NRC grants TVA Watts Bar Unit 2 a 40-year operating license 43-years later

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced the issuance of a 40-year operating license 43 years after the Tennessee Valley Authority first made application for the federal license in January 1973.  The Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactor and Ice Condenser Containment is another 1960’s vintage technology originally conceptualized but abandoned as floating nuclear power plants in the coastal waters off New Jersey and the Gulf of Mexico. The concept required such a thin concrete containment structure to reduce weight on the floating platform that the controversial system was nicknamed “the eggshell containment.” Watts Bar 2 becomes the 10^th PWR to operate on land with the controversial ice condenser design licensed to operate in the United States; Catawba 1 & 2 (NC), Cook 1 & 2 (MI), McGuire 1 & 2 (NC), Sequoyah 1 & 2 (TN) and Watts Bar 1 (TN).

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy authors Sarah Barzack and Don Safer have illuminated the Watts Bar 2 licensing fiasco in a revealing issue of The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

Beyond Nuclear on Solartopia radio show: DYING NUKES THAT TERRIFY US ALL

Solartopia author and radio show host Harvey WassermanBeyond Nuclear's reactor oversight project director, Paul Gunter, and radioactive waste watchdog, Kevin Kamps, joined with Don't Waste Michigan's Michael Keegan on Harvey Wasserman's (photo, left) Solartopia radio show (named after the title of his book) on the Progressive Radio Network. Listen to the audio recording.

(Please note, there may be a minute or two of echo/feedback midway through the show -- just forward through that part.)

Here is Wasserman's summary:

We visit DYING NUKES THAT TERRIFY US ALL with MICHAEL KEEGAN of Don’t Waste Michigan and PAUL GUNTER and KEVIN KAMPS of Beyond Nuclear.

The debate over atomic energy is over.  FUKUSHIMA has shown the world that nuke reactors will explode and destroy whole sections of a country while contaminating oceans.  Germany’s ENERGIEWIND is showing that the transition to 100% renewables can be done quickly, cleanly and profitably.

But we’re left in the US with 99 dying nukes that truly terrify us all.  Starting in Michigan, at Monroe, we deal with Fermi Unit I, which nearly exploded in 1966;  Fermi 2 which is now falling apart; and Fermi 3, which Detroit Edison wants to build at massive ratepayer expense.

We then shift to the truly horrifying Davis-Besse reactor near Toledo, which operated for years with a massive hole in its head, and which has a shield building that’s literally crumbling.  It’s owner wants a $3 billion public bailout to keep endangering all of the Great Lakes region.

We also visit Pilgrim near Boston, which is officially in violation of both NRC production standards and NRC safety standards.  Paul tells that October 10 we will hear a major announcement from Energy, which owns this dying nuke.

Over the coming weeks we will “tour” the national fleet of reactors that need to shut ASAP.  Let’s hope Pilgrim will now lead the way to the end of this insane industry!!!

Simultaneous scrams at risky reactors on both sides of Michigan

As reported by a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) event report, "At 2305 EDT on September 13, 2015, a manual scram was initiated in response to a loss of all Turbine Building Closed Cooling Water (TBCCW)" at Detroit Edison's Fermi 2 atomic reactor in Monroe County, MI, on the Lake Erie shore.

Two updates to the NRC event report the next day revealed that the "ongoing event" had resulted in the reportable actuation of two safety systems: "Operators were manually controlling Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV) level and pressure with Reactor Core Isolation Cooling (RCIC) and Safety Relief Valves (SRV)."

Fermi 2 is the largest General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactor in the world. It is a super-sized version of Fukushima Daiichi -- nearly as big as Units 1 and 2 at the devastated Japanese nuclear power plant put together.

Just five days earlier, the NRC Commission unanimously voted to overrule its own Atomic Safety and Licensning Board Panel, and rejected environmental groups' hard-won hearing in opposition to Fermi 2's 20-year license extension.

Beyond Nuclear, along with Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario and Don't Waste MI, represented by Toledo attorney Terry Lodge, had won a hearing on the safety risks of Fermi 2 and the proposed new Fermi 3 atomic reactor sharing a common transmission line corridor. This risks a common mode failure, whether due to natural disaster, terrorist attack, etc. Combined with loss of emergency diesel generators -- for which Fermi 2 has an infamous track record -- the two unit complex could be plunged into Station Black Out, leaving both reactors, and both high-level radioactive waste storage pools, vulnerable to meltdowns and fires, respectively.

The full NRC Commission thus effectively rubber-stamped Fermi 2's operation till 2045 -- all that's left is the paperwork. But ironically enough, instead of being good to go for 30 more years, Fermi 2 instead suffered a breakdown, just a week later!

