Nuclear Rubberstamp Commission strikes again: Salem 1 & 2 license extensions make it 70 for 70

NRC file photo of Salem 1 and 2, on Delaware Bay watershedAs the Associated Press reports, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has now rubberstamped the 70th of 70 license extension applied for in the U.S., this time condoning 20 more years at both the Salem 1 and Salem 2 atomic reactors in New Jersey just 15 miles from Wilmington, the capital of Delaware.

In addition to the tritium leaks mentioned in the article, Salem 1's high-level radioactive waste storage pool has also leaked radioactivity into groundwater and soil, as reported in a Beyond Nuclear backgrounder on radioactivity leaks from a growing number of nuclear power plants and related facilities across the U.S. Salem 1 and 2, which share Artificial Island, NJ with a third reactor -- Hope Creek -- which happens to be an idenitical twin to the Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4 (a General Electric Boiling Water Reactor with a Mark 1 containment).

According to the Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences (CRAC-2) report commissioned by NRC, performed by Sandia National Lab, and revealed to the public (after NRC tried to bury it) by U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) in 1982, if either one of the Salem atomic reactors suffered a catastrophic radioactivity release, 100,000 people downwind and downstream could perish as "peak early fatalities," the worst such figure for any nuclear power plant in the U.S. In addition, 70,000 to 75,000 "peak early injuries" could result, as well as 40,000 "peak [latent] cancer deaths." A major accident at either Salem unit could cause $135 to 150 billion in property damage -- $297 to 330 billion when adjusted from 1982 to 2008 dollar values.

Recently, the Associated Press reported that populations have soared around atomic reactors since the 1970 U.S. Census data used to determine CRAC-2's casualty figures, calling into question the adequacy of emergency evacuation plans. In addition, Inside EPA has won investigative journalism awards for its revelation that lines of authority and sources of funding for post-accident clean up are non-existent and hotly disputed behind closed doors at EPA, FEMA, and NRC.