Beyond Nuclear quoted on Palisades' radioactive risks

Anti-nuke watchdogs have long called for Palisades' shut down. Here, Don't Waste Michigan board members Michael Keegan, Alice HIrt, and Kevin Kamps speak out at the Aug. 2000 Nuclear-Free Great Lakes Action Camp. The reactor's steam, and Lake Michigan, are visible behind them.In the past five days, Rosemary Parker at the Kalamazoo Gazette has quoted Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps in two articles focused on the radioactive risks of the Palisades atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shoreline. On. Feb. 19th, in an article entitled "Is Southwest Michigan ready for nuclear emergency?", she reported:

'...But nuclear watchdog groups point to the hundreds of hours of additional oversight required by the NRC, the plant's aging equipment, the many glitches at the plant in recent months. The group Beyond Nuclear immediately responded to the change of Palisade's regulatory status with calls to "close it down before it melts down."

...Kevin Kamps, whose title is "radioactive waste watchdog" for the antinuclear group Beyond Nuclear, envisions a more unnerving worst-case scenario, akin to the disastrous 1986 explosion at  Chernobyl in Ukraine, where radioactive contamination was released into the atmosphere and traveled for miles.

In his view, disaster at Palisades could put the city of Chicago's drinking water supply at risk, wipe out Southwest Michigan's fruit belt orchards, destroy the area's tourism industry for years and make ghost towns out of thriving lakeshore communities.'

Parker also quoted Kevin's response to recent high-risk accidents at Palisades in a Feb. 16th article.

Kevin was born and raised in Kalamazoo. His anti-nuclear power activism began at Palisades in 1992.

Update on February 21, 2012 by admin

Tina Lam at the Detroit Free Press also reported on NRC's safety downgrade at Palisades, mentioning: "Beyond Nuclear, an anti-nuclear group, said Palisades is risky to those who get drinking water from Lake Michigan, and it should be shut down."

Nuclear fuel at 11 Westinghouse PWRs at risk of dangerously overheating

As reported by Reuters, the NRC has issued a media release admitting that 11 pressurized water reactors (PWRs) using Westinghouse nuclear fuel are at risk of "thermal conductivity degradation" -- that is, they could dangerously overheat during an accident. The 11 PWRs are located at the following nuclear power plants: FirstEnergy's Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania, Exelon's Byron in Illinois, Duke Energy's Catawba in South Carolina and McGuire in North Carolina, American Electric Power's Cook in Michigan, and Dominion's Kewaunee in Wisconsin.

The NRC release stated:  "The NRC alerted the industry to this problem in 2009, and Westinghouse needs to do more to account for thermal conductivity degradation in its fuel performance codes," said Eric Leeds, director of the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. "We need assurances from a few nuclear power plants licensees to maintain assurance that they can continue to operate safely with sufficient margin." Despite already having given industry three years to respond, NRC is still giving them another month to do so now.

However, NRC's current limit of 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit for nuclear fuel cladding has been challenged by 10CFR2.206 emergency enforcement petitions filed by concerned citizens. They pointed to data from Germany that showed that ziroconium in fuel rod cladding is dangerously unstable at a significantly lower temperature

Along these lines, the NRC mentioned cryptically at the end of its release: "An additional 23 plants that use Westinghouse performance models also received information copies of the RFI [Request for Proposal], to ensure that they are aware of their obligations to address this error."

In early 2006, Toshiba of Japan acquired Westinghouse. In the early to mid-1970s, Toshiba was the reactor supplier and architect for Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3, the atomic reactor that suffered the worst explosion during the catastrophe; its reactor building now resembles a pile of twisted ruins.

Update on February 24, 2012 by admin

Nuclear researcher Lucas Hixson has analyzed NRC's action and commented upon it.

Beyond Nuclear to co-present "Into Eternity" in Livonia, MI for 3/11 Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe commemoration

On Sunday, March 11, 2012, the first anniversary of the beginning of the still ongoing Fukushima Nuclear Catastrophe, Beyond Nuclear is joining with BetterWorld Happenings to co-present the film "Into Eternity" about the proposed Finnish high-level radioactive waste repository (see the trailer, above). The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Unity Church of Livonia, Michigan. Keith Gunter, Promoter and Producer of BetterWorld Happenings, and a Beyond Nuclear Launch Partner, has organized the event. Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps will speak at the screening. A media release has gone out, as well as a flyer. Kevin will discuss the risks of such reactors in the vicinity as Fermi 2, the proposed Fermi 3, as well as Davis-Besse.

Nukewatch of Wisconsin just showed "Into Eternity" in Duluth, MN on Feb. 20th. Nuclear Energy Information Service is planning to show it on March 22nd in Chicago (see their press release and "Know Nukes" film series schedule). And yet another screening is in the works for the Blue Water region of Michigan near Port Huron in mid-March, again with Kevin Kamps as a speaker. If you would like to host a screening, learn more here.

CNN links dangers of Vermont Yankee to Fukushima Dai-Ichi disaster

CNN Presents featured a segment on the growing controversy around the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant which is one of the  23 GE Mark I boiling water reactors operating in the United States that is the same design as the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power stations that exploded and melted down in Japan following the  March 11, 2012 earthquake and tsunami. The Vermont legislature voted to permanently close the reactor on March 22, 2012 while the NRC voted to extend the reactor operating license by 20 years, just days after the Fukushima accident.

Here is the February 17, 2012  news account of the TV feature.

Beyond Nuclear was part of the  Breaking News  in CNN Situation Room on March 11, 2011 warning that the GE reactors were in danger of exploding into a nuclear catastrophe.

Watch the CNN Presentation February 18, 2012 televised story:

Part 1

Part 2

State of Vermont appeals federal district court ruling allowing Vermont Yankee to operate past March 21, 2012

State of Vermont Attorney General William H. SorrellAs reported by Reuters, the State of Vermont's Attorney General, William Sorrell, has appealed U.S. federal district judge Garvan Murtha's Jan. 19, 2012 ruling allowing Entergy Nuclear to continue operating the Vermont Yankee atomic reactor past the expiration of its original 40 year license on March 21, 2012.

In a media release posted on his website, Vermont AG Sorrell stated  “We have strong arguments to make on appeal. The district court’s decision improperly limits the State’s legitimate role in deciding whether Vermont Yankee should operate in Vermont beyond March 21, 2012. The court’s undue reliance on the discussions among our citizen legislators, expert witnesses, advocates, and their constituents has the potential to chill legislative debates in the future. Left unchallenged, this decision could make it harder for ordinary Vermonters to clearly state their views in future legislative hearings.”

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin expressed support for the appeal, stating: 

“As I said when the court opinion was issued, I do not agree with Judge Murtha’s decision.  We as a state have had many important and legitimate concerns with Entergy Louisiana and its operation of Vermont Yankee that are not reflected in the opinion.  I support the Attorney General’s work in getting a positive result on appeal.  Meanwhile, my administration will be focusing on the state’s continuing authority over Vermont Yankee.”