Infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant is closing today

Middletown, PA town council meeting, June 20, 1979. Photo by Robert Del Tredichi, from his book "The People of Three Mile Island" (Sierra Club Books, 1980). Used with permission.As reported by CNN.

Three Mile Island-Unit 1 in PA had been announced by its owner Exelon Nuclear to be closed by May 2018, but this was its bid to leverage a public bailout. After it failed to orchestrate a PA State Legislature bailout, on May 8, 2019, Exelon Nuclear confirmed that TMI-1 would close for good, by Sept. 30, 2019. It is now closing today, for good.

As we have feared, the closure of Three Mile Island Unit 1, for lack of a public bailout, is now being used as leverage to force through bailouts for several other dangerously old atomic reactors in Pennsylvania, as this WGAL report shows.

Beyond Nuclear's founding board member, Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud (1931-2014), intervened against the licensing of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, long before it was built. She did so as a founder and leader of the Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power. Johnsrud also co-founded Nuclear Information and Resource Service. After she passed on, Beyond Nuclear established the Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud "Unsung Hero" Award, awarded annually during the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability "D.C. Days" to grassroots anti-nuclear activists who embody her spirit, and carry on her work.

Rebutting nuclear industry propaganda, Beyond Nuclear has documented the harm caused to people and the environment by the March 28, 1979 50% meltdown of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor core.

The good news from the TMI-1 permanent shutdown is that, by definition, once the irradiated nuclear fuel is removed from the reactor core for the last time, a meltdown can no longer occur. Also, no more high-level radioactive waste (HLRW) will be generated.

However, watchdog vigilance must continue. The high-level radioactive waste storage pool, as well as the inadequate dry cask storage permitted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, still threaten catastrophic releases of hazardous radioactivity. Also, the radioactive contamination of the site, in the middle of the Susquehanna River, must be cleaned up.

The companies vying for control over decommissioning -- Holtec/SNC-Lavalin, NorthStar, EnergySolutions -- are notorious. They seek to maximize profits by looting decommissioning trust funds, while doing as little radiological cleanup, and taking as many short cuts on HLRW management safety, as they can get away with.

Update on September 22, 2019 by admin

• USA Today - Three Mile Island, where a meltdown forever changed nuclear energy in America, shuts down Friday - Ledyard King

Update on September 25, 2019 by admin

Nuclear Engineering International has also reported on this story.

Update on September 26, 2019 by admin

So too has the Washington Post.

Pro-bailout for coal and nuclear ad in OH alleges bailout opponents are agents of Red China militarism!

It has been reported that HB6 (Ohio House Bill 6) coal/nuclear bailout supporters have purchased $1 million in advertizing on television and radio. The first anti-petition television ad began airing in late August 2019. The petition would put the issue on the November 2020 ballot in Ohio, to let voters decide yea or nay on bailing out dirty old coal plants in OH (including one in Indiana!), and dangerous old atomic reactors on OH's Lake Erie shore, namely Davis-Besse and Perry.

View the absurd ad here.

Remarkably, incredibly, it claims HB6 opponents are pawns of Red China! Quite to the contrary, they include the corporate competitors to nuclear and coal (including renewables and efficiency), as well as AARP, ratepayer advocates, environmentalists, etc. Ironically, HB6 is pure corporate socialism, benefitting FirstEnergy Nuclear, an atom splitter and coal burner. So much for capitalism -- FirstEnergy seems to oppose the concept of competitive capitalism with a level playing field, embracing rather a nuclear and coal version of robber baron, crony, monopolistic capitalism, at the expense of its competitors, as well as the public.

The ad campaign even also goes after anti-HB6 petition gatherers directly. In this sense, the HB6 supporters behind these ads are, yet again, directly attacking Ohio democracy, enshrined in its constitution. The ad could be at least in part responsible for the first documented case of physical violence perpetrated by an anti-petition canvasser, against a pro-petition canvasser. Other pro-petition canvassers have been stalked, intimidated, and harassed, by anti-petition canvassers, as well. The ad calls on the public to phone a 1-800 number to report pro-petition canvassers spotted in their town or neighborhood, so they can go there immediately and block their efforts (anti-petition canvassers are called blockers).

Some Ohio newspaper editorial boards have already lambasted the ad for its preposterousness.

ATTEND, COMMENT: Decommissioning meetings across the country

NRC announced 11 public meetings (this link also has details on past meetings) regarding establishment of local community advisory boards (CABs).

These meetings run from August through October, 2019 and are in places where reactors are already undergoing decommissioning, or are supposed to soon enter the decommissioning phase. 

NRC will accept written comments through mid-November 2019 if you cannot attend a meeting in person.

If you want to attend in person, the next group of meetings will be in the:

Midwest:

Sept. 24 (Kewaunee, WI)

Sept. 26 (Zion, IL)

Northeast:

Oct. 2 (Indian Point, NY)

Oct. 3 (Oyster Creek, NJ)

and Florida:

Oct. 10 (Crystal River, FL)

Click links for times and locations. Please spread word to folks you know in any of these locations.

COMMENT electronically using the questionnaire NRC has provided. You may also complete a paper copy of the questionnaire then scan and email to NRC at NEIMA108.Resource@nrc.gov, or mail a hardcopy of the questionnaire to Kim Conway, U.S. NRC, 11545 Rockville Pike, Mail Stop T-5 A10, Rockville, MD 20852. Deadline for written comments in mid-November, 2019.

More than 200 environmental organizations have endorsed Hardened On-Site Storage (HOSS), a highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel management interim alternative, during decommissioning. More

Update on September 19, 2019 by admin

Beyond Nuclear was honored and privileged to join with 95 other organizations to protest NRC's rubber-stamp of a highly controversial license transfer from Entergy Nuclear, to the scandal-ridden Holtec International, for decommissioning purposes at Pilgrim atomic reactor in Plymouth, MA. An NRC decommissioning community advisory board public comment meeting has already been held at Pilgrim.

Update on September 19, 2019 by admin

Here is a direct link to the letter, signed by 96 groups, to NRC re: Pilgrim's decommissioning.

The myth of nuclear deterrence -- fact sheet

New fact sheet -- adapated and expanded from our Myth of Deterrence pamphlet. This fact sheet has two additional points not included in the pamphlet. Feel free to download, print and distribute.

The concept of “deterrence” is that the possession of nuclear weapons by one country would “deter” another nuclear weapons country — or even non-nuclear weapons country — from attacking. This has led to countries justifying their production of nuclear weapons as a national security measure while claiming they would only be used if already attacked by another nuclear country.

On closer examination, this thinking quickly becomes convoluted and illogical. And in reality there are more realpolitik reasons for having nuclear weapons — to offset conventional imbalance, prevent regime change, retain a seat on the UN Security Council, and so forth.

Nevertheless, deterrence is the cornerstone of defense policy and spending among all the major super powers. An estimated $100 billion is spent globally each year on nuclear weapons. This amount could solve most, if not all, the problems — including climate change, famine, poverty and disease — that cause transboundary conflicts in the first place. The very existence of nuclear weapons results in their perpetual justification. Download fact sheet.

ISP moves to moot only contention admitted by NRC ASLB in WCS CISF licensing proceeding

As made clear by postings at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) website on September 5, 2019, Interim Storage Partners (ISP) has moved to moot the only contention admitted by NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB), in the Waste Control Specialists (WCS) consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) licensing proceeding. Learn more at our Centralized Storage website section.