WIPP leaking toxic carbon tet into air

Opened in 1999, the U.S. Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, New Mexico is the first "deep geologic repository" in the world for radioactive wastes, specifically for disposing of plutonium-contaminated nuclear weapons complex wastes. As described on WIPP's homepage, the "Waste Isolation Pilot Plant uses a continuous miner to carve disposal rooms out of the Permian Salt Formation, nearly a half mile below the surface," as pictured at the left. Despite assurances by WIPP's "Chief Scientist" that it could never happen, carbon tetrachloride leaks to the air outside the facility located 2,150 feet below ground have now reached a "level of concern," as reported by a Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) news update based on research by the Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC). Beyond Nuclear, CCNS, and SRIC are members of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. ANA's annual DC Days will be held in Washington March 14-17.

Vermont AG investigating alleged perjury by Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee official

The Governor of Vermont, James Douglas, has confirmed that the Vermont Attorney General, William Sorrell, is investigating the possibility that Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee vice-president of operations, Jay Thayer (pictured at left) provided false testimony under oath to the Vermont Public Service Board last year when he assured utility regulators that the Vermont Yankee reactor did not have buried piping that carries radioactive liquids. Last week, Vermont Yankee officials announced that such buried piping does indeed exist at the Connecticut River-side site, which likely explains the tritium contaminated well water revealed there last week.

NRC Issues Notice of Violation to Entergy Nuclear Palisades for High-Level Radioactive Waste Risk

Beyond Nuclear, Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes, and Don't Waste Michigan issued a media release upon learning of a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Notice of Violation issued to Entergy's Palisades Nuclear Power Plant on the Lake Michigan shoreline in southwest Michigan citing a nuclear criticality risk in the irradiated nuclear fuel storage pool that threated not only worker safety, but also public health. The coalition not only raised concerns about the waste storage pool, but also pointed out that the outdoor dry casks are defective and at risk of earthquakes.

Nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen speaks on Vermont Yankee tritium leaks, Entergy Nuclear lies

Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen -- energy adviser at Fairewinds Associates, Inc., who serves as Beyond Nuclear's expert witness on quality assurance violations at the Fermi 3 new reactor project in Michigan -- speaks in this live television interview on Vermont's WCAX about Entergy Nuclear's misrepresentations to the State of Vermont about buried pipes containing radioactive liquids, and newly reported tritium leaks there that are 50 times more radioactive than allowed under EPA Safe Drinking Water Act regulations, and 500 times more radioactive than allowed under certain European regulations.

Highly radioactive water found at Vermont nuke plant

In a startling development, news agencies are reporting that water containing 2 million picocuries per liter of radioactive tritium -- "about 100 times the allowable federal level for drinking water and 70 times the standard for groundwater" -- has been discovered at Entergy Nuclear's Vermont Yankee atomic reactor. The discovery comes just days after Vermont Yankee spokesman Rob Williams mischaracterized a more than 15% increase in radioactive tritium concentrations in test well water, from 17,000 to nearly 20,000 picocuries per liter, as a stabilizing situation, stating on a Vermont Public Radio interview "Essentially, those two readings - 17,000 to 20,000 - those are in the ballpark where you could say it's essentially stable at this point." Now that tritium readings in water at Vermont Yankee that are 100 times more radioactive than that have been revealed, let's hope Entergy spokesman Rob Williams stops trying to downplay the seriousness of the situation.