In his March 15th article entitled "Entergy's Power Struggle" (which appeared in The Street's "Real Money"), Glenn Williams -- despite a clear pro-nuclear industry bias -- lays bare the many challenges faced by Entergy at multiple atomic reactors operating in multiple states. In fact, Williams concludes "Entergy faces every challenge imaginable. Simultaneously, it faces outdated federal regulations, hostile states and declining power markets."
Palisades
119 people watchdogged a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Webinar on Palisades reactor pressure vessel (RPV) embrittlement on March 19th. Palisades has the worst embrittled RPV in the U.S., at risk of pressurized thermal shock (PTS), which could cause a RPV breach, Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA), reactor core meltdown, catastrophic radioactivity release to the environment, and thousands of deaths and injuries, as well as over $100 billion in property damage, downwind and downstream. 85 questions were asked during NRC's arbitrarily short Webinar, few of which have yet to be addressed. Media coverage reported that Palisades' violation of NRC PTS safety standards could force the reactor's permanent shutdown by 2017 led to defensive, official denials by both Entergy and NRC.
On March 25, 20 concerned local residents and environmental group representatives met with NRC Commissioner William Magwood IV, as well as his Chief of Staff Patty Bubar, NRC Region 3 Administrator Chuck Casto, and NRC Region 3 Branch Chief Jack Geissner. The meeting, which lasted three hours, took place in South Haven, near Palisades, which the NRC delegation toured the next morning. The environmental-citizen coalition communicated their many concerns about the problem-plagued plant.
On April 2nd, NRC will hold its annual End of Cycle performance review public meeting near Palisades. On April 11th, the Union of Concerned Scientists' David Lochbaum will present his concerns about Palisades in two west Michigan presentations.
Vermont Yankee
Entergy's woes in the Green Mountain State continue to mount.
Mechanical errors have beset the plant for the past couple weeks. Last week, three system failures lined up in a reactor building blow out panel incident. And this week, flood control seals failed, allowing water to creep precariously close to safety-significant electrical cables.
Although the State Supreme Court has, for now, rejected New England Coalition's (NEC) lawsuit seeking immediate VY shutdown due to the lack of a Certificate of Public Good (CPG) from the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB), NEC's attorneys remain hopeful that they will prevail once their case becomes ripe. The PSB is set to decide whether or not to grant a new CPG to Entergy this August.
Even the NRC is questioning Entergy's financial qualifications to safely operate, and ultimately decommission, VY, after the company admitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission that VY's sale price has lost two-thirds of its value.
And the Safe and Green Campaign will join with the Bread and Puppet Theater this Saturday, March 30, to make one year of "Leaks, Lies, and Lawyers" since VY's original 40 year operating license expired, and its NRC-rubberstamped, Vermont-opposed 20-year license extension kicked in.