Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee covered up tritium leak for five years

The Brattleboro Reformer reports that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has confirmed that a 2005 radioactive, carcinogenic leak of tritium at the Vermont Yankee atomic reactor was not reported to them until now. The Reformer also reports that 45-year-veteran of the industry, and nuclear whistleblower Paul Blanch, has leveled blistering criticism against both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Entergy Nuclear (which he calls "the worst of the worst") regarding the "run it to failure and fix it when it breaks" philosophy at Vermont Yankee. "I wouldn't accept that program for my car," Blanch said. The State of Vermont legislature has scheduled a vote on Wednesday morning to decide whether or not it will allow for a 20 year license extension at Vermont Yankee, currently due to shut down in March 2012.

Rutland Herald coverage of anti-Vermont Yankee rally features Paul Gunter

Beyond Nuclear's reactor oversight director, Paul Gunter, spoke at a march and rally of 300 concerned citizens in Brattleboro, Vermont calling for the rejection of a 20 year license extension at Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. His words were featured by the Rutland Herald's coverage of the event as well as by the Brattleboro Reformer.

Nuclear whistleblowers take aim at Vermont Yankee

The Associated Press has reported that Paul Blanche, an energy consultant based in Connecticut who has worked for several New England reactors, has accused both Entergy Nuclear and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission of a "run-to-failure, fix-it-when-it-breaks mentality," saying he wouldn't get on a plane run by an airline with that approach. "There's no justification for continuing to operate that plant," Blanche said. Meanwhile, Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates, Inc., himself a former atomic whistleblower and now serving on a State of Vermont public oversight panel on Vermont Yankee's re-licensing, recieved a phone call from a current whistleblower at the reactor saying that Entergy Nuclear officials knew of radioactivity leaks two years ago emanating from buried pipes. If true, this would bolster allegations of perjury by top level Entergy officials, who testified under oath to state officials last year that there were no underground pipes carrying radioactive materials. State officials are taking this latest allegation very seriously, further diminishing Vermont Yankee's hopes of surviving a Vermont State Legislature "no confidence" vote next Wednesday.

National "Call Congress" Day of Action against nuclear loan guarantees, Wed., Feb. 24!

An environmental coalition, including Beyond Nuclear, Friends of the Earth, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and others, has called for a National “Call Congress” Day of Action against nuclear power loan guarantees for Wed., Feb. 24^th. Please phone your two U.S. Senators and your U.S. Representative via the Capitol Switchboard, (202) 224-3121, and help ring the phones off the hook all day long during business hours next Wednesday in Congress! Urge your Members of Congress to let President Obama and Energy Secretary Chu know that they are displeased that the first $18.5 billion in already-approved nuclear loan guarantees is being rushed out to unworthy applicants, increasing the already high risks that taxpayers will be left holding the bag for defaulted projects. Also urge your Members of Congress to block President Obama's Fiscal Year 2011 budget request to triple the nuclear loan guarantee program from $18.5 billion for new reactors, to $54.5 billion (and don't forgot about the $2 billion in already-approved loan guarantees for new uranium enrichment facilities!). See NIRS’s email alert as well as its website announcement of “Call Congress Day.” Also see Beyond Nuclear’s loan guarantee website for more information. And see NIRS's press release that clarifies the important point that these are not just loan guarantees, but actual loans as well being drawn from the U.S. taxpayer -- thus, they're getting us coming and going!



Obama Goes Nuclear

"Is there any chance that President Barack Obama can return to his long-held stand critical of nuclear power? Is he open to hearing from scientists and energy experts, such as Amory Lovins, who can refute the pro-nuclear arguments that have apparently influenced him?"

Read the rest of this article by Karl Grossman, professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury, in Counterpunch, February 17, 2010, recounting a number of negative statements on atomic power Obama has made and revealing what may have made him change his stance.