Recommendations on Areas the Office of the Inspector General Should Examine When Auditing NRC's Fiscal Year 2022 Annual Plan

See the 20 pages of recommendations, posted here.

See the Beyond Nuclear letterhead memorandum, dated Feb. 10, 2022, posted here.

"CATEGORICAL EXCLUSIONS" -- NRC attempts end run around laws

Seventy-two organizations, including Beyond Nuclear, have endorsed comments authored by attorney Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio. Lodge has served as legal counsel for coalitions of anti-nuclear groups for more than four decades. The coalition comments push back against the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's pursuit of "categorical exclusions" -- attempted end runs around such bedrock federal laws as the National Environmental Policy Act and the Atomic Energy Act. NRC's Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, if enacted, would pull the rug out from under numerous anti-nuclear resistance campaigns, such as those against so-called "Very Low-Level Radioactive Waste" dumping in normal landfills; misuse of large parts of limited Decommissioning Trust Funds for purposes other than essential radiological contamination cleanup; etc.

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Karl Grossman: "This Reckless Path," on proposed 100-year long operations at U.S. atomic reactors

Karl GrossmanKarl Grossman's piece on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission holding a "public meeting" on letting nuclear power plants run for 100 years.

Karl is an investigative journalist, author, and board member of Beyond Nuclear.

Action Alert & Media Release: Nuclear Power Safety Concerns in Michigan amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic; Three-Dozen Groups and 62 Individuals Write Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II

Dear Friends and Colleagues concerned about nuclear power and radioactive waste risks in Michigan,

FYI, see the link to the media release, and accompanying briefing paper, below. Thanks very much to those of you who signed onto this letter to the governor and lieutenant governor.

Anyone who feels moved to take further action, please consider:

Calling Gov. Whitmer’s office of constituent services:  517-335-7858

Urge Gov. Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Gilchrist to take the following actions, as requested in the letter:

---Vital safety inspections, repairs and maintenance at Michigan atomic reactors be carried out, not deferred or cancelled, including for example the torus inspection and repair at Fermi 2 prior to reactor restart;

---The highly radioactive waste storage pools at Michigan reactors be carefully monitored and prepared for the potential loss of electric grid power to run safety and cooling systems, that is, that back-up emergency diesel generators be connected to pool cooling systems prior to an emergency, and that expedited transfer of irradiated nuclear fuel into on-site or near-site hardened storage be prioritized;

---There be no further reduction in safety margins at Fermi 2, Palisades, or Cook, even during refueling outage shutdowns -- the COVID-19 emergency is no excuse to increase radiological risks;

---Emergency preparedness and response measures, complicated by the coronavirus pandemic, be comprehensively reviewed and addressed, including by state, county, local, and tribal agencies of jurisdiction;

---Given the reduced demand for electricity at the present time, keep Palisades shut down for good, and delay refueling outages, and postpone restarts, at Fermi Unit 2 and Cook Units 1 and 2, until post-pandemic, in order to prevent coronavirus outbreaks in southwest Michigan, as has already occurred in southeast Michigan at Fermi 2 due to very large, itinerant refueling outage workforces traveling in from outside counties and even other states.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear and Don't Waste Michigan

Link to press release:

Nuclear Power Safety Concerns in Michigan amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Link to accompanying briefing paper:

Briefing Paper: Nuclear Power Safety Concerns in Michigan amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

Letter from 86 Organizations to Vice President Pence: Urgent Actions Required to Mitigate COVID-19 Impacts in Nuclear Energy Industry

As posted on the NIRS website. This letter, sent by Beyond Nuclear and 85 allied groups, was submitted on Earth Day's 50th anniversary, April 22, 2020. The letter cc'd NRC.