Plans to dump radioactive waste on Goshute reservation may not be dead

"The federal government has decided not to fight a court ruling that might allow the Skull Valley Goshute Indians to revive their plans to store reactor waste on their Tooele County reservation", reports Judy Fahys in the Salt Lake Tribune. "Two months ago, U.S. District Judge David M. Ebel threw out a pair of U.S. Interior Department decisions that, in effect, led many Utahns to believe that the storage site plans were dead four years ago. Interior officials’ decision to pass up on an appeal by Friday’s deadline has angered Utah leaders, who had urged the agency to vigorously contest the ruling. With the feds’ inaction, the issues in dispute now return to the agency “for further consideration” in light of the judge’s ruling. A spokeswoman for Gov. Gary Herbert said he believes it is inappropriate to have high-level nuclear waste stored 50 miles from downtown Salt Lake City." Read the full article. (Pictured: Margene Bullcreek, one of the leading dump opponents).

Radioactivity leaks from U.S. waste storage pools

A new Beyond Nuclear fact sheet documents leaks of radioactivity from five U.S. nuclear facilities' radioactive waste storage and handling pools. Nuclear power plants suffering such leaks have thus far included Indian Point, NY; CT Yankee; and Salem, NJ. In addition, a research reactor irradiated nuclear fuel storage pool has leaked at Brookhaven National Lab on Long Island, NY, as has the irradiated nuclear fuel handling pool at BWXT (Babcock and Wilcox Technologies, Inc.) in Lynchburg, VA. Highlights ("lowlights") include: multiple storage pools leaking such radioactive poisons as Strontium-90 at Indian Point, which has been detected in fish in the Hudson River; a leak that had been underway for an undetermined length of time from CT Yankee's storage pool; a leak of 100 gallons per day of radioactive water from the Salem Unit 1 storage pool that had been ongoing for at least five years; but Brookhaven's tritium leak outdid even this, having been underway, undetected, for a dozen years, into the aquifer that serves as the sole source of drinking water for over a million Long Island residents; and BWXT's leak of 250 gallons per day took place just 500 yards from the James River. The risks of such leaks grow worse as the pools' concrete walls and steel liners degrade, crack and corrode with age. Obviously, industry monitoring systems and regulatory agency enforcement measures are dismally failing to protect public health and the environment.

Speaking tour of Japan challenges long term on-site MOX irradiated fuel storage

Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps toured Japan from August 2nd to 12th, visiting Tokyo, Fukushima, Fukui, Kansai and Kyushu. Local Japanese anti-nuclear groups asked Kevin to address the risks of long-term storage of Mixed (plutonium-uranium) Oxide (MOX) irradiated nuclear fuel in pools, given the leaks of radioactive water that have occurred at five U.S. nuclear facilities, including Indian Point, Salem, Connecticut Yankee, Brookhaven National Lab, and Babcock & Wilcox, Virginia. Several reactors in Japan are recklessly moving to load MOX fuel, even though there is no final disposition plan for the irradiated fuel that would be generated. There is a vague promise to someday build a special reprocessing facility in Japan, but that is unlikely to ever happen, and if it did, would actually only make matters even worse! This means the radioactive wastes will remain in storage pools on-site for decades. Kevin also presented a power point about the many risks of storing irradiated nuclear fuel in pools.

170 groups demand hardened on-site storage with "Principles for Safeguarding Nuclear Waste at Reactors"

170 national and grassroots environmental organizations, representing every state in the country, have signed onto the "Statement of Principles for Safeguarding Nuclear Waste at Reactors." It urges decision makers, including Energy Secretary Chu's blue ribbon commission on radioactive waste, to require hardened on-site storage (HOSS) for high-level radioactive waste stored at nuclear power plants across the U.S. The Statement also expresses adamant opposition to the dirty, dangerous, and expensive extraction of plutonium (reprocessing) from irradiated nuclear fuel. (Image reprinted from Dr. Gordon Thompson's report Robust Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel: A Neglected Issue of Homeland Security, commissioned by Citizens Awareness Network and published by the Institute for Resource and Security Studies in Jan. 2003.)

Earthquake in Lake Michigan region raises specter of radioactive waste disaster at Palisades

A 3.8 magnitude earthquake epicentered in northern Illinois, but felt as far away as Michigan across Lake Michigan, serves as a reminder that the high-level radioactive waste dry cask storage facilities at Palisades nuclear power plant remain vulnerable to a catastrophic radioactivity release due to seismic risk. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Midwest region dry cask storage inspector Dr. Ross Landsman warned his agency's top official, 16 years ago now, that Palisades' dry cask storage pad just 100 yards from the Lake Michigan shore is vulnerable to earthquakes: "The casks can either fall into Lake Michigan or be buried in the loose sand because of liquefaction...It is apparent to me that NMSS [NRC's office of Nuclear Materials, Safety, and Safeguards] doesn’t realize the catastrophic consequences of their continued reliance on their current ideology." The high-level radioactive waste within casks buried in sand could dangerously overheat. If water infiltrates casks submerged underwater, there is enough fissile uranium-235 and plutonium-239 in the irradiated nuclear fuel that an inadvertent chain reaction could be sparked; this would make emergency response ultra-hazardous. In either scenario, disastrous radioactivity releases would be possible. Despite this, Dr. Landsman has been entirely ignored by NRC for going on two decades. In 2006, now retired, Dr. Landsman served as expert witness for an environmental coalition, co-led by Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps, demanding that NRC address the fact that not only is Palisades' first, older pad vulnerable to seismic liquefaction, but its second, newer pad is vulnerable to seismic amplification, both in violation of NRC earthquake safety regulations. Unfortunately, as expected, NRC rejected the environmental coalition's and Dr. Landsman's emergency enforcement petition. The coalition then appealed to the federal courts, were again rebuffed by NRC, defended their contentions, but despite their warnings, were ultimately ruled against by the second highest court in the land. Thus, Palisades' high-level radioactive wastes remain vulnerable to a catastrophic release of deadly radioactivity into Lake Michigan -- source of drinking water for tens of millions downstream -- if a large enough earthquake strikes the site.