Quality assurance contention against Fermi 3 new reactor accepted by ASLB

An environmental coalition, co-led by Beyond Nuclear, has won yet another contention hearing from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (NRC ASLB) regarding Detroit Edison's proposal to build a Hitachi-General Electric "Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor" in Monroe, Michigan. Despite NRC staff and company objections to the contrary, the ASLB's June 15, 2010 ruling recognized the serious safety significance of quality assurance (QA) violations, and agreed that the environmental coalition's allegations of Detroit Edison QA shortcomings deserves a full adjudicatory hearing on the merits of the issues. The contention relied heavily on an expert affidavit filed on Dec. 8, 2009 by nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates in Vermont, submitted on behalf of the environmental coalition. Gundersen expanded his relevant testimony with a June 8, 2010 filing. The ASLB admitted the contention even before taking into consideration Gundersen's latest allegations and evidence, which serve to only strengthen the contention. This marks the environmental coalition's fifth contention against Fermi 3 thus far to be granted a hearing in the licensing proceeding. Beyond Nuclear issued a press release regarding this success on its QA contention.