Entergy Watch: Pilgrim Coalition urges NRC to require Mark I atomic reactor to shutdown during historic winter storm

NRC file photo of Pilgrim, albeit on a calm, sunny day.As reported by Wicked Local Plymouth, in the lead up to what is being reported as an historic winter storm about to hit the Northeast, Pilgrim Coalition and Cape Cod Bay Watch are calling on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to order Entergy's Pilgrim atomic reactor shutdown, "arguing that a prolonged power outage, flooding, high winds, and snow and ice could cause several serious problems at Pilgrim."

However, as of 2:30 PM, NRC's "Current Power Reactor Status" report shows that Pilgrim is operating at 83% power. All other reactors in the Northeast are also operating, either at, or very close to, 100% power levels.

The Pilgrim Coalition mentioned risks of cooling systems in the high-level radioactive waste storage pool ceasing to function as a major concern.

In a press release, Pilgrim Coalition spokespeople stated:

“This is predicted to be a historic storm with severe consequences,” said Pine DuBois, Executive Director of Jones River Watershed Association. “Winds are supposed to pick up Friday night during high tide and continue through the even higher tide Saturday morning. Near hurricane gusts will be out of the east, hitting Pilgrim head-­‐on. At other times during high winds, Pilgrim’s water intake pumps have failed.”

“Entergy could not keep the lights on during the Super Bowl -­‐ can we be sure they’ll provide enough power to Pilgrim during the storm?” duBois added.

According to Karen Vale, Campaign Manager at Cape Cod Bay Watch, “This historic storm emphasizes that rising sea levels and frequent, more severe storms make Pilgrim’s continued operations increasing risky. We hope that the NRC will close Pilgrim until the threat of the storm passes.”

As Beyond Nuclear's Freeze Our Fukushimas campaign has warned, no matter the cause (earthquake and tsunami, or historic winter storm at high tide), any prolonged loss of power to atomic reactors can lead to meltdown and catastrophic radioactivity releases. Entergy's Pilgrim is an identical twin design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4, a General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactor.

Radioactive waste updates: DOE metal "recycling," Mobile Chernobyl on Capitol Hill

Feb. 11th is the deadline to comment against the U.S. Department of Energy's proposal to "recycle" radioactive metals, from across the nuclear weapons and national nuclear labs complexes, into the consumer product stream. Learn more and take action.

Also, as reported by Energy and Environment Daily, Mobile Chernobyl legislation is revving its engines on Capitol Hill. The Obama administration wants centralized interim storage for commercial irradiated nuclear fuel by 2021, which would launch unprecedented numbers of high-level radioactive waste shipments onto the roads, railways, and waterways. 

Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps warned, in a letter to the editor in the Washington Post, about these irradiated nuclear fuel transport risks. This came in response to a Post editorial in support of centralized interim storage.

Take action! Contact your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative. Urge them to block this risky radioactive waste shell game. You can reach their offices via the U.S. Capitol Switchboard, (202) 224-3121.

Contact the White House. Urge President Obama to put the brakes on the Mobile Chernobyls, dirty bombs on wheels, and Floating Fukushimas.

What are the alternatives? Well, we need to stop the generation of irradiated nuclear fuel in the first place. Atomic reactors should be permanently shutdown, their electricity supply replaced with energy efficiency, as well as renewable sources such as wind and solar.

For the wastes which already exist, hardened on-site storage -- endorsed by 170 environmental groups, representing all 50 states -- is an interim measure.

Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump!

Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump billboard in Toronto

A new group has formed in opposition to the radioactive waste dump(s) targeted at the Great Lakes shoreline near the Bruce Nuclear Complex in Kincardine, Ontario, Canada. Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump has a website, and has launched a petition drive.

As reported by Bayshore Broadcasting, Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump has also erected a billboard on the Gardiner Expressway in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), in order to draw wider attention to this national -- and even international -- threat. The report, which includes a short audio recording of Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump spokeswoman, Beverly Fernandez, points out "The billboard, on one of Canada’s busiest commuter strips, could be seen by up to one million people a week."

Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump encourages U.S. citizens to sign their petition. The petition is directed to Canada's Minister of the Environment, Peter Kent.

The Bruce Nuclear Complex "hosts" a total of 9 reactors (including a permanently shutdown prototype), one of the single biggest nuclear power plants, and concentrations of radioactive waste, in the world. For decades, all of Ontario's 20 reactors have "temporarily" stored their so-called "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive wastes at Bruce. Low-level radioactive waste has been incinerated. Now, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) proposes burying these low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes on-site, just 400 meters from the waters of Lake Huron.

