Dr. Gordon Edwards on the in's and out's of radioactive steam generators

Given all the attention being directed at steam generators due to San Onofre 2 & 3's closure, Dr. Gordon Edwards (photo, left), President of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, has prepared a backgrounder on the subject. In doing so, he has shown yet again why he was awarded the Nuclear-Free Future Award in 2006: "for his enduring role in demystifying nuclear technology helping the public to understand its radioactive predicament."

In 2010, tremendous controversy was generated throughout the Great Lakes, in both the U.S. and Canada, as well as in Europe, when Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Ontario proposed shipping 64 radioactive steam generators, by boat, to Sweden. Bruce wanted to "recycle" the radioactive steam generators' outer shells into the metal recycling steam. Bruce CEO, Duncan Hawthorne, admitted at Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearings in Sept. 2010 that there were no emergency plans in place if one of the shipments sank. 

Dr. Edwards documented the radiological hazards contained in the steam generators. TheGreat Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative documented that the breach of a single steam generator, and release of even a fraction of its radioactive contaminants, could cause a federal radiological emergency in Canada, leading to the shutdown of nearby drinking water intakes. The Great Lakes are the drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations.

The Bruce shipping plan was stopped dead in its tracks, thanks in large part to a resolution,signed by scores of Quebec municipalities representing hundreds of thousands of residents along the St. Lawrence leg of the route, as well as pledges by Mohawk First Nations to not allow the shipment to pass through their territory.

Davis-Besse Intervention Looms Large as San Onofre Units 2 & 3 Terminated Because Of Faulty Steam Generators

Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, IncOn May 20th, an environmental coalition, including Beyond Nuclear, petitioned to intervene against the steam generator replacement proposed at FirstEnergy's Davis-Besse atomic reactor in Oak Harbor, Ohio. The coalition's intervention petition, expert witness Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates, Inc's expert testimony, Gundersen's Curriculum Vitae, and a coalition press release are posted at this link.

Today, the coalition issued a media release, pointing out the similarities between their intervention at Davis-Besse, and the Friends of the Earth (FOE) intervention at San Onofre, CA. Earlier today, Southern California Edison threw in the towel, and announced the permanent shutdown of San Onofre Units 2 & 3, due to the fatal degradation of their replacement steam generators. Gundersen (pictured, above left) serves as FOE's expert witness at San Onofre.

On Dec. 27, 2010, an overlapping environmental coalition, including Beyond Nuclear, intervened against Davis-Besse's 20-year license extension. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Atomic Safety and Licensing Board in that proceeding has rejected all of the coalition's contentions, except for its Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision contention. That one has led to an inevitable two-year delay in NRC's finalization of the license extension, until the agency completes its court-ordered Environmental Impact Statement on the risks of long-term storage of high-level radioactive waste at on-site pools and dry casks.

Citizen Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario is a member of both Davis-Besse interventions, making them binational.

Update on June 9, 2013 by admin

The Toledo Blade has reported on this story.

Great Lakes Region Nuclear Hotspots Map

John Jackson of Great Lakes United (GLU) and Anna Tilman of International Institute of Concern for Public Health (IICPH) have released an updated map of Nuclear Hotspots in the Great Lakes Region (see image, left):

"Great Lakes United and the International Institute of Concern for Public Health (IICPH) released today the Great Lakes Nuclear Hot Spots Map, providing a detailed regional, binational view of nuclear facilities in the Great Lakes Region. As the map shows, with the exception of Lake Superior, each of the Great Lakes has numerous nuclear sites related to nuclear power generation, most of which are located within one kilometre of the Lakes. This raises concerns about the cumulative impacts of radioactive releases over the years from so many sites. It also shows the numerous places where a serious nuclear accident could occur in the region.

