NRC admits Beyond Nuclear into Seabrook relicensing hearing

A federal licensing board of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted a petition filed by Beyond Nuclear to bring a law suit challenging NextEra Energy’s application to extend the operating license of its Seabrook nuclear power plant on the New Hampshire coast from 2030 to 2050. NextEra’s application is being submitted 20 years in advance of Seabrook’s current operating license’s expiration date. Beyond Nuclear is joined by the New Hampshire Sierra Club and the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League alleging that NextEra failed to meet its legal obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to evaluate less harmful energy alternatives. As much as 5000 megawatts electricity generated through interconnected offshore and deepwater wind power projects is scheduled to be operational in the Gulf of Maine by 2030. The combination of more interconnected wind energy farms deployed in deep water off the coast of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island will be generating additional gigawatts of clean, safe, and affordable renewable electricity by the requested federal relicensing period. The licensing board agreed with Beyond Nuclear that there are "consequences" to filing a request for federal action nearly two decades in advance of the license expiration date. It is simply not reasonable or rational of the power company to say that renewable energy will not be feasible or commercially viable by 2030.

The federal licensing board also granted standing to the New England Coalition and Friends of the Coast and admitted three of four originally filed contentions regarding NextEra's lack of age management plans for miles of onsite buried electrical cables and power transformers and the misrepresentation of analysis for the amount of radiation released in a severe nuclear accident and its environmental and economic consequences.

The five petitioning groups will now seek to prevail against an onslaught of adversarial legal motions filed by both the power company and the NRC’s own Office of General Counsel to dismiss or whittle away the scope of the law suit. A public hearing before the three member NRC licensing board on these contentions could occur early in 2012.



Environmental coalition defends its intervention against "20 MORE years of radioactive Russian roulette?!" at Davis-Besse

"Lava" of carbon steel corrosion and boric acid crystals flowing from the Davis-Besse reactor lid a decade ago.In August, First Energy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) applied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a 20 year license extension at its trouble-plagued Davis-Besse atomic reactor on the Lake Erie shore east of Toledo. In October, NRC "docketed" the application as complete enough to proceed with its consideration for approval. Beyond Nuclear, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario (CEA), Don't Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio submitted their Petition to Intervene and Request for a Hearing on December 27, 2010 -- raising four contentions against the 20 year license extension: (1) wind power is a viable altenative, as is (2) solar photovoltaic power, and (3) certainly a combination of solar PV and wind; and (4), FENOC has significantly underestimated the consequences of a catastrophic radioactivity release from Davis-Besse in its "Severe Accident Mitigation Alternatives" (SAMA) analysis. On January 21, 2011, both the NRC staff and FENOC objected to all four of the environmental coalition's contentions; both also challenged the standing of CEA to take part in the proceeding, absurdly asserting that CEA's members seeking standing live a mere 300 feet beyond the 50 mile radius from Davis-Besse! (Intervenors "about" 50 miles from a nuclear plant, or less,  have almost automatically been conferred standing in the past.) In a "Combined Reply," the environmental coalition defended its standing and contentions on January 28, 2011. An NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) has been empanelled. The ASLB has announced a March 1, 2011 "oral pre-hearing" in Port Clinton, Ohio to consider whether or not to admit the contentions for a full hearing on the merits; the appendix to its order spells out in some detail the key questions the ASLB has on its mind. The NRC ASLB has requested a security detail from the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department, although the coalition is comprised entirely of non-violent environmental groups. Beyond Nuclear has prepared a backgrounder on the many close calls to major disasters this reactor has already experienced in its first 33 years of operations: "Davis-Besse: 20 MORE Years of Radioactive Russian Roulette on the Great Lakes Shore?!" On February 1st, the coalition issued a media release announcing its defense of the intervention. On Feb. 10th, the Joint Petitioners filed an Errata for their Combined Reply.

State Republicans move to overturn new reactor ban in Minnesota

House and Senate Republicans in Minnesota are introducing bills to over-turn the lifelong ban - already in place for 17 years - against new reactors in Minnesota. Newly-elected Democratic governor, Mark Dayton, opposes lifting the ban because there is still no solution to the radioactive waste problem produced by nuclear power plants. The push by Republicans is out of synch, however, with the owners of the two existing nuclear plants in Minnesota. Xcel Energy, which owns the Prairie Island and Monticello nuclear plants, has said it has no plans for another nuclear plant.

Two Wisconsin groups oppose uprate at Point Beach reactors

Wisconsin Citizens' Utility Board and Clean Wisconsin habe filed their opposition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to an uprate at the Point Beach nuclear power plant in Wisconsin. The groups argue that the reactors don't need expanded power output because the state has more than enough electricity to meet its needs. Reactor owner, NextEra Energy Resources Inc. has proposed expanding the total power output from the two-reactor plant by 17%.



Environmental coalition challenges "20 MORE years of radioactive Russian roulette" at Davis-Besse

Rust-boric acid "lava" flows from Davis-Besse lid leading up to the 2002 hole in the head accident.An environmental coalition including Beyond Nuclear, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio has filed a petition to intervene and a request for hearings on First Energy Nuclear Operating Company's application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a 20 year license extension (any of the 75 exhibits listed are available in PDF format from Kevin Kamps at Beyond Nuclear upon request -- kevin@beyondnuclear.org). The four contentions filed allege that Davis-Besse's nuclear electricity could readily be replaced by wind power, by solar photovoltaics (PV), and by a combination of wind and solar PV. Alvin Compaan, Distinguished University Professor of Physics, Emeritus, at the University of Toledo, and former Chair of UT’s Physics and Astronomy Department, is serving as the environmental coalition's expert witness on renewables' potential to replace the dangerously deteriorated atomic reactor. The coalition issued a media release about its official intervention. Beyond Nuclear recently prepared a comprehensive summary of near-disasters which have occurred at Davis-Besse since 1977, entitled "Radioactive Russian Roulette on the Great Lakes Shore: 20 MORE Years at Davis-Besse?!"