To make matters worse, Canada's Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is considering applications from several Bruce area municipalities, which are volunteering to "host" a national high-level radioactive waste dump for all of Canada's 22 atomic reactors. These communities are disproportionately populated by Bruce Nuclear workers. They stand to receive substantial sums of money for being studied, and perhaps ultimately selected, as Canada's national high-level radioactive waste dumpsite. Kincardine, Bruce's "home town," has already received millions of dollars for agreeing to "host" OPG's proposed "low" and "intermediate" level radioactive waste burial dump at the Bruce Nuclear Complex.

In addition to the Bruce region, a number of municipalities in Canada's Lake Superior basin, and further north and west (including the Province of Saskatchewan, with one of the world's single biggest uranium mining industries), have also "volunteered" to "host" Canada's high-level radioactive waste dump.

Proponents have dubbed these proposed dumps "Deep Geologic Repositories," or DGRs. Critics refer to them, sarcastically, as Deep Underground Dumps, or DUDs.

The Great Lakes comprises 20% of the world's surface fresh water. It serves as the drinking water supply for 40 million people in 8 U.S. states (from west to east, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York), 2 Canadian provinces (Ontario and Quebec), and a large number of Native American First Nations.

Take action against DOE's radioactive metal "recycling" scheme!

NIRS asks "Will the next zipper on your pants be radioactive?"On a vital radioactive waste battlefront, NIRS has put out an alert against a scheme to "recycle" vast quantities of radioactive metal from across the nuclear weapons complex into the consumer product recycling stream. NIRS asks, "Will the next zipper on your pants be radioactive? How about your silverware?", and explains:

"The Department of Energy wants to mix radioactive metal from nuclear weapons factories with clean recycled metal and let it enter into general commerce--where it could be used for any purpose.

It's a foot in the door for revival of a vast--and discredited--radioactive waste deregulation plan defeated in 1992.

You can help stop them here."

Please take action at the NIRS links above. NIRS' Diane D'Arrigo has also posted more extensive talking points that you can use to write your own comments to DOE.

In an article entitled "Nuclear weapons waste in your hip replacement?", John LaForge of Nukewatch reports, U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA) -- who is now running for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by John Kerry as he becomes Secretary of State -- has sent a strongly worded letter to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, expressing opposition to the so-called "recycling" scheme.

John LaForge has also pointed out, in an article posted at Counterpunch entitled "Women and Children First! (To Be Harmed by Radiation!"), that radiation protection regulations based on "Reference Man" are obsolete and unscientific, allowing radiation exposures under law and regulation which are having a disproportionate impact on women and children. This is spelled out in IEER's "Healthy from the Start" campaign. Thus, radioactive metal "recycling" into consumer products will add to the harmful radioative burden borne by society, including those most at risk, women and children.

Update on February 7, 2013 by admin

William Boardman's "Nuke the People?", posted at Readersupportednews, provides a good overview of this issue.

"Ski Yucca Mountain in a Hazmat suit"

That's the title for the announcement of an art exhibition in theLas Vegas Weekly. The exhibit will feature Joseph Woolfolk’s paintings on glass.

The article concludes: '“Ski Yucca,” featuring a skier hitting the slopes wearing a gas mask and orange Hazmat suit, probably best sums up the clever and well-executed Poster Power.'

But this is not the first time that the high-level radioactive waste dump targeted at Yucca Mountain, Nevada has brushed up against cutting edge art work, or vice versa.

Joshua Abbey's Desert Space Foundation held a "Universal Warning Sign: Yucca Mountain" competition a decade ago. The idea was to come up with the best way to warn future generations "forevermore" about what was buried below.

Speaking of "Don't Dig Here," that is the title of a song about the Yucca dump performed by David Crosby and Graham Nash.

And the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) not having done it homework was starkly revealed, when its proposed railway for delivering 70,000 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste to Yucca scored a direct bull's eye on one of the single largest works of art ever conceived, Michael Heizer's "City" landscape sculpture in a remote Nevada desert valley. DOE hadn't realized Heizer's art was "in the way," till the artist protested the plan! The good news is, the Obama administration's wise cancellation of the Yucca dump will spare Heizer's "City," as well as countless other cities in most states along DOE's targeted Yucca dump transport corridors by truck, train, and barge.