Briefing Paper: Nuclear Power Safety Concerns in Michigan amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
Kim Comerzan, the Monroe County Health Department’s officer/director, declined to provide a specific number of positive test cases. Messages left for two spokesmen at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services were not returned.
“I can only say that reports of positive cases are reported to the state of permanent residence,” Ms. Comerzan said. “We are in communication with Fermi regularly and working with them to manage the situation.”
While officially reporting positive cases to the worker's state of permanent residence is necessary, it is not sufficient. Of course the Monroe County Health Department, as well as the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, should also keep careful records of each individual coronavirus positive test case result, and conduct prompt, comprehensive follow-on contact tracing, in order to protect the Michigan host community's health and safety, as well as to prevent further coronavirus spread in the Great Lakes State. Have some of these Fermi workers from other counties or states, testing positive for coronavirus infection, resided in Monroe County for the entire refueling outage, from March 21st till now? Have itinerant workers from elsewhere returned to Fermi 2, without self-isolating for two weeks, and without being tested before returning to the nuclear power plant worksite? What about the spread of coronavirus at Fermi 2 by asymptomatic workers who have not undergone testing?
Underscoring such concerns, national media reports have indicated that coronavirus positive cases, and presumably also COVID-19-related deaths, in the State of Florida, could well be significantly under-reported, due to the DeSantis administration's decision to not include data for those whose permanent residence is officially listed in other states. (Of course, a very large number of Michigander "Snowbirds" spend the winter months in Florida, before returning to Michigan to spend the warmer months at their home state residence.) Full transparency is essential to stopping the spread of coronavirus. But we have not seen full transparency at Fermi 2. Very far from it.
DTE's "extended safety stand down," first reported by the Toledo Blade on May 4th, was a clear indication of the very serious spread of coronavirus among the Fermi 2 workforce. A major concern is that this will lead to further spread into the greater Monroe County host community, due in part to the presence of a large number of itinerant refueling outage workers, including those from other states or Michigan counties. The Fermi 2 refueling outage began on March 21st. Refueling outages typically last for around a month. But DTE announced in mid-May the refueling outage will last nearly three months (83 days), until mid-June. This means that at least a certain number of itinerant refueling outage workers could have remained in Monroe County throughout this three-month period, and/or that other out-of-state or out-of-county, itinerant refueling outage workers, could have gone away and then come back, to continue their work at Fermi 2 for the next weeks, despite their unknown coronavirus infection status.
Radiological Safety Concerns at Fermi 2
On April 16, 2020 attorney Terry Lodge of Toledo, Ohio, on behalf of Don't Waste Michigan and Beyond Nuclear, filed a request for expedited relief with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), regarding a Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations Part 2.206 emergency enforcement petition at Fermi 2. David Lochbaum, a retired nuclear engineer who served for several decades at the Union of Concerned Scientists, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and in the nuclear power industry, is serving as technical advisor to intervenors Don't Waste Michigan and Beyond Nuclear on the 2.206 petition. The petition focuses on the risks associated with DTE not conducting a comprehensive inspection, and repair, regarding the degraded torus at Fermi 2. The torus is a giant doughnut-shaped cylindrical ring structure at the base of the reactor, which plays a vital part in the plant's pressure-suppression radiological containment system design, associated with containment from the environment of catastrophic amounts of hazardous radioactivity, in the event of a reactor core meltdown. Problems with inner liner degradation risking debris blockage of torus water flow have persisted, not for years, but for decades. We are most concerned that the national pandemic emergency not be exploited to serve as an excuse to forgo comprehensive inspections and needed repairs on the torus, as well as other safety-significant systems, structures, and components at Fermi 2. (See the Don't Waste Michigan and Beyond Nuclear press release about the petition filing here, as well as additional documentation about Fermi 2 torus risks over the past years and decades.)
Fermi 2 is Not Currently Needed for Electricity Reliability
Along these lines, among the urgent requests for immediate needed actions in order to protect the health and safety of nuclear industry workers and the general public, the 86-group, April 22nd letter to Vice President Pence listed the following:
"For any operations-related decisions prioritizing resumed or continued operation because of reliability considerations, ensure that any potential safety impacts are fully mitigated. In many regions of the country, grid operators enjoy installed capacity margins well in excess of what is required to ensure reliability of the electricity system, especially during the low load spring months, making the temporary postponement of refueling outages irrelevant to grid reliability. In addition, the pandemic has resulted in significant reductions in electricity consumption throughout the U.S. Local grid reliability needs must be objectively evaluated, in order to properly balance the public health risks of refueling and restarting reactors during the pandemic. NRC must not permit licensees to operate reactors with increased nuclear safety risks, under any circumstances."
