Coalition files "Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" on QA violations at Fermi 3

Environmental coalition attorney Terry Lodge of ToledoAn environmental coalition has just submitted its "Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" regarding quality assurance violations (QA) at Detroit Edison's (DTE) proposed Fermi 3 atomic reactor targeted at the Fermi nuclear power plant in Monroe County, MI on the Lake Erie shoreline.

Terry Lodge (photo, left) of Toledo serves as the coalition's attorney. Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer, Fairewinds Associates, Inc. of Vermont serves as the coalition's expert witness on QA.

The coalition includes Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste MI, and Sierra Club Michigan Chapter.

The coalition, joined by additional environmental, public interest, and concerned citizen allies, has opposed the Fermi 3 combined Construction and Operating License Application (COLA) since Detroit Edison filed it in September 2008.

Oral evidentiary arguments were held in Monroe last Halloween on the remaining two, of dozens of contentions submitted.

The other remaining contention regards the state-threatened Eastern Fox Snake, an indigenous constrictor whose habitat is found in wetlands along the shoreline of Lake Erie, which will be destroyed if Fermi 3 is built. The coalition submitted "Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law" regarding the Eastern Fox Snake as well.

The rest the contentions have been outright rejected by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or else dismissed over time under attacks by DTE or NRC staff.

Meanwhile, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Justice has settled with General Electric-Hitachi, imposing a $2.7 million civil penalty on the company for false statements it made to both the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission regarding a safety-significant system on its proposed new so-called "Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor" (ESBWR) design. Under DOE's unfortunately named "Nuclear Power 2010" program (launched on Valentine's Day 2002, intended to see new reactor construction and operation by the end of the last decade), funded under the terms of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the ESBWR has enjoyed large taxpayer subsidies, a 50/50 cost-share with DOE for research, design, and licensing expenses. The false statements came to light thanks to whistleblower revelations.

Update on January 27, 2014 by admin

Kendra Ulrich, Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace International, has blogged on this story. Kendra also serves as a Beyond Nuclear board of directors member.