"Endangered Snakes Prompt Hearing Over Fermi 3 Nuclear Plant"

The Monroe Evening News has reported on an environmental coalition's successful bid for hearing before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) in opposition to Detroit Edison's proposed new Fermi 3 atomic reactor on the Lake Erie shore of southeast Michigan.

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

It contends that the nuclear utility, federal government, and State of Michigan are failing to protect the endangered Eastern Fox Snake species (see photo, left) from extinction due to habitat destruction caused by the construction and operation of a 1,550 Megawatt-electric General Electric Hiticahi so-called "Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor" (ESBWR), as well as an associated 11-mile long, 300-foot wide transmission line corridor.

The State of Michigan has admitted the reactor construction will involve the largest impact on Great Lakes coastal wetlands in the history of state environmental protection law. Combined with the transmission line's destruction of more than 1,000 acres of undeveloped land, including forests and wetlands, the coalition contends the habitat loss could extirpate the endangered Eastern Fox Snake species in the region. More. 

Update on February 8, 2013 by admin

The Toledo Blade has also reported on this story.

Eastern Fox Snake contention against Fermi 3 moves to evidentiary hearing stage

Fermi 3, Don't Tread on Me!ASLB ruling (Jan. 30, 2013)

Environmental coalition press release (Jan. 31, 2013)

Additional Background on Eastern Fox Snake and Other Contentions (Jan. 31, 2013)

Environmental interveners' response to DTE's Motion for Reconsideration of Eastern Fox Snake contention (November 29, 2012)

DTE's Motion for Reconsideration to ASLB on Eastern Fox Snake contention (November 19, 2012)

Environmental coalition's earlier defense of its Eastern Fox Snake contention (July 2, 2012)

The nuclear relapse has derailed -- literally!

Photo by Tom Clements, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA)Tom Clements of Alliance for Nuclear Accountability in South Carolina has documented, in photo and blog, a most remarkable development: the AP1000 nuclear reactor vessel targeted at Vogtle, Georgia has been discovered unprotected, stranded in Savannah Port since a December 15 shipment failure. Tom's remarkable blog is posted at the Aiken Leader. Connect Savannah has also reported on the "Nuclear Train Wreck."

As Tom has described it: the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) for the chronically delayed Vogtle AP1000 reactor construction project near Waynesboro, Georgia sits stranded and seemingly unprotected in the port of Savannah. The special railroad car carrying the 300-ton vessel had unknown mechanical problems on December 15 on exiting the port.  The NRC has said that the vessel only got one-quarter mile before a sound was heard and the car stopped.  Plans by Westinghouse and Southern Company to move the vessel are unknown. It is also unknown if the railroad car can be repaired and used or if the railroad company which owns the line is concerned that the rail car might break down again on its line in an in accessible place.  Meanwhile, the apparently unguarded reactor might be subject to sabotage and sits in apparent violation of NRC quality assurance and "administrative control" regulations.

Update on January 22, 2013 by admin

Photo by Tom Clements, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (ANA)In a Jan. 22nd update entitled 'Vogtle Nuclear Reactor Still Stranded in Savannah; Pouring of “Nuclear Concrete” for Reactor’s Basemat Delayed Yet Again as Embarrassment and Costs Mount,' Tom Clements of Alliance for Nuclear Accountability gives the latest on the failed shipment of an AP-1000 reactor pressure vessel (RPV) from the Port of Savannah, GA bound for the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia. This includes photos taken by Tom on Jan. 19th (see photo, left). Remarkably, not only Southern Co., but also Westinghouse and even the Korean manufacturer of the RPV have remained silent about the failed shipment, the condition of the RPV, and plans for next steps.

Meanwhile, not only Vogtle 3 & 4, but also the proposed new AP1000 at Summer nuclear power plant in South Carolina, have made LARs (License Amendment Requests) due to difficulties encountered in the pouring of nuclear-grade concrete for the base mat under the reactors and containments themselves. The consequent delays, and hence cost overruns, associated with all these ongoing problems could well be substantial.

