Environmental coalition wins hearing against Davis-Besse license extension

Boric acid crystal and rust "lava" pouring off the severely corroded Davis-Besse reactor lid, prior to its public revelation in 2002.As announced in a media release today, an environmental coalition led by Beyond Nuclear, including Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwest Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio, has had its standing recognized and been granted a hearing by a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission three administrative judge Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. The ASLB ruled on April 26th, the 25th commemoration of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, that full hearings will be held on the coalition's renewable alternatives to a 20 year license extension at Davis-Besse, namely wind power and solar photovoltaics. In addition, the ASLB has granted a hearing on the coalition's severe accident mitigation alternatives (SAMA) contention, which argues that FirstEnergy Nuclear has severely underestimated the risks of catastrophic radioactivity releases from the aged reactor. In fact, Davis-Besse has already suffered numerous of the worst near-miss accidents in the entire U.S. nuclear power industry over the past 34 years of its operations, as described in a Beyond Nuclear backgrounder. The coalition submitted its petition to intervene and request for a hearing on Dec. 27, 2010. The Toledo Blade reported on this on May 12th, in an article entitled "Activists win chance to contest nuke license." (additional Toledo Blade coverage of the environmental coalition's resistance to the Davis-Besse license extension, going back in time, is posted alongside the article)