Entergy's Palisades but the canary in the coal mine for age-degraded RPV risks

NRC file photo of Entergy Nuclear's Palisades atomic reactor, located on the Lake Michigan shoreline in Covert, MIA U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) has granted an evidentiary hearing on the merits of concerns regarding the risks of a ductile tear, or fracture, of Entergy Nuclear's severely embrittled Palisades atomic reactor pressure vessel (RPV), located in Covert, MI on the Lake Michigan shore (see photo, left). Toledo-based attorney, Terry Lodge, filed the petition on behalf of an environmental coalition (Beyond Nuclear, Don't Waste MI, Michigan Safe Energy Future, and Nuclear Energy Information Service). Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, Inc. in Burlington, Vermont, serves as the coalition's expert witness.

Although Entergy's Palisades has the worst embrittled RPV in the U.S., it is but the canary in the coal mine. As revealed in an April 2013 NRC document (see point #4, on page 5 of 15 on PDF counter), Next Era's (Florida Power & Light's) Point Beach Unit 2, also located on the Lake Michigan shore in Wisconsin, is nearly as bad. Following not very far behind in terms of RPV fracture risk are Entergy's Indian Point Unit 3 near New York City, Pacific Gas & Electric's Diablo Canyon on the California coast, and FirstEnergy's Beaver Valley Unit 1 in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. FirstEnergy has also been required to have an Aging Management Plan for RPV embrittlement at its Davis-Besse atomic reactor on the Lake Erie shore near Toledo, an indication that this is a serious concern there as well. As a safety precaution in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, Japan's worst embrittled RPV -- Genkai 1 -- was permanently shutdown. More.

Conservationist Leo Drey dies at 98

It is with great sadness that we say farewell and pay tribute to Leo Drey, husband of our longtime board member, Kay Drey. Leo passed away on May 26 at the age of 98. He was beautifully, and appropriately, dubbed "The Lorax of the Ozarks" in an obituary featured in The Daily Beast, due to his enormous contribution to the sustainable preservation of forested land in that region. As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported, his answer machine message was: “I’m out planting a forest. Please leave your name and number and I’ll try to get back to you before it matures.” Leo developed a gentle and sustainable logging practice with other forestry experts known as "individual-tree selection." As explained in the Post-Dispach article, "Trees scattered through a plot are selectively cut, like thinning a garden. The remaining trees grow taller and bigger — and the forest still looks like a forest." In 2004, Leo donated what was known as the Pioneer Forest — 146,000 acres — to a charity that will continue his mission of sustainable forestry. His contribution to conservation and his deep appreciation of nature will be missed. All of us at Beyond Nuclear convey our condolences to Kay and her family.

Beyond Nuclear report reveals Peach Bottom leak is part of pattern

A groundwater monitoring well at the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania that tested positive in April 2015 for significant levels of tritium contamination is just the latest example of a decades-long pattern of leaking nuclear reactors and a weak regulatory system that fails to openly address and fix the problem as required in licensing agreements.

These were the conclusions of a Beyond Nuclear investigative report – Leak First, Fix Later: Uncontrolled and Unmonitored Radioactive Releases from Nuclear Power Plants – released today. The 2015 version of the report updates the findings of the first edition, published in 2010. 

“Nuclear plant operators and their regulator consistently fail to address and enforce reactor performance requirements to protect the environment and public health,” said Paul Gunter, Director of Reactor Oversight at Beyond Nuclear and the author of the report. “Our research found that U.S. nuclear power plants continue to experience uncontrolled leaks and spills of radioactive water because the buried pipes and tanks that transport and store it remain inaccessible,” Gunter said.

Read the full press release

Read the full Leak First report

Read the Leak First executive summary

Battles against nuclear utility mega-money grabs intensify

"Burning Money" image by Gene Case and Avenging Angels.Beyond Nuclear is working with allies across the country to resist multi-billion dollar subsidies, at ratepayer expense, being sought by nuclear utility lobbyists in order to prop up dirty, dangerous, and uncompetitive atomic reactors. In IL, NEIS is leading the resistance against a $1.6 billion bailout; the 34-year-old grassroots group helped secure a big victory -- for now -- when the state legislature recessed till autumn, without enacting Exelon's wish list for five failing nukes. In the Mid-Atlantic, the PowerDC coalition is urging District of Columbia decision makers to block Exelon's takeover of Pepco, a merger that would undermine efficiency and renewables, and further subsidize the distant IL nukes, by gouging ratepayers 700 miles away. And in OH, Sierra Club and other allies have called for a rally and teach-in, to oppose FirstEnergy's attempted $3 billion ratepayer ripoff for its age-degraded Davis-Besse atomic reactor and Sammis coal burner. More.

Coalition cites catastrophic risk of Palisades RPV fracture, appeals ASLB ruling to full NRC Commission

A diagram describing pressurized thermal shock in a nuclear reactor. Credit: Japan Atomic Energy Agency. Japan's worst embrittled RPV, at Genkai 1, has been permanently closed in the aftermath of Fukushima.Citing the risks of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) fracture, core meltdown, and catastrophic release of hazardous radioactivity at Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor in southwest Michigan, an environmental coalition (Beyond Nuclear, Don't Waste MI, MI Safe Energy Future, and Nuclear Energy Info. Service of IL) has appealed an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) panel's adverse ruling to the full U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

The coalition's legal counsel, Toledo-based attorney Terry Lodge, filed the appeal on June 2nd.

Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, Inc. in Burlington, VT, serves as the coalition's expert witness on the risks of pressurized thermal shock (PTS) causing "brittle fracture" in the Palisades RPV. Gundersen and Fairewinds Energy Education have produced a short, humorous, educational video about PTS risks entitled "Nuclear Crack Down?"

NRC has admitted on numerous occassions that Palisades has the worst neutron radiation embrittled RPV in the country. Palisades first surpassed embrittlement safety standards in 1981, just ten short years into its operations. NRC, and/or the nuclear utilities owning and operating Palisades, have previously predicted various "End of Life" dates for the problem-plagued atomic reactor, the earliest being 1995. However, as reported by Jeff Donn of AP in 2011, NRC has weakened safety regulations time after time, to accommodate the age-degraded nuclear power plant, one of the oldest still operating in the U.S.

See updates on Beyond Nuclear et al.'s intervention against Entergy Palisades' License Amendment Request for regulatory relief dating back to Dec. 1, 2014 at the Reactor Safety website section.