In fact, Fermi 2 has been idled since March 21st, with no impact on local, regional, or state-wide electricity service reliability. During this time period, one of the reactors at D.C. Cook also went offline, for 10 days, due to an unplanned shutdown resulting from a reactor coolant leak, from the pressure boundary, above technical specification limits. Thus, two of Michigan's largest atomic reactors were not generating electricity at the same time, for 10 days, and yet no negative impact on electrical reliability on the state-wide grid took place. Thus, given the excess electricity supply in Michigan, vital and comprehensive safety inspections and repairs, as with the dangerously degraded torus at Fermi 2, should be required to be completed before the reactor's restart. (The specific situation at Cook is discussed in more detail below, towards the end of this briefing paper.)
Radioactive Risks at Fermi 2
The risks downwind, downstream, up the food chain, and down the generations, are just too dire to do otherwise. Fermi 2 is a General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactor, an identical twin design to the Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Japan, which suffered multiple explosions, a triple-meltdown, and a catastrophically large-scale release of hazardous radioactivity, beginning in mid-March 2011. Only, Fermi 2 is super-sized, nearly as large as Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 and 2 put together.
An NRC-commissioned report, CRAC-II (short for Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences, also known as the 1982 Sandia Siting Study, or NUREG/CR-2239), yielded such startling figures about the potential consequences of U.S. atomic reactor meltdowns, that the agency tried to suppress the results. But thanks to U.S. Representative (now U.S. Senator) Ed Markey's efforts, the report was ultimately made public. Here are the shocking casualty and property damage figures from CRAC-II regarding Fermi 2: 8,000 peak early fatalities (acute radiation poisoning deaths); 340,000 peak early (radiation) injuries; 13,000 peak cancer deaths (latent cancer fatalities); and $136 billion in property damages (in 1982 dollar figures).
But as Associated Press (AP) investigative reporter Jeff Donn revealed in his four-part series "Aging Nukes" beginning in June 2011, populations have soared around atomic reactors like Fermi 2. Thus, casualties would be even larger now. And when adjusted for inflation, property damages could exceed $364 billion in Year 2019 dollar figures.
Counterintuitively, safety risks actually increase during refueling outages at General Electric Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) like Fermi 2. As explained by Don't Waste Michigan and Beyond Nuclear's technical advisor David Lochbaum, the reason is because certain safeguards are relaxed or eliminated during a refueling outage, that are required during reactor operations. It is important to remember that even during a refueling outage, around two-thirds of the still-usable nuclear fuel remains in the reactor core, even before another one-third of fresh fuel is loaded prior to reactor restart.
In addition, the indoor wet storage pool for irradiated nuclear fuel at Fermi 2 remains very densely packed to the gills, containing several times more highly radioactive nuclear fuel than the original design allowed for. This includes the one-third of a core of intensely thermally hot irradiated nuclear fuel just removed from the reactor. As Princeton researchers F. von Hippel and M. Schoeppner revealed in 2016, as reported by Science Magazine, a "spent fuel fire on U.S. soil could dwarf impact of Fukushima." The case study, the Peach Bottom Unit 2 and 3 atomic reactors in Pennsylvania, are identical in design to Fermi 2, General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors. The study shows that trillions of dollars (with a T) in property damages are possible downwind of Peach Bottom, in the event of an irradiated nuclear fuel storage pool fire. Potentially, the need to evacuate many millions of Americans could occur. In fact, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan revealed in February 2012 that he had ordered the secret contingency planning to prepare to evacuate 35 to 50 million people from northeastern Japan and metro Tokyo, in the event the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 storage pool had caught fire. The only reason it did not, as reported by the U.S. National Academy of Science (on which Princeton researcher F. von Hippel also served), was sheer luck. Thus, there can be no further reduction in safety margins at Fermi 2, even during the refueling outage shutdown; the COVID-19 emergency is no excuse to increase radiological risks.
