Fri., Nov. 13, Virtual Congressional Briefing: "What Congress Needs to Know About Pending Nuclear Waste Legislation"

Message from Manna Jo Greene, Clearwater:

Please share widely.

Friday, November 13 at 2pm Eastern, please join us for a one-hour, virtual Congressional briefing on "What Congress Needs to Know About Pending Nuclear Waste Legislation,"  which Clearwater and other groups have organized with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.

Nuclear waste issues are coming to a head as more nuclear power plants close and enter decommissioning.  Whether in a lame duck session this year, or early next year, there is a good chance Congress will soon be asked to vote on far-reaching legislation that could upend current law and transform the way we handle nuclear waste from both operating and decommissioned nuclear power plants.  

Bills are now pending that could enable consolidated interim storage facilities, trigger thousands of shipments of high-level nuclear waste across the U.S., allow nuclear owners to offload liability for nuclear waste by transferring title to the Department of Energy, and cause other sea-changes in nuclear waste and decommissioning practices.  

It may not be one of the most salient political issues Congress faces, but it could be one of the most far-reaching for public health and safety and the environment, and must not fly below the radar.  We've assembled leading independent scientists, advocates, and legislative experts to clarify the key issues for Congress, agency staff, and concerned citizens.  

See below and [linked here] for details of the briefing, and how to join.  
Information: www.eesi.org/briefings/view/111320nuclear

Register at: /www.eesi.org/briefings/view/111320nuclear#RSVP

Warning from scholar on far right/white supremacist extremism about threats to attack nuclear facilities in order to cause mass casualty events

University of Chicago Professor Kathleen Belew, on C-SPAN's "Q&A," warns that far right, white supremacist extremists have threatened in the past to attack nuclear power plants in order to unleash catastrophic mass casualty events.

See the C-SPAN "Q&A" interview, here.

To see how catastrophic such a domestic terrorist attack, causing an atomic reactor meltdown could be, in terms of casualties and property damage, see the CRAC-II chart, here.

It compiles the conclusions on casualties (peak early fatalities, or acute radiation poisoning deaths; peak radiation injuries; peak cancer deaths, or latent cancer fatalities), as well as property damage, as reported in CRAC-II.

CRAC-II is a 1982 report commissioned by NRC, and conducted by Sandia National Laboratory. CRAC-II is short for Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences. It is also known as the Sandia Siting Study, or as NUREG/CR-2239.

As horrific as the CRAC-II figures are, Associated Press investigative journalist Jeff Donn warned in his 2011 series "Aging Nukes" after the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe in Japan had begun, that populations have soared around nuclear power plants lsince 1982, so casualties would be significantly higher today.

And adjusting for inflation alone, but not even accounting for the significant economic development in the downwind areas since 1982, property damage would now be significantly worse, when expressed as current year dollar figures.

And, as Fukushima has shown, domino effect meltdowns are possible at multi-reactor sites. That is, a successful domestic terrorist attack on a single reactor could lead to multiple meltdowns at the same site.

Irradiated nuclear fuel, whether stored in indoor wet storage pools, or even in dry cask arranged like bowling pins out in the open air/plain view, could also unleash radiological catastrohe, if successfully attacked.

Please submit public comments opposing the ISP/WCS CISF in TX by Nov. 3!

WCS/ISP DEIS: Ideas for comments you can use to write your own for submission to NRC

<http://www.beyondnuclear.org/centralized-storage/2020/5/27/wcsisp-deis-ideas-for-comments-you-can-use-to-write-your-own.html>

Action alert from the SEED (Sustainable Energy and Economic Development) Coalition in Austin, TX re: NRC's ISP/WCS CISF DEIS:

Comments still needed:

 

Please help out by letting people know about the letters that can be personalized and sent to the NRC at www.NoNuclearWaste.org 

For those who can, please send an action alert out through your network as well. 

We have a Nov. 3 deadline for comments on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Waste Control Specialists' high-level radioactive waste storage plan, the Interim Storage Partners irradiated nuclear fuel consolidated interim storage facility in Andrews County, west Texas. This is our last opportunity for public comment on the license application

Update on September 23, 2020 by admin

Speak out against Mobile Chernobyls in your community! Sample script for contacting your Members of Congress to urge they demand public comment meetings in your state/district re: NRC Draft EIS on WCS/ISP, TX nuke waste Consolidated Interim Storage Facility

<http://www.beyondnuclear.org/centralized-storage/2020/5/27/speak-out-against-mobile-chernobyls-in-your-community-sample.html>

Interim Storage Partners: Draft Environmental Impact Statement public comment meetings -- October 1, 6, 8, and 15

As announced by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC):

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: WCS_CISFEIS Resource <WCS_CISFEIS.Resource@nrc.gov>
Date: Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 2:54 PM
Subject: Interim Storage Partners: Draft Environmental Impact Statement public comment meetings

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff is notifying you of upcoming public comment meetings for the NRC staff’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Interim Storage Partners’ (ISP’s) proposed Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) located in Andrews County, Texas.