As Tom Clements of ANA wrote regarding the photo (above, left): 'Photo taken on January 19 of close-up of Schnabel rail car with Vogtle "reactor pressure vessel"  hidden by a tarp.  The 300-ton reactor vessel was manufactured by Doosan in Korea and shipped through the Panama Canal to Savannah.  More photos are linked at [http://aikenleader.villagesoup.com/p/vogtle-nuclear-reactor-still-stranded-in-savannah-pouring-of-nuclear-concrete-for-reactor-s-basema/951066], which also includes a link to the January 14 article which has more photos.  How long will this embarrassing and potentially costly situation continue?  It's time for Westinghouse and Southern Company to come clean about the reactor shipment but will the companies, which are profiting due to an unjust Georgia law which forces rate payers to pay in advance for the Vogtle AP1000 project, continue their perplexing silence?  It is believed that South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) has a similar Schnabel rail car, owned by Westinghouse, at its disposal in the port of Charleston, where components for the V.C. Summer AP1000 are received.  Given what has happened with the Vogtle reactor shipment, will problems develop if a similar shipment is ever undertaken from Charleston to SCE&G's V.C. Summer site near Jenkinsville, South Carolina?'

Forbes: "the nuclear renaissance may be largely over before it started,"

"Burning Money" image by Gene Case, Avenging AngelsPeter Kelly-Detwiler, Contributor to Forbes, has published an op-ed entitled "New Centralized Nuclear Plants: Still an Investment Worth Making?" 

The Forbes contributor concludes that "the nuclear renaissance may be largely over before it started," with not only the vast majority of proposed new reactors in the U.S. being cancelled, but even paid-off old reactors like Kewaunee in Wisconsin being permanently shutdown due to crushing economics -- such as the expense of major, vitally needed safety repairs at the 40-year old reactor.

Kelly-Detwiler cites the "takes too long," "costs too much," and "bet-the-farm" nature of nuclear power for the "failure to launch" of the nuclear relapse.

If the op-ed's title is meant to imply that so-called small modular reactors might still save the day for the retreating nuclear power industry, it must be pointed out that the supposed justification for giant-sized proposed new reactors (such as the AP1000, at 1,100 MWe; the ESBWR at 1,500 MWe; the EPR at 1,600 MWe; etc.) was "economies of scale." Since small modular reactors represent the opposite end of the spectrum, it stands to reason these would be even more expensive than their super-sized, failed siblings.

In a classic February 14, 1985 piece entitled “Nuclear Follies,” Forbes wrote: 

"The failure of the U.S. nuclear power program ranks as the largest managerial disaster in business history, a disaster on a monumental scale. The utility industry has already invested $125 billion in nuclear power, with an additional $140 billion to come before the decade is out, and only the blind, or the biased, can now think that the money has been well spent. It is a defeat for the U.S. consumer and for the competitiveness of U.S. industry, for the utilities that undertook the program and for the private enterprise system that made it possible.” More.

NRC's Final Environmental Impact Statement for Fermi 3

The following link at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission website will take you to the full documentation for the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Detroit Edison's proposed new Fermi 3 reactor:

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr2105

In addition, it can be accessed at the links below.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has posted its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for Detroit Edison's proposed new Fermi 3 reactor targeted at the Lake Erie shoreline near Monroe, MI.

The full, official title of the document is: NUREG-2105, Vol. 1; Environmental Impact Statement for the Combined License (COL) for Enrico Fermi Unit 3, Final Report; Manuscript Completed: November 2012; Date Published: January 2013; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of New Reactors, Washington, D.C.; Regulatory Office, Permit Evaluation, Eastern Branch; U.S. Army Engineer District, Detroit, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit Michigan.

You can find links to the voluminous document below.