Regulatory Rollbacks at Fermi 2 Amidst the Pandemic Emergency
Despite this, DTE applied to NRC on May 11th for exemption from worker fatigue rules. NRC approved the request three short days later. Our concerns about the risks of worker fatigue led to another urgent demand for action in our April 22nd letter to Vice President Pence, et al.:
"Provide for immediate re-evaluation by the Task Force of NRC exemptions to lift work-hour limits for reactor power operations from 72 to 86 hours per week during the pandemic, due to the increased levels of fatigue on (a) workers' vulnerability to COVID-19 and (b) radiological health and safety."
In addition to grueling 86-hour work weeks, we remain concerned that workers can now be forced to work up to 16-hours per day (excluding shift turnover time!), and 12-hour shifts for 14 consecutive days. The dangers include the stress and fatigue levels weakening workers' immune systems, and general health, to the point where they are even more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19, or other ailments; and the increased risk of such stressed and fatigued workers making safety-critical mistakes on the job, that leads to incidents or even accidents, with radiological safety implications not only for the Fermi 2 workforce, but also for the general public downwind and downstream. NRC treats each of its mounting waivers, exemptions, and deferrals in isolation. But our April 22nd letter to Vice President Pence called for:
"Subject[ing] all current reviews of licensee petitions for postponements and exemptions of scheduled maintenance and inspections of reactor systems, structures, and components (including those seeking expedited review during refueling outages) to (a) a cumulative risk analysis and (b) an integrated review by the COVID-19 Task Force."
Increasing worker fatigue must now be added to the list for a cumulative, integrated safety review, and risk analysis, at Fermi 2.
Emergency preparedness and response concerns
Another call in our April 22nd letter to Vice President Pence et al. stated:
"Provide for immediate preparation of required Disaster Initiated Reviews (DIR) of the impact of the pandemic on emergency response plans at all reactor sites and fuel cycle facilities. Inexplicably, NRC has not yet done this, despite the express requirements of NRC Manual Chapter 1601, paragraph 03.02, and the FEMA Standard Operating Guide. Review of DIRs by the Task Force should be a high priority." (internal citations omitted)
DIRs published by FEMA on May 19th, for nuclear power plants in other states besides Michigan, were woefully inadequate. They appeared to be little more than short form letters, simply altering the names of the reactors and the FEMA region numbers. The DIRs we have been able to obtain thus far indicate the scope of the FEMA assessment was to merely examine the local off-site response organizations, which is necessary, but far from sufficient. A comprehensive examination of emergency response plans is what is needed. Hopefully the emergency response organizations in Michigan are intact, but the real question is, are the emergency response plans themselves workable in the pandemic? Social distancing and Personal Protective Equipment for congregate evacuation shelters, distribution of potassium iodide (KI) to protect residents' thyroids downwind and downstream of a reactor meltdown, availability of medical personnel, radiological decontamination equipment, etc., are the real questions that should be addressed by FEMA DIRs, but this seems to not be happening.
These concerns apply as much at the Palisades and Cook atomic reactors (addressed further, below) as they do at Fermi 2. Neither NRC nor FEMA have yet to explain how a mass evacuation in the event of a catastrophic radioactivity release during a disaster at an atomic reactor in Michigan, and mass sheltering at pre-established emergency evacuation centers, would comport with current stay-home, stay-safe and social distancing orders.
In fact, Don't Waste Michigan and Beyond Nuclear's technical advisor, David Lochbaum, has addressed this exact failure of the federal agencies. See his May 1st "A Tornado in the Midst of a Pandemic," featured in the publication Nuclear Intelligence Weekly.
And of course, the May 19th dam failures and resulting floods near Midland, resulting in the mass evacuation of 11,000 people, showed clearly the complexity of emergency response, and especially mass evacuation and sheltering, during this COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, the research reactor at Dow Chemical dodged the bullet during the floods. And also fortunately, two proposed, large-scale commercial atomic reactors in Midland were cancelled in the 1980s, so no radioactive risks were present at that particular site during last month's flooding. But the pandemic, now further complicated by a fast-breaking, volatile national crisis in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder by police, demonstrates the danger that Michigan's already stretched emergency response capabilities could be overwhelmed by a radiological emergency at this time, such as one unfolding at any of Michigan's four operable commercial reactors.
