Coalition files Petition to NRC to strengthen reactor license extension rules due to significant new revelations on radioactive waste risks

Environmental coalition attorney Diane CurranA Petition for Rulemaking was filed on Feb. 18th by Washington, D.C.-based attorney, Diane Curran (photo, left), as well as Mindy Goldstein of the Emory U. Turner Environmental Law Clinic, to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The Petition seeks to re-open the License Renewal GEIS (Generic Environmental Impact Statement), in order to consider new and significant information about irradiated nuclear fuel storage impacts that was generated by the NRC Staff during the Expedited Spent Fuel Transfer proceeding, carried out under NRC's Fukushima "Lessons Learned" activities. Curran and Goldstein filed the Petition on behalf of three dozen environmental groups, including Beyond Nuclear.

The filing urges that no reactor license extensions be approved by NRC until the Petition for Rulemaking has been integrated into NRC's safety regulations.

The coalition has issued a press release.

Incredibly enough, NRC has already rubberstamped 20-year license extensions at most, or even almost all, operating US GE BWR Mark Is and IIs (23 and 8, respectively) -- despite intense resistance by local grassroots and even national environmental groups, in many cases. However, the Limerick 1 & 2 Mark IIs in Pennsylvania, as well as the Fermi 2 Mark I in Michigan, could have their license extension application proceedings further delayed by this environmental coalition petition for rulemaking and motion for stay.

Limerick 1 & 2 applied for 20-year license extensions in 2011. NRDC has legally intervened to challenge to license extensions, contending that the SAMA (Severe Accident Mitigation Alternatives) analyses are inadequate. Remarkably, the NRC Atomic Safety (sic) and Licensing Board panel overseeing NRDC's intervention ruled against admitting the contention for a hearing on the merits. In addition to NRDC's intervention, the grassroots group ACE (Alliance for a Clean Environment), led by local Pottstown residents Dr. Buzz Cuthbert and Donna Cuthbert, has long sought Limerick 1 & 2's shutdowns.

Fermi 2 -- the largest Mark I in the world, as big in size as Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 & 2 put together -- has indicated it will seek a 20-year license extension this year. A growing coalition of groups -- Don't Waste MI, Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes, Alliance to Halt Fermi 3, Citizens Resistance at Fermi 2, Beyond Nuclear, and others -- will oppose this, perhaps including by officially intervening in the NRC ASLB proceeding. Several groups (Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste MI, and Sierra Club Michigan Chapter) likewise intervened against the proposed new Fermi 3 (a GE-Hitachi so-called "Economic Simplified BWR," or ESBWR) in March 2009, and have been duking it out with DTE and NRC ever since.

Update on March 3, 2014 by admin

On Feb. 27th, Curran and Goldstein filed a petition for stay of NRC licensing decisions, under the environmental coalition's concerns contained in the Feb. 20th Petition for Rulemaking have been addressed. This would include at old reactor license extension proceedings, such as at Davis-Besse, OH, as well as at proposed new reactor license application proceedings, such as at Fermi 3, MI, in which Beyond Nuclear is intervening.

Beyond Nuclear/PSR speaking tour in MI a big success!

Alfred Meyer, PSR board memberAlfred Meyer (photo, left), national board member of Physicians for Responsibility (PSR), spoke throughout Michigan on a tour organized by Beyond Nuclear from Feb. 12-17. His presentations of "Nuclear Power: What You Need to Know about Price, Pollution and Proliferation" were dedicated to the memory of Dr. Jeff Patterson, PSR's Past-President.

Alfred's first stop on Feb. 12, at Grand Rapids' Fountain Street Church, drew 35 attendees, despite the wintry weather. Corinne Carey of Don't Waste MI video-recorded the talk, and will post it to cable access t.v. in the near future.

Alfred had a productive day in Kalamazoo on Feb. 13th. His presentation at Western Michigan University (WMU) was attended by over 50 people, and garnered an extended interview by Gordon Evans on WMUK Radio, as well as an article by Yvonne Zipp in the Kalamazoo Gazette. Alfred also spoke at a press conference held at WMU's impressive solar panel array, launching a campus climate campaign to divest the university from fossil fuel investments. Alfred was also interviewed by Dr. Don Cooney, WMU Social Work professor and Kalamazoo City Commissioner, and Dr. Ron Kramer, WMU criminology prof., on "Critical Issues: Alternative Views" t.v. program. The interview will be aired on Kalamazoo cable access in the near future, as well as posted to YouTube.

The tour stop in South Haven (4 miles from Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor) on Feb. 14 drew 25 attendees, despite it being Valentine's Day. Kraig Schultz of Michigan Safe Energy Future--Shoreline Chapter video-recorded the talk, and will post the recording to the MSEF YouTube channel in the near future.

Ferndale in Metro Detroit on Feb. 15 drew 75 attendees. Damon J. Hartley of the Peoples Tribune did a write up and took lots of photos.

Monroe's event (within the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone from the GE BWR Mark I, Fermi 2, as well as the proposed Fermi 3) on Feb. 16, drew 30 attendees, and garnered coverage in the Monroe News (text, PDF). The Ann Arbor (home base for PSR's new MI chapter) event on Feb. 17 also drew an audience despite an impending winter storm. Fermi 2 is poised to apply to NRC for a rubberstamp 20-year license extension in the next future.

