Environmental challenges against proposed new Fermi 3 atomic reactor survive

The Teaparty can't have all the fun with symbols from the American Revolution -- anti-nuclear coalition warns DTE not to tread on the endangered Eastern Fox SnakeThe U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) presiding over the Fermi 3 combined construction and operating license application (COLA) proceeding ruled on May 20 against nuclear utility DTE’s motion for summary disposition on two contentions against the proposed new reactor brought by an environmental coalition. The first contention concerns risks of Fermi 3’s construction and operation exacerbating the proliferation of toxic algae in Lake Erie. The second involves risks to an endangered indigenous species -- the Eastern Fox Snake -- from the proposed new atomic reactor. The environmental coalition includes Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don’t Waste Michigan, and the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. It argued that the proposed Fermi 3 atomic reactor’s thermal and chemical discharges to Lake Erie’s shallow Western Basin would provide ideal conditions for the spread of a harmful cyanobacteria, Lyngbya wollei. The ASLB agreed with the environmental intervenors, that planned calcium discharges into Lake Erie from Fermi 3, as well as scientific documentation of the algae’s presence mid-way between Detroit Edison’s Fermi nuclear power plant and its coal-burning Monroe Power Plant, merit further study in a full evidentiary hearing.  Similarly, the ASLB ruled in favor of a full hearing on the risks of Fermi 3’s construction upon the Eastern Fox Snake. Although Detroit Edison has now admitted sitings of the endangered species on its Fermi nuclear power plant site, has slightly modified its construction location, and has drafted a mitigation plan, the ASLB agreed with the environmental intervenors that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment’s (MDNRE) approval is required, as well as more careful study of the impact of construction traffic upon the endangered species. The environmental coalition issued a media release on the ASLB's ruling.