Then, just over 48 hours after the Fermi 2 unplanned shutdown, a couple hundred miles to the west, Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor scrammed, at 1:17am on Sept. 16. The NRC event report states "Initial investigation into the cause of the turbine trip appears to be from a DEH [Digital Electro-Hydraulic] power supply failure."

Palisades is located in Covert, MI, on the Lake Michigan shoreline.

NBC 5 Chicago investigative reporter Chris Coffey quoted Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps about the incident: 

However, critics have said Palisades is “old” and “falling apart.”

“These unplanned shutdowns and sudden “reactor trips” are like slamming the brakes in your jalopy of a car—not good for the integrity of systems, structures, and components going forward,” said Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear.

Beyond Nuclear, along with Don't Waste MI, MI Safe Energy Future, and Nuclear Energy Information Service of Chicago, has dueling appeals with Entergy Nuclear, before the full NRC Commission, regarding age-related degradation of Palisades' reactor pressure vessel (RPV). Palisades' RPV is the worst neutron-embrittled in the U.S., at risk of pressurized thermal shock fracture, Loss-of-Coolant-Accident, core meltdown, and catastrophic release of hazardous radioactivity.

Given that around 90% of the electricity generated at American Electric Power's two unit Cook nuclear power plant in Bridgman is exported out of the state, and the fact that the lights stayed on despite both Palisades and Fermi 2 being down, Michiganders may begin to wonder: why are these risky reactors still operating?!

That question is even more perplexing, considering the 745 gigawatts of potential offshore wind electricity on the Great Lakes, over 300 gigawatts of which is directly accessible by the Great Lakes State itself (Michigan's four operating reactors generate a grand total of just over 4 gigawatts-electric). And with none other than Fermi nuclear power plant's owner, Detroit Edison, successfully deploying Michigan's largest ever solar PV array, with much bigger plans in the works, it is becoming more and more clear that nuclear power's days are numbered. The future is renewables and efficiency.

Cue up the bailout plea: Entergy might close aging FitzPatrick nuclear plant in New York State

Entergy's FitzPatrick atomic reactor (NRC file photo).The subject line above is Scott Stapf of the Hasting Group's Tweet pointing to an article at Syracuse.com. The dirty, age-degraded, dangerous, expensive, uncompetitive Fukushima Daiichi twin design (a General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactor) on the Lake Ontario shore in upstate NY (see photo), couldn't close a moment too soon!

"Pilgrim nuclear station one step from shutdown: NRC downgrades plant to bottom of performance list"

As reported by Christine Legere at the Cape Cod Times, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has ranked Entergy's Pilgrim atomic reactor in Plymouth, MA near Boston as tied for the worst performing in the country.

It is tied for worst performing with another Entergy nuclear power plant, Arkansas Nuclear One (ANO). A young worker was killed, and eight others injured, on an early Easter Sunday morning in 2013, when a 600-ton piece of equipment was accidentally dropped on them.

The article reports:

...Diane Turco, Harwich resident and co-founder of the anti-Pilgrim group Cape Downwinders, called the federal letter to Entergy good news. “The NRC has finally sent a strong message to Entergy — We are looking at closing Pilgrim as a response to the failures. Finally!” Turco wrote in an email.

Cape Downwinders has planned a rally at the Sagamore Bridge on Labor Day to protest the lack of an evacuation plan in the event of a nuclear accident and to call for the shutdown of the power plant.

...U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., also issued a statement on Pilgrim’s status. “For decades, I have raised concerns about Pilgrim’s operations, security preparedness, the safety of the surrounding communities in the event of a nuclear accident and the willingness of Entergy to dedicate sufficient resources to run the reactor safely,” Markey wrote.

The senator noted Pilgrim has the same boiling water design as the reactors that had meltdowns in 2011 at Fukushima, Japan, after a tsunami. “NRC must continue this aggressive oversight until Entergy can prove unequivocally that it has dedicated the resources, manpower and training to guarantee the safe and secure operation of this reactor,” Markey wrote.

Attorney General Maura Healey called the downgrade of Pilgrim “a disturbing development" in her written statement. “My primary concern is with the safety and well-being of the residents of Massachusetts, particularly those who live near Pilgrim. Entergy must act swiftly and decisively to correct these issues and restore the public's trust in its ability to safely operate this plant.”

Pilgrim watchdog Mary Lampert, a Duxbury resident and founder of PilgrimWatch, said this latest development was no surprise. “Pilgrim is an antique reactor built when the Beatles sang on Ed Sullivan’s show, and Entergy is unwilling to spend the money for the TLC required. It’s time to retire,” Lampert said...

[See Sen. Markey and MA AG Healey's press statement here.]