all the more alarming given the numerous safety problems at the plant and the deception by its owners, Entergy, who denied the existence of buried pipes that had in fact leaked tritium.

Watch this page for strategic developments from the Vermont coalition which opposes the continued operation of the reactor.

Run our ad!

Our Freeze our Fukushimas! campaign is off to a flying start! More than 8,000 of you  signed on as co-petitioners to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend the operating licenses of our own Fukushimas - the GE Mark I boiling water reactors operating on US soil. We don't want to spend your generous contributions on advertising fees but we still need to get the word out. Won't you please download our new Freeze our Fukushimas! advertisement here; place it in your newsletters; send it to your email lists; submit it to friendly publications; and put it on your websites and Facebook pages. If you need a JPG, please download that here. Or use the PDF version. Many thanks!

 

NRC accepts several key requested actions in public petition

A December 13, 2011 decision by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) safety panel that accepts several key publicly requested actions regarding safety at US General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors, was publicly noticed  in the Federal Register dated January 3, 2012.

On April 13, 2011, one month after the Fukushima nuclear disaster began, Beyond Nuclear – later joined by 8,000 co-petitioners – formally submitted emergency action requests to an NRC safety review panel regarding safety concerns at the 23 US operating Fukushima-style reactors. The petition also included the permanently closed – but nuclear waste laden – Millstone nuclear power plant in Connecticut.

The NRC’s chief safety officer, Eric Leeds, agreed that the NRC will now review  several key publicly requested actions including revoking federal approval of the current failed GE Mark I containment venting system; and ordering all Mark I operators to install backup emergency power systems to ensure cooling in the reactors’ densely packed rooftop irradiated fuel pools.

Freeze our Fukushimas would shut 23 GE Mark Is

There are 23 GE Mark I boiling water reactors operating today in the US. that are basically the identical design to the four units destroyed in Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. A 24th US Mark I is closed but still contains its radioactive waste inventory. They are (unit numbers indicated:
Browns Ferry (AL), 1,2,3; Brunswick (NC) 1,2; Cooper (NE) 1; Dresden (IL) 2,3; Duane Arnold (IA) 1; Fermi (MI) 2; Fitzpatrick (NY) 1; Hatch (GA) 1,2; Hope Creek (NJ) 1; Monticello (MN) 1; Millstone (CT) 1 - permanently closed; Nine Mile Point (NY) 1; Oyster Creek, pictured, (NJ) 1; Peach Bottom (PA) 2,3; Pilgrim (MA) 1; Quad Cities (IL) 1,2; Vermont Yankee (VT) 1.