The latest re: Coronavirus at Fermi 2
Concerns re: Palisades Atomic Reactor in Covert Township, Van Buren County, on the Lake Michigan Shore
As revealed in a Nuclear Energy Institute document (see page 5 of 5 on PDF counter), Palisades is scheduled for a refueling outage set to begin in late August, 2020. The large, out-of-county and even out-of-state, itinerant workforce, that would come in to perform refueling outage tasks would run the risk of spreading coronavirus in Van Buren County, and beyond in southwest Michigan, at around the same time that a second major wave is feared to potentially commence state-wide, and nationally.
Palisades is already infamous for its long list of safety and security problems. One example is its badly embrittled reactor pressure vessel, the worst at any reactor in the U.S. and perhaps in the entire world, at risk of a pressurized thermal shock through-wall breach, which would cause a reactor core meltdown. Another example is its degraded steam generators, which were supposed to have been replaced many long years ago, but never were. Yet another example is its deteriorated reactor lid, also overdue for replacement by not years, but more than a decade. A steam generator tube cascading failure, or a lid breach, are also pathways to reactor core meltdown. Palisades is set to shut down for good in October 2022. In fact, Entergy had previously announced permanent shutdown by October 2018, but reneged.
Thus, this refueling outage would very likely, and thankfully, be Palisades' last. So why not power down the reactor to cold shutdown, and wait to see how Michigan is faring with the pandemic? As stated above, with reduced demand, and Michigan's glut of electricity supply, Palisades' generation likely will not even be needed any time soon, if ever. Why not avoid the pandemic risks of a refueling outage, and the radiological risks of long ignored and neglected major safety repairs and replacements, by simply shutting down Palisades for good, rather than refueling one last time? The wisdom of this precaution is enhanced by the worsening, historic Lake Michigan high water levels, which threaten the Palisades atomic reactor facilities proper, including the highly controversial, long troubled, shoreline irradiated nuclear fuel dry cask storage for highly radioactive wastes. The recent Midland flooding serves as a cautionary tale that the risks of flooding at Palisades cannot be ignored.
As with the Fermi 2 CRAC-II figures cited above, Palisades's CRAC-II figures are also sobering. Estimated casualties from a reactor meltdown at Palisades include: 1,000 peak early fatalities (acute radiation poisoning deaths), 7,000 peak early radiation injuries, and 10,000 peak cancer deaths (latent cancer fatalities). Of course, these casualty estimates are low, considering that the population around Palisades has soared since 1982. And property damages reported as $52.6 billion in Year 1982 dollar figures would now surmount $141 billion in Year 2019 dollar figures.
Security concerns associated with worker fatigue
Another concern at Palisades that deserves emphasis is the risk that owner/operator Entergy could yet seek fatigue rule exemptions regarding security guards. As mentioned above, DTE has sought, and gotten NRC approval for, lifting fatigue rules for security guards at its Fermi 2 reactor, which is already bad enough. But Entergy, including at Palisades, has long had security guard fatigue and other problems, going back not years, but decades. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) published a report on the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks entitled "Nuclear Power Plant Security: Voices from Inside the Fences." It focused on Entergy's overwork of security guards at its Indian Point nuclear power plant near New York City (Unit 2 thankfully shut down for good on April 30, 2020).
But Palisades (owned by Consumers Energy till 2007, and by Entergy since then) was also infamous for its security guard force fatigue at the time, after a security guard suffered a nervous breakdown on the job while heavily armed. Fortunately, no one was physically harmed, including the security guard.
POGO identified NRC's permissive authorization to nuclear utilities like Entergy, to work security guards 72 hours per week, week after week, to their breaking point, as a major contributing factor to the problems.
Also on the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Palisades was the subject of an exposé in the New York Times, regarding a significant security breach. In 2007, after Entergy took ownership, yet another major security breach at Palisades was revealed in a cover article in Esquire Magazine. And just several years ago, Palisades security guards were implicated in a document falsification scandal, regarding visual fire watch inspections, as reported by News Channel TV-3 in Kalamazoo. The common thread to all these security failures and violations has been security guard force fatigue and overwork. But now, instead of 72-hour work weeks, NRC is allowing 86-hour work weeks for security guards and other safety-significant workers.
