MONROE, MI & WASHINGTON, DC -- Don’t Waste Michigan in conjunction with Beyond Nuclear filed a formal 2.206 Petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding the Fermi 2 nuclear reactor near Monroe, MI. The 2.206 Petition calls on the NRC to take Enforcement Action and prove why the Fermi 2 should be allowed to restart and operate given the severely compromised Pressure Suppression Chamber, risking reactor core-melt damage. Of particular concern is that loose paint chips/coating chips in the drains could make it difficult for vital reactor coolant pumps to move water in the event of an emergency. The 2.206 Petition compels the NRC to follow their own Inspections and Confirmatory Action Letter (October 4, 2019) which required torus repair.

“The Fermi 2 Reactor’s torus has extensive debris from faulty coating going back decades,” stated Michael J. Keegan with Don’t Waste Michigan. “Operation of this nuclear reactor, in this compromised condition, is appalling and amounts to criminal negligence by DTE. DTE is being aided and abetted by the NRC granting of exemptions to critical repairs,” Keegan charged. Don’t Waste Michigan is one of the parties bringing forth the 2.206 Petition.

“Under cover of COVID-19 the nuclear power industry has railroaded extensive deregulation by deferring inspections, and allowing reactors across the nation to run in disrepair by granting blanket exemptions,” said Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist with Beyond Nuclear. “The railroading of these regulatory rollbacks is purely opportunistic.  These rollbacks have been on the nuclear power industry wish list for fifteen years. Fermi 2 must not be allowed to proceed without removing and then replacing the torus coating,” Kamps added.

“It is not hard to imagine the level of chaos that would ensue should a nuclear accident occur during the current coronavirus crisis,” said Paul Gunter, Beyond Nuclear's Director of the Reactor Oversight Project in Takoma Park, MD. “Emergency preparedness plans are already inadequate, but the prospect of a mandatory mass evacuation at a time like this is an impossible choice,” he said. “It is the duty of the NRC and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to ensure workable emergency preparedness plans and procedures are in place before restarting Fermi 2 from the refueling outage,” Gunter said.

“The NRC is generating an entire new category of societal risk,” stated Terry J. Lodge, legal counsel to Petitioners.  “Imagine having to conduct a Radiological Emergency Evacuation on top of the existing COVID-19 Pandemic.  An evacuation, leading to large numbers of people concentrated in emergency shelters, is the polar opposite of the shelter-at-home physical distancing that Michigan Governor Whitmer has ordered,” Lodge added. 

Specific Actions Requested in the 2.206 Petition

Nationally recognized nuclear engineer David Lochbaum is serving as an advisor to petitioners Beyond Nuclear and Don't Waste Michigan, and has provided the expert technical analysis of this 2.206. The petitioners request that the NRC take enforcement action in the form of Demands For Information issued to DTE Energy requiring the company to respond with information related to three topics:

1. The results from a formal risk assessment of the torus coatings condition at Fermi Unit 2. The risk analysis would examine the potential risk implications of debris from unqualified coating above the normal water level in the torus, from qualified coating being applied below the normal water level in the torus, and from coatings on the internal surfaces of objects below the normal water level in the torus collecting on the suction strainers and impairing the performance of the Emergency Core Cooling System and Reactor Core Isolation Cooling system pumps during design basis events.

2. Listings of tasks deferred since December 31, 2019, that remain active but not completed at Fermi Unit 2.

3.  Answers to questions about how the COVID-19 pandemic countermeasures will alter the onsite response to declared nuclear emergencies or the evaluations/assessments that justify the lack of need for alterations.

Petition Link Here:

http://www.beyondnuclear.org/safety/2020/4/16/fermi-unit-2-petition-pursuant-to-10-cfr-2206-seeking-demand.html

“Nuclear power generates forever deadly high-level radioactive waste,” stated Kevin Kamps with Beyond Nuclear. “This extraordinary compromise of reactor safety at Fermi 2, through NRC exemptions of repairs, could also risk a catastrophic release of hazardous radioactivity from the packed-to-the-gills irradiated nuclear fuel indoor wet storage pool, as was made clear by the near-miss accident at the identically-designed Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 reactor during the 2011 triple-meltdown in Japan," Kamps added.

Full Chronology of Fermi 2 Torus Saga:

Chronology of Fermi 2 documents pertaining to torus coating debris severely compromising Emergency Core Cooling System capability for safe shutdown 

 "This intervention is about prevention," said Terry J. Lodge, legal counsel for petitioners.