Radioactivity levels soar in Fukushima Daiichi groundwater, flowing into ocean

A water pump draws groundwater from a well in front of Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant's unit 4 reactor building, in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, on June 12, 2013.As reported by Common Dreams, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has admitted that strontium-90 levels exceed legal limits by 33 times, and tritium levels by 8 times, in groundwater less than a hundred feet from the Pacific Ocean. "That is very high," a TEPCO official told a press conference.

Carcinogenic Sr-90 seeks human bone. Tritium (H-3) can lodge anywhere in the human body where hydrogen goes (which is everywhere), and is a clinically proven cause of cancer, birth defects, and genetic damage.

As reported by Agence France Presse, "Subsoil water usually flows out to sea, meaning these two substances could normally make their way into the ocean, possibly affecting marine life and ultimately impacting humans who eat sea creatures."

In fact, bio-concentration of radioactive contaminants means that those at the top of the food chain -- humans -- are most at risk.

Reuters reports that "Testing of groundwater outside the turbine building of reactor No. 2 had shown the level of strontium-90 had increased by more than 100 times between December 2012 and May this year, Toshihiko Fukuda, a general manager at TEPCO, told a news conference...Testing of groundwater showed the reading for strontium-90 increased from 8,6 becquerels to 1 000 becquerels per litre between Dec. 8, 2012 and May 24, Fukuda said. The elevated reading of strontium is more than 30 times the legal limit of 30 becquerels per litre...

About 400 tonnes of groundwater flow daily into the reactor buildings only to be mixed with highly contaminated water that comes from cooling the melted fuel.

It has been trying to convince sceptical local fisherman that it is safe to dump 100 tonnes of the groundwater a day into the ocean to take some of the strain off its storage facilities.

Earlier this month the company reversed a claim that the groundwater flowing into the damaged basements of reactor buildings was not contaminated."

Wind outcompetes nuclear at Exelon's LaSalle, IL & Limerick, PA reactors

As reported by Hannah Northey at Greenwire, Exelon Nuclear has blamed low wind power prices for its decision to cancel power uprates at its LaSalle, IL and Limerick, PA atomic power plants.

The American Wind Energy Association kicked Exelon out of AWEA for its scapegoating of wind power for its own financial woes, as well as its opposition to an extension of the Production Tax Credit for wind.

Will the State of Vermont Public Service Board deny Entergy Vermont Yankee a Certificate of Public Good?

Entergy's Vermont Yankee atomic reactor, a GE BWR Mark I located on the Connecticut River border with NH at Vernon, VT, 8 miles upstream from MADebra Stoleroff of the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance has put out the following announcement:

"The PSB hearings are public — if you are able, consider attending.  

Vermont Yankee Certificate of Public Good #7862 Technical Hearings

In Re: Amended Petition of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC, and Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., for amendment of their Certificate of Public Good and other approvals required under 30 V.SA. § 231(a) for authority to continue after March 21, 2012, operation of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station, including the storage of spent nuclear fuel

Before the Public Service Board

Location: Public Service Board Hearing Room, Third Floor, People's United Bank Building, 112 State Street, Montpelier, Vermont

Hearings begin at 9:00 am on Monday, 6/17 thru Friday 6/21 and Monday, 6/24 thru Friday 6/28

See the attachment for the list of daily witnesses"

The hope of those campaigning for Vermont Yankee's (photo, above left) permanent shutdown is that the State of Vermont Public Service Board will deny Entergy a Certificate of Public Good. This would make Entergy Vermont Yankee's operation illegal under Vermont State law. Senior politicians in Vermont, from the Governor to leaders in the state legislature, have publicly referred to Entergy as a "rogue corporation." Vermont Yankee is a General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactor (GE BWR Mark I), identical in design to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4.

Radiation Expert Exposes Danger to Ohioans from Fracking Waste

Dr. Marvin Resnikoff of RWMADr. Marvin Resnikoff of Radioactive Waste Management Associates has authored a report, Hydraulic Fracturing Radiological Concerns for Ohio, on behalf of the FreshWater Accountability Project Ohio. FWAPOH also put out a press release, "Radiation Expert Exposes Danger to Ohioans from Fracking Waste," which calls for better public protections from the State of Ohio and the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District [MWCD]. 

