"Groups call on Dominion to abandon plans for North Anna 3 reactor"

NRC file photo of North Anna Units 1 and 2, located on the shore of Lake Anna in Mineral, VAAs reported by the Augusta Free Press (of Waynesboro, VA), a coalition of 15 groups (including the People's Alliance for Clean Energy, and the Sierra Club VA Chapter) called "Not on Our Fault Line" has re-asserted its opposition to Dominion Nuclear's proposed new atomic reactor, Unit 3, at its North Anna nuclear power plant in Mineral, VA. North Anna Units 1 and 2 were damaged by the August 2011 earthquake epicentered just 11 miles away, that was stronger in force than the two reactors were designed to withstand.

Unit 3 would be a General Electric-Hitach, so-called "Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor" (ESBWR). The RCOLA (Reference Construction and Operating License Application) for an ESBWR is at Fermi Unit 3 in Michigan, but North Anna 3 is not far behind.

As the article reports, seismic risks have long been known at the North Anna site. However, the nuclear utility and federal regulatory agency colluded for several years to keep the information from the public. The Japanese Parliament concluded in 2012 that the root cause of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe was collusion between the nuclear power industry, the government regulatory agency, and elected officials.