This map marks the first comprehensive update of this information in 15 years and highlights the lack of information about radioactive releases from these facilities. In 1998, the International Joint Commission’s (IJC) Task Force on Inventory of Radionuclides released an assessment of nuclear facilities around the basin. At the time, the Task Force concluded that releases from nuclear facilities were substantial, but that the extent of knowledge about the releases and their impacts was “limited”.   http://www.ijc.org/files/publications/C131.pdf

The map includes all aspects of nuclear power production in the Great Lakes region, including the 38 operating nuclear power plants, 12 closed plants, and four new plants proposed in Canada. It also includes the facilities that process uranium ore and manufacture the pellets, as well as tailings sites from uranium mining and milling, and facilities that store, and dispose of radioactive waste. Every site on the map is a radioactive waste site, whether operating or not.

The Great Lakes Nuclear Hot Spots Map provides a critical resource for communities concerned about the potential for radioactive waste releases into the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Additionally, it shows the sites under consideration by the Canadian Government for storing Canada’s nuclear fuel waste. Most of the proposed sites lie within the Great Lakes basin. With the potential for new disposal sites within easy access of the Great Lakes, communities are concerned that nuclear waste could be brought in via ships, creating substantial risks of spills along Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River shipping lanes and during loading and unloading near shore.

The Citizens’ Clearinghouse on Waste Management contributed funding to this project."

The map updates work from 1990-1991 published by Irene Kock and Dave Martin of Nuclear Awareness Project.

Beyond Nuclear has also compiled a listing of major U.S. municipalities downstream of the proposed Bruce DUD on the Great Lakes shorelines of MI, OH, PA, and NY, as well as a listing of major municipalities in upstate New York directly across Lake Ontario from the nuclear power plants (Pickering, Darlington) and uranium processing facility (Port Hope) east of Toronto.

U.S.-Canadian environmental coalition rebuts challenges against Fermi 3 proposed new reactor contention

Environmental coalition attorney Terry Lodge of ToledoAttorney Terry Lodge of Toledo (photo, left), and expert witness Arnie Gundersen, Chief Engineer at Fairewinds Associates, Inc, have filed a rebuttal against challenges brought by Detroit Edison and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff (NRC) regarding Quality Assurance (QA) contentions in opposition to the proposed new Fermi 3 atomic reactor.

The rebuttal includes expert witness testimony by Gundersen, and an"Intervenor's Rebuttal Statement of Position" legal filing by Lodge.

Lodge and Gundersen filed their rebuttal on behalf of an environmental coalition comprised of Beyond Nuclear, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Don't Waste Michigan, and the Sierra Club's Michigan Chapter.

Fermi 3 is a proposed new General Electric-Hitachi so-called "ESBWR" ("Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor"), targeted at the Lake Erie shoreline in Monroe County, Michigan, 8 miles as the crow flies (or the radioactivity blows) from Ontario, Canada.

NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board hearings are set for Halloween on not only this QA contention, but also an Eastern Fox Snake threatened species contention. In addition, Fermi 3's combined Construction and Operation License Application (COLA) cannot be finalized until NRC completes its court-ordered Environmental Impact Statement on its so-called [High-Level] Nuclear Waste Confidence Rule, a proceeding that could take years.

Statements of opposition needed now to prevent national Canadian radioactive waste dump(s) on Great Lakes shore

Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump billboard, seen by hundreds of thousands of commuters per day in the Toronto area

[Send your hand-written comments and questions about this insane proposal to:

Debra Myles; Joint Review Panel Secretariat; 160 Elgin St.; 22nd Floor; Ottawa, ON; K1A 0H3; Canada.

Or email them to:

DGR.Review@ceaa-acee.gc.ca.

You can also sign the online petition being circulated by the grassroots Bruce area environmental and residential group "Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump." (See their Toronto area billboard, left)]

The federal Joint Review Panel (JRP) conducting an environmental assessment of Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) proposal to bury all of the province's so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive wastes (L&ILRWs, from 20 atomic reactors across Ontario) in a "Deep Geologic Repository" (DGR) at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, 400 meters from the waters of Lake Huron, has announced that May 24th will close the time window for asking questions. Next stop, full hearings.

Bruce Nuclear Generating Station is one of the world's single biggest nuclear power plants. It "hosts" a total of 9 reactors, as well as incineration for 20 reactors' LLRWs, and warehouses for the leftover ashes, as well as ILRWs of Ontario. It is located a mere 50 miles across Lake Huron from Michigan. 