This includes control room operators. As revealed in a March 11, 2013 article in the Japan Times, about a nuclear power plant in Illinois ("Toxic management erodes safety at 'world's safest' nuclear plant: Echoes of Fukushima at Exelon's flagship Byron Station in Illinois," by Dreux Richard), excessive fatigue and other stresses on control room operators can lead to stress-related ailments, that can prove fatal; in addition, two control room operators there even committed suicide (a tragedy that has similarly since been seen with an overwhelmed American emergency room physician in the context of COVID-19). Both on the security and safety fronts, as well as regarding environmental protection, such nuclear worker fatigue-induced mistakes and violations raise the specter of radiological harm to communities downwind and downstream from Michigan's operating atomic reactors.
And as our coalition warned NRC Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane, in a face-to-face meeting in June 2014 in Benton Harbor, Palisades' location, immediately adjacent to Van Buren State Park (and along a state-designated kayak and canoe water trail, and a location already very popular with sail and power boaters), as well as Cook's location very near Warren Dunes State Park, introduces the added risk of fatigued security guards interacting with beachgoers, swimmers, and boaters. These Michiganders and out-of-state visitors are often not warned, as by adequate or any signage or other notice, about the Michigan state law, enacted several years ago, giving nuclear power plant security guards indemnity for wounding or even killing innocent, unwitting "trespassers," mistaken as dangerous terrorists. (In fact, the Republican Michigan State legislator who introduced the bill admitted, as reported by Lindsey Smith on Michigan Radio, that the legislation was meant to deter non-violent anti-nuclear and environmental protests at Michigan's atomic reactors; troublingly, they should think twice before holding such protests, he was quoted as warning in the interview.)
Palisades' sister atomic reactor, Big Rock Point in Charlevoix County, Michigan, on the Lake Michigan shoreline, is also of concern during this time of coronavirus global pandemic. The eight dry casks containing highly radioactive waste (seven casks holding irradiated nuclear fuel, one holding so-called Greater Than Class C "low" level radioactive waste) must be monitored and maintained at all times, to prevent incidents or accidents, such as overheating, leaks, etc. Security is an ongoing concern as well, which is why Big Rock Point's dry casks should be hardened.
Concerns re: D.C. Cook Units 1 and 2 Atomic Reactors in the City of Bridgman, Berrien County, on the Lake Michigan Shore
The same NEI document cited above also lists one of the reactor units at Donald C. Cook nuclear power plant as scheduled for a refueling outage in mid-September 2020. Thus, the concerns regarding spread of coronavirus among nuclear workers and the host community, expressed above re: Palisades, will either follow-on immediately, or even overlap, just 30 miles south, in Bridgman, in Berrien County. And as with worker fatigue rule exemptions already approved at Fermi 2, and which we fear may be sought in the weeks or months ahead at Palisades, we are also concerned about such worker fatigue rule exemptions being sought at Cook yet this year. As at Fermi 2 and Palisades, this could lead to increased radiological risks and consequences for worker and public safety and health, environmental protection, and security.
In addition, in early May, a Preliminary Notification of Occurrence was issued by Cook to NRC. Cook Unit 2 experienced an "Unplanned Shutdown Greater Than 72 Hours Due to Reactor Coolant System Leakage Exceeding Technical Specification Limits." Consequently, Cook 2 shut down on May 1st. As documented in NRC's Power Reactor Status Reports for May 2020, Cook Unit 2 only began to power back up on May 12th, reaching 28% power levels that day. By the next day, May 13th, Cook 2 was back at 100% power levels. Thus, from May 1st to 11th, Cook 2 was not generating any electricity at all. It took two more days, till May 13th, for both Cook reactor units to be back at 100% electricity generation levels. And yet, from May 1st to May 11th, despite Cook Unit 2's temporary unplanned shutdown, there were no electricity reliability problems in Michigan. (Around 90% of Cook's electricity is exported to Indiana; only around 10% is consumed by Michiganders.)
It just so happened that Fermi 2 was also simultaneously shut down during those ten days, and still is. Thus, even with two large nuclear reactors in Michigan shut down at the same time, there were no electric reliability issues. What this shows is, these reactors are not needed, as there is an excess of electricity on the grid in Michigan.
NRC's willingness to weaken fire brigade requirements at atomic reactors during this global coronavirus pandemic is also very alarming. Several years ago, a fire in a Cook turbine hall quickly surpassed the on-site fire brigade's ability to bring it under control. Local fire departments from surrounding communities had to be called in to assist. The resulting damage kept one of Cook's units shut for more than a year, until repairs and replacements of damaged or destroyed turbine hall structures and components could be completed.