Volume 1, Chapters 1 to 6:

Part 1 (155 pages, Front Cover to Page 2-87); Part 2 (155 pages, Page 2-88 to Page 2-242); Part 3 (155 pages, Page 2-243 to Page 4-81); Part 4 (155 pages, Page 4-82 to Page 5-92); Part 5 (133 pages, Page 5-93 to Back Cover).

Volume 2, Chapter 7 to Appendix D:

Part 1 (140 pages, Front Cover Page to Page 9-4); Part 2 (140 pages, Page 9-5 to Page 9-144); Part 3 (140 pages, Page 9-145 to 9-284); Part 4 (140 pages, Page 9-285 to Page D-24); Part 5 (80 pages, Page D-25 to Page D-104); Part 6 (57 pages, Page D-105 to Back Cover Page).

Volume 3, Appendix E (549 pages)

Volume 4, Appendixes F to M:

Part 1 (80 pages, Front Cover Page to Page F-25); Part 2 (80 pages, Page F-27 to Page G-10); Part 3 (80 pages, Page G-11 to Page K-20); Part 4 (40 pages, Page K-21 to Page K-60); Part 5 (41 pages, Page K-61 to Back Cover Page).

Update on January 22, 2013 by admin

Below are links to Detroit Edison's Fermi 3 combined Construction and Operation License Application (COLA) Environmental Report (ER), Revision 3 (the current revision of record), for comparison and contrast with NRC's Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Final Environmental Impact Statement:

DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3

Accession Number: ML110600498

Date Released: Monday, March 21, 2011

Package Contents

The following links on this page are to Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. To obtain a free viewer for displaying this format, see our Plugins, Viewers, and Other Tools.

• ML110600476 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - COL Part 03 - Environmental Report - Table of Contents (12 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600477 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - COL Part 03 - Environmental Report - List of Tables (25 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600478 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - COL Part 03 - Environmental Report - List of Figures (12 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600479 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - COL Part 03 - Environmental Report - List of Acronyms (14 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600481 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 1 - Introduction (19 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600483 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 2 - Environmental Description - Subsection 2.1 - Site Location through Subsection 2.2 - Land (57 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600484 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 02 - Environmental Description - Subsection 2.3 - Water (263 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600485 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 02 - Environmental Description - Subsection 2.4 - Ecology (116 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600486 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 02 - Environmental Description - Subsections 2.5 - Socioeconomics through 2.8 - Related Federal Project Activities (544 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600487 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 02 - Environmental Description - Appendix 2A - History Aquatic Species - Appendix 2B - History T_E Species (30 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600488 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 3 - Plant Description (89 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600489 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 4 - Environmental Impacts of Construction (155 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600491 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 5 - Environmental Impacts of Operation (224 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600492 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 6 - Environmental Measurements and Monitoring Programs (72 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600493 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 7 - Environmental Impacts of Postulated Accidents Involving Radioactive Materials (37 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600494 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 08 - Need For Power (78 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600495 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 9 - Alternatives to the Proposed Action (117 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600496 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 9 - Alternatives to the Proposed Action - Appendix 9A - Site Profiles (46 page(s), 2/14/2011)
• ML110600497 - DTE Energy - Detroit Edison Fermi 3 COLA (Environmental Report), Rev. 3 - Chapter 10 - Environmental Consequences of the Proposed Action (35 page(s), 2/14/2011)

Update on January 22, 2013 by admin

NRC's Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Combined License (COL) for Enrico Fermi Unit 3 (NUREG-2105, Volume 1)

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr2105/v1/index.html 

Cover Through Chapter 2 (PDF - 13.1 MB)

Chapter 3 – Chapter 5 (PDF - 15.1 MB)

Chapter 6 – Chapter 8 (PDF - 4.56 MB)

NRC's Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Combined License (COL) for Enrico Fermi Unit 3 (NUREG-2105, Volume 2)

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr2105/v2/index.html

NUREG-2105, Volume 2: Chapter 9 through Appendix L (PDF - 37 MB)

Chapter 9 – Chapter 10 (PDF - 2.03 MB)

Appendix A – Appendix K (PDF - 16.4 MB)