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), comprised of Canada's nuclear utilities, has taken over the L&ILRW DGR process. This is an alarming development, as the NWMO was created to find a DGR for high-level radioactive waste (HLRW), irradiated nuclear fuel. In fact, NWMO is working with several municipalities near Bruce, largely populated by Bruce nuclear workers, which have "volunteered" (in exchange for large amounts of funding -- is that really "volunteering"?!) to be considered for becoming Canada's HLRW DGR location, for 22 reactors' irradiated nuclear fuel (outside Ontario, there was a single reactor in Quebec -- now permanently shutdown -- and a single reactor in New Brunswick). 

As DGRs would cost billions, or tens of billions, to construct and operate (the U.S. Department of Energy's most recent estimate for the price tag on the Yucca Mountain dumpsite proposal approached $100 billion), it is very likely that the L&ILRW and HLRW DGRs at/near Bruce would be merged into a single dumpsite, to save billions or tens of billions of dollars on a second, redundant DGR nearby.

The Great Lakes comprise 20% of the world's surface fresh water. They provide drinking water to 40 million people in 8 U.S. states, 2 Canadian provinces, and a large number of Native American First Nations.

As environmentalists, who instead refer to the DGRs as Deep Underground Dumps (that is, DUDs), have asked: would you bury poison beside your drinking water well?!

Please take this opportunity to help generate a flurry of concise statements of opposition aimed at preventing the Great Lakes shoreline from being turned into a permanent dumpsite for Ontario's L&ILRWs, and very likely all of Canada's HLRWs to follow.

Send your hand-written comments and questions about this insane proposal to:

Debra Myles; Joint Review Panel Secretariat; 160 Elgin St.; 22nd Floor; Ottawa, ON; K1A 0H3; Canada.

Or email them to:

DGR.Review@ceaa-acee.gc.ca.

You can also sign the online petition being circulated by the grassroots Bruce area environmental and residential group "Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump." (See their Toronto area billboard, above left)

Update on May 22, 2013 by admin

Michigan State Senator HopgoodMichigan State Senator Hoon-Yung Hopgood has issued a press release announcing this environmental victory. Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps testified at the MI State Senate Energy and Technology hearing yesterday, alongside Sen. Hopgood's constituent Ed McArdle of Melvindale, MI (and the Sierra Club South East MI Group's Conservation chair). They rebutted pro-dump testimony by proponent Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) chief of government and regulatory affairs, Kevin Powers. OPG wants to bury all of Ontario's so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive waste (L&ILRW), from 20 reactors, in a "Deep Geologic Repository" (DGR) within 440 yards of the waters of Lake Huron. The proposed DGR would be located at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station (one of the largest in the world, with a total of 9 reactors), just 50 miles to the east of Michigan, across Lake Huron.

The resolution passed by an 8 to 0 unanimous, bipartisan vote in committee, and a 26 to 0 unanimous, bipartisan vote before the full Senate.

Here is a link to Sen. Hopgood's press release, released May 22nd. Sen. Hopgood can be contacted at (517) 373-7800.

Michigan State Representative Roberts is expected to introduce a similar resolution for consideration in the Michigan House of Representatives next week.

The Joint Review Panel, conducting the Canadian federal Environmental Assessement of OPG's proposed L&ILRW DGR, has announced that May 24th closes the public comment period regarding the sufficiency of documentation prior to moving into the full blown hearings. Kevin serves on Great Lakes United's (GLU) team in opposition to the DUD (critics' tongue-in-cheek acronym for the DGR). Kevin has been a member of the GLU Nuclear-Free/Green Energy Task Force for over a decade.

Kevin emphasized during his testimony yesterday that the L&ILRW DUD could easily lead to a national Canadian high-level radioactive waste DUD in the same vicinity. Numerous municipalities, largely populated by Bruce Nuclear workers, have "volunteered" to be considered for this dubious distinction. Opposition is growing to these proposed DUDs, both locally, and regionally throughout the Great Lakes basin.

Update on May 24, 2013 by admin

The Toronto Star has reported on MI State Sen. Hopgood's resolution.