Several years ago at Palisades, fatigued and overworked security guards who were tasked with performing manual fire watch inspections, instead falsified paperwork saying they had performed the tasks, when in fact they had not. This was brought to light by whistle-blowers, as reported by WWMT TV-3 in Kalamazoo. As it turned out, other Entergy reactors across the country had the same scandal happening. But nowhere worse than at Palisades.
50% of the risk of an atomic reactor meltdown is related to fire risks. At a time of global pandemic, fire protections at Michigan nuclear power plants should be strengthened, not weakened.
Wisdom of Suspension/Postponement of Michigan Atomic Reactor Refueling Outages
For this reason, the refueling outages at Fermi 2, Palisades, and Cook can be suspended, and/or postponed, without any impact on electric reliability in the Great Lakes State. Given the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic emergency in Michigan, the risks of refueling outages at Fermi 2 and Cook can be mitigated with delays; at Palisades, a permanent shutdown, instead of a final refueling outage, should be seriously considered.
Cooling and Containment Concerns at Cook
Of added safety and environmental protection concern at Cook are containment problems that date back decades. Although a pressurized water reactor (PWR) design, Cook employs an ice-condensor, pressure-suppression, radiological containment and reactor core cooling design. That is, the containment is potentially too small, and too weak, to contain a large-scale, catastrophic release of hazardous radioactivity, if one or both reactors melt down at Cook. In fact, although boiling water reactors (BWRs), this is what happened at Fukushima Daiichi, Japan, beginning in mid-March 2011. The pressure-suppression containments there were either damaged or destroyed by the meltdowns and explosions, resulting in catastrophic radioactivity releases to the environment.
Exacerbating these concerns, an NRC whistle-blower, Dr. Ross Landsman, in both an official Differing Professional View and an official Differing Professional Opinion, warned in the late 1990s and early 2000s that an area of degradation in the Cook containment structure made its failure risks all the more likely and dire. A significant amount of concrete and rebar were simply missing from an area of containment, due to age-related deterioration, creating an ominous weak spot. A pressure build up within containment could simply breach the structure at this weak spot, allowing hazardous radioactivity releases into the environment. To the best of our knowledge, this degradation has not been addressed since.
(Landsman's revelations came out around the same time as a whistle-blower at a twin-design nuclear plant in Tennessee, Curtis Overall at Watts Bar, revealed problems there that turned out to be even worse at Cook. Assisted by David Lochbaum, who then served as Union of Concerned Scientists Nuclear Power Safety director, NRC was forced to demand related inspections Cook was hoping to avoid. Once the severity of the problem was thus revealed -- literally tons of debris blocking ice-condensor cooling water flow to the core; and a wall not revealed on blueprints doing the same -- both Cook reactor units were shut down from 1997 to 2000, a very significant emergency safety shutdown of long duration. Even then, the lights stayed on in southwest Michigan. Cook's electricity was not, and still is not, even needed, especially at this time of reduced demand due to the coronavirus pandemic economic downturn.)
As with Fermi 2 and Palisades above, both Cook reactor units' CRAC-II meltdown figures are shocking. Cook Unit 1's casualties include: 1,900 peak early fatalities (acute radiation poisoning deaths); 80,000 peak early radiation injuries; and 13,000 peak cancer deaths (latent cancer fatalities). Cook Unit 2's casualties include: 2,000 peak early fatalities; 88,000 peak early radiation injuries; and 13,000 peak cancer deaths. Of course, populations have soared downwind and downstream since 1982, so the casualty figures are underestimated. Regarding property damages, the figures expressed in 1982 dollar figures ($91.9 billion at Cook Unit 1; $101 billion at Cook Unit 2), when adjusted for inflation to Year 2019 dollar figures, would now top $246 billion, and $270 billion, respectively. If both reactor units were involved in a domino effect meltdown catastrophe (as happened at Fukushima Daiichi, Japan), the respective figures would have to be added together for an even more shocking grand total.
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Radioactive Waste Specialist
Beyond Nuclear
7304 Carroll Avenue, #182
Takoma Park, Maryland 20912
Cell: (240) 462-3216
kevin@beyondnuclear.org
www.beyondnuclear.org
Beyond Nuclear aims to educate and activate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abolish both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an energy future that is sustainable, benign and democratic.
June 22, 2020