Resnikoff points out that much of the highly-radioactive solids such as rocks and soils pulled up during drilling, and contaminated muds and sands are cheaply disposed of in municipal landfills in Ohio, irrespective of actual radioactivity content, for 1/100th of the cost of disposal of comparable low-level radioactive waste from nuclear weapons and nuclear power generation in the nation's three facilities for that purpose. In Ohio, he stated, "It is evident that environmental concerns are trumped by the economics beneficial to the unconventional shale drilling industry." Similarly, Dr. Resnikoff identified evidence that the Patriot water treatment facility in Warren, Ohio, which delivers pretreated water to the Warren public water treatment plant, is likely sending radium-laden water into the Mahoning River watershed. "On a daily basis, Patriot does not test for gamma emitting radionuclides and for radium-226," he observed. 

"Dr. Resnikoff's work illustrates that Ohioans, from common citizens to truck drivers to landfill workers, are daily being exposed to radiation exposure or poisoning because the Governor, General Assembly and even a large conservancy district, the MWCD, are sacrificing public protections to prop up frackers' profitability," asserted Terry Lodge, attorney for SEOSOW. "Under the guise of 'austerity,' the state government is destroying protective regulations for everyone, while creating a business environment where those who threaten public health and the environment pay little to nothing. And even huge corporate welfare breaks aren't saving this dirty, low-productivity con game."

Lodge also serves as the attorney for environmental coalitions, including Beyond Nuclear, opposing the proposed new Fermi 3 atomic reactor in southeast MI, as well as the 20-year license extension, and the proposed steam generator replacement, at Davis-Besse in northwest OH.

Fracking was exempted from such federal laws as the Safe Drinking Water Act by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the same law which automatically subsidized nuclear power to the tune of $13 billion, while additionally leading to the approval of $22.5 billion in nuclear loan guarantees thus far.

On May 22nd, Beyond Nuclear joined with 67 other groups to chastise Environmental Defense Fund for joining into a greenwashing alliance with the fracking industry.

45-year-old construction error revealed in leaking tank at Entergy's Palisades atomic reactor

Entergy and NRC have just discovered that, at Palisades, plant diagrams are not accurate depictions of "as-built" realityAs reported by Andrew Lersten at the St. Joe Herald-Palladium, a 45-year-old construction error has been discovered at Entergy Nuclear's problem-plagued Palisades atomic reactor on the Lake Michigan shoreline in southwest MI. While repairing a 300,000 gallon tank of water that has been leaking for over two years -- including into the safety-critical control room, as well as directly into Lake Michigan -- workers found that a grout ring and sand bed region called for in the blueprints had never been installed back in 1968. Entergy and NRC now admit that phantom structures assumed to have been there all along may go a long way to explaining why the floor of the tank has suffered repeated leaks, despite multiple attempted repairs.

As recently as April 25, 2013, in a submission to NRC, Entergy gave engineering credit to structures which, in reality, didn't even exist: "Pressure stress loads are carried by the sand base, concrete grout ring, and concrete foundation beneath the tank bottom."

The discrepancy between Palisades' blueprints (see image, left), and the actual "as-built" reality, raises serious safety significant questions about the entire atomic reactor.

The Herald-Palladium, for whom Palisades unquestionably could do no wrong for decades on end, published a blistering editorial on May 23rd. The editorial board concluded:

"...as events in Japan proved in 2011, there is really no second chance when it comes to a catastrophic nuclear event.

We know that Entergy officials will say emphatically that they understand the stakes and are doing everything possible to maintain safety. But talk is cheap, and past problems at the plant don’t inspire confidence. What is really needed are better results.

Should Palisades continue to stumble along in the next months and years, then we hope the NRC takes a much harder look at Palisades’ license. Energy production and commerce are important, but not nearly as important as the safety and well-being of an entire region."