NRC slaps FirstEnergy for safety violation at Perry

NRC file photo of FirstEnergy's Perry atomic reactor on Lake Erie shore northeast of ClevelandThe Plain Dealer of Cleveland has reported that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has cited the FirstEnergy nuclear utility with a "white finding" of "low to moderate" safety significance after four contract workers were briefly exposed to high radiation levels due to poorly written procedures involving a task near the reactor core. The article quotes Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps: "Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear, a group opposed to nuclear energy, said Perry's problems are not as isolated from Davis-Besse's past problems as one would think. 'All the hooting and hollering about the need to improve FirstEnergy's 'safety culture' after the Davis-Besse hole-in-the-head fiasco of 2002 comes to mind,' he said. 'Apparently that 'safety culture' isn't as fixed as FirstEnergy and even the NRC would like the public to believe.' "

FirstEnergy's Davis-Besse nuclear power plant came closer than any other U.S. reactor since the Three Mile Island meltdown of 1979 to a major accident, due to severe corrosion of its reactor lid. Beyond Nuclear, in coalition with Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwest Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Green Party of Ohio, has won standing and the admittance of several contentions against the 20 year license extension sought by FirstEnergy at Davis-Besse.

Lochbaum and Gundersen apply "lessons learned" from Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe to U.S. nuclear power safety risks

In a video entitled "Why Fukushima Can Happen Here: What the NRC and Nuclear Industry Dont Want You to Know" posted at the Fairewinds Associates website, nuclear engineers Dave Lochbaum of Union of Concerned Scientists and Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds explain what went wrong at Fukushima Daiichi, then show how similar catastrophes can happen right here in the U.S., not only in General Electric boiling water reactors of the Mark 1 containment design, but in any atomic reactor. The event, sponsored by C-10 and other environmental groups, took place in June 2011 at the Boston Public Library.

NRC, Entergy reach agreement on quality assurance, retaliation against workers for raising safety concerns

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a media release, "NRC ISSUES CONFIRMATORY ORDER TO ENTERGY WITH ACTIONS TO IMPROVE QUALITY CONTROL AND EMPLOYEE CONCERNS PROGRAMS." NRC and Entergy Nuclear have reached agreement, through a "neutral mediator," regarding safety significant quality assurance practices, as well as resolving allegations by workers that Entergy retaliates against them for raising safety concerns. NRC refers to this "neutral mediation" as its "Alternative Dispute Resolution process." Why the federal regulatory agency charged with protecting public health, safety, and the environment had to undergo "neutral mediation" with Entergy, rather than simply cracking down on the licensee's safety and workplace violations, is not explained. The agreement applies at 11 atomic reactors owned and operated by Entergy: Arkansas Nuclear One Units 1 and 2, James Fitzpatrick (NY), Grand Gulf (MS), Indian Point Units 2 and 3 (NY), Palisades (MI), Pilgrim (MA), River Bend (LA), Vermont Yankee, and Waterford 3 (LA).

10 of the oldest U.S. reactors show weakness to earthquake and fire risks

4 of the 10 oldest U.S. reactors are located on the Great Lakes shore (as are Canada's 4 oldest reactors)In a photo essay focused on the ten oldest operating atomic reactors in the United States, National Geographic reports on findings by Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors revealing weaknesses to seismic and fire risks post-Fukushima. Not mentioned is the fact that four of the ten oldest reactors -- Nine Mile Point Unit 1, NY; R.E. Ginna, NY; Point Beach Unit 1, WI; and Palisades, MI -- are located on the shoreline of the Great Lakes, 20% of the world's surface fresh water, drinking water supply for 40 million people downstream in the U.S., Canada, and numerous Native American First Nations. Four more of the ten oldest U.S. reactors -- Dresden Units 2 and 3, IL; Monticello, MN; and Quad Cities Unit 1, IL -- are located just outside, or not very far from, the Great Lakes watershed, in terms of the potential for airborne fallout from a catastrophic radioactivity release, as clearly shown by the widespread contamination downwind and downstream of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe. (Not mentioned in the article is the fact that four of Canada's oldest reactors -- four units at Pickering A nuclear power plant just east of Toronto -- also are located on Lake Ontario's shore.) All 10 atomic reactors mentioned in the National Geographic article have already had 20 year license extensions rubberstamped by the NRC.

Post-Fukushima safety inspections at U.S. reactors five times worse than NRC publicly admitted

ProPublica's John Sullivan reports that not 12 of 65 nuclear power plant sites failed some aspect of spot checks by NRC inspectors post-Fukushima, but actually 60 of 65 did. The aging of the reactors is making the failures more common. Sullivan has posted excerpts of NRC's negative findings for each of the 60 problem nuclear power plants.