Beyond Nuclear has been honored and privileged to work with the following groups to make this speaking tour a success: Michigan Physicians for Social Responsibility; Sierra Club; Fountain Street Church; WMU Lee Honors College; WMU Environmental Studies program; WMU Institute of Government and Politics; Michigan Safe Energy Future (both Kalamazoo and South Haven chapters); Don't Waste Michigan; Ferndale Public Library; Alliance to Halt Fermi 3; Ellis Library; Don't Waste Michigan; Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes; and the Ecology Center.

Nuclear utilities beg for bailouts to avert reactor shutdowns -- Obama administration appears amenable

In a pair of articles, E&E's Hannah Northey reports that nuclear utility giants such as Exelon and Entergy are lobbying hard for changes to electricity marketplace rules that would enable them to keep uncompetitive atomic reactors operating. For its part, the Obama Dept. of Energy appears poised to do all it can to prop up its favorite dirty, dangerous, and expensive energy industry.

Exelon owns 4 GE BWR Mark Is in IL, identical in design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4. They are Dresden Units 2 & 3, and Quad Cities Units 1 & 2. In addition, Exelon owns and operates LaSalle Units 1 & 2 in IL, very similarly designed Mark IIs.

Exelon owns several additional Mark Is and IIs in other states, after its merger with Philadelphia Electric Power Company (PECO) and Constellation: Mark Is at Nine Mile Point Unit 1, NY, as well as Peach Bottom Units 2 & 3, PA; and Mark IIs at Limerick Units 1 & 2, PA, as well as Nine Mile Point Unit 2, NY.

Thus, Exelon owns 12 of the 31 Mark Is/IIs in the U.S.

For its part, Entergy owns several Mark Is: Vermont Yankee (slated to be permanently shutdown by the end of 2014, Entergy announced in August 2013); Pilgrim in Plymouth, MA near Boston and Cape Cod; and FitzPatrick in Upstate NY on the Lake Ontario shore. Entergy also operates the Cooper Mark I on behalf of its owner, Nebraska Public Power District.

The operating Mark Is and IIs in the U.S. are listed in Beyond Nuclear's pamphlet, "Freeze Our Fukushimas."

Exelon considers closing two Mark Is in IL

As reported by Crain's Chicago Business, Exelon -- the largest nuclear utility in the U.S. -- is considering shuttering its Quad Cities nuclear power plant, because it cannot compete on the wholesale electricity market. Quad Cities consists of two General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors, identical in design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4. (IL has a second set of Mark Is, namely, Dresden Units 2 & 3, as well as a set of similarly designed Mark IIs, LaSalle Units 1 & 2).

At the same time, Exelon is considering permanently closing its single unit Clinton nuclear power plant -- a GE BWR Mark III. A decade ago, Exelon was riding high at Clinton -- recipient of U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) rubber-stamp support for an "Early Site Permit" for a proposed new reactor at the site.

Chris Williams of VCAN & VYDA: "Resisting Entergy, Rogue Nuclear Corporation"

Yard signs created by Michigan Safe Energy Future--Kalamazoo Chapter

Entergy Nuclear: Resisting a Rogue Corporation and its Radioactive Risks

A presentation by Chris Williams of Vermont Citizens Action Network as well as Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance

Thursday, January 16, 2014, 6:30 to 9:00 PM,

Lake Michigan College,

125 Veterans Blvd., Room 141

South Haven, MI 49090

(For directions to campus, location of parking, etc.,
see: http://www.lakemichigancollege.edu/SH)

Come learn about Entergy Nuclear’s dirty dozen atomic reactors, including the problem-plagued Palisades near South Haven. Chris Williams is a leader of the ongoing, highly successful grassroots campaign to shutdown Entergy's dangerously degraded Vermont Yankee atomic reactor (a Fukushima Daiichi twin design). Having stopped proposed new reactors in Indiana during his 25 years of service as Executive Director of Citizen Action Coalition, he will show how community organizing can stop dirty, dangerous, and expensive atomic reactors, and replace them with efficiency and renewables like wind and solar.

Chris Williams, is a long time sustainable energy policy activist. He is currently organizer for the Vermont Citizens Action Network, a grassroots organization working to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear station and replace it with sustainable energy generation. Williams has a long professional history working with public interest organizations. For 25 years he was the executive director for Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, a not for profit consumer and environmental advocacy organization. CAC conducts extensive grassroots public education campaigns concerning, public utility regulation, energy policy, environmental policy, and the preservation of family farms.

Co-sponsored by Michigan Safe Energy Future (http://michigansafeenergyfuture.com),
Beyond Nuclear (www.beyondnuclear.org),
and Don’t Waste Michigan (http://dwmi.homestead.com).

For more info, contact Bette Pierman, Michigan Safe Energy Future, (269) 369-3993 or

Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear, (240) 462-3216

[See the event flier here]

Besides Palisades (a Pressurized Water Reactor, PWR), Entergy owns and operates several GE BWR Mark Is, identical in design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4. They are: FitzPatrick, NY; Pilgrim, MA; and Vermont Yankee. In addition, Entergy operates the Mark I at Cooper, NE, on behalf of its owner, the Nebraska Public Power District.