The NRC staff will be holding four virtual meetings in early October 2020.  These meetings will be held on October 1, 6, 8, and 15, 2020, during which the NRC staff will present the results of its environmental analysis and then accept comments on the draft EIS.  Persons interested in attending these meetings should check the NRC’s Public Meeting Schedule Web page at https://www.nrc.gov/pmns/mtg for additional information, agendas for the meetings, and access information for the webinar and telephone line. The NRC had planned to conduct public meetings in person near the project site; however, the staff is not able to hold the in person meetings due to the current COVID-19 public health emergency.

The draft EIS is available, along with an overview of the report in English and Spanish, from the NRC’s project website for its review of the ISP license application: https://www.nrc.gov/waste/spent-fuel-storage/cis/waste-control-specialist.html.

The NRC is accepting public comments on the draft EIS through November 3, 2020.  Comments can be submitted several ways:

• Mail to the Office of Administration, Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M, ATTN: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001;
• E-mail at WCS_CISF_EIS@nrc.gov; and
• Posting online at the federal government’s rulemaking website, using Docket ID NRC-2016-0231

Here is the link to the NRC press release, which gives the exact times, and other information, re: each of the call-in sessions: <https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2020/20-046.pdf>

Here is that paragraph:

Information for the webinars will be posted on the NRC’s Public Meetings webpage. They will be held at different times of the day to maximize opportunities for the public to participate. The webinars are tentatively scheduled for Oct. 1 from 6-9 p.m.; Oct. 6 from 2-5 p.m.; Oct. 8 from 6-9 p.m.; and Oct. 15 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. All times are Eastern.

The Dangers of Transporting Nuclear Waste/Stop Environmentally Unjust Nuclear Dumps

Video presentation recorded on July 8, 2020, published on Sept. 7, 2020, on "The Dangers of Transporting High-Level Radioactive Waste." Beyond Nuclear's radioactive waste specialist, Kevin Kamps, presents from the beginning to the 22 minute mark in the recording, followed by Tim Judson, Ex. Dir. of NIRS.

A big focus was the transport risk associated with consolidated interim storage facilities (de facto permanent, surface storage, parking lots dumps) for irradiated nuclear fuel, targeted at New Mexico and Texas, but also the permanent dump-site targeted at Western Shoshone land at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Catherine Skopic was a lead organizer of the event, and the Manhattan Sierra Club Chapter a primary sponsor.

View the recording here.

Environment TV (ETV) provided this write up:

This video is an excerpt from a ZOOM event entitled: STOP ENVIRONMENTALLY UNJUST NUCLEAR DUMPS.

To view the full version go to: @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RwuG... which is on the You Tube Channel: PeaceActionNewYorkSt and they have given ETV permission to edit their event for our various communications platforms.

This excerpt was edited for the Westchester public access TV station of Altice, for our sister show, Environmental News and Views with Host/producer Marilyn Elie.

The original event had this program:

Speakers;

KAREN CAMPBLIN - NAACP Environment & Climate Justice Committee Chair

LEONA MORGAN - Dine, Navajo Organizer; Co-Founder, Nuclear Issues Study Group

KEVIN KAMPS - Beyond Nuclear; Nuclear Waste Watchdog

ROSE GARDNER - Alliance for Environmental Strategies, New Mexico

Support Speakers:

MICHEL LEE, Esq. - Sr. Analyst, Promoting Health and Sustainable Energy (PHASE)

MARI INOUE, Esq. - Co-Founder, Manhattan Project for A Nuclear-Free World

TIM JUDSON - Executive Director, Nuclear Information Resource Service (NIRS)

Our Goals:

1. Inform organizations/individuals about the proposed nuclear landfills & nuclear dumps

2. Inspire people to submit comments to NRC before [Sept. 22, Oct., and Nov. 3 deadlines]; write letters to editors

3. We Can Stop This - encourage actions to prevent the EJ violation of nuclear landfills & dumps

View the recording here.