Environmental coalition "speaks for the snakes" against proposed Fermi 3 new reactor

Toledo attorney Terry Lodge represents an environmental coalition including Beyond Nuclear, Citizen Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Don't Waste Michigan, and Sierra Club, Michigan Chapter, in its struggle against the proposed new Fermi 3 atomic reactorAn environmental coalition, including Beyond Nuclear, has yet again defended its threatened Eastern Fox Snake species contention against challenges by Detroit Edison and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff. The coalition's legal counsel, Toledo attorney Terry J. Lodge (photo, left), filed "Intervenor's Reply in Opposition to DTE and NRC Staff Motions In Limine on Contention 8 (Eastern Fox Snake)" today.

The coalition's intervention against Fermi 3, the proposed new GE-Hitachi ESBWR (so-called "Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor") targeted at the Lake Erie shore of Monroe County, Michigan, began on March 9, 2009. The NRC's Atomic Safety (sic) and Licensing Board (ASLB) has scheduled adjudicatory hearings around Halloween.

At the same time, the coalition has continued to challenge NRC staff's failure to perform an adequate National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis on the proposed 11-mile long electrical transmission line corridor through forested wetlands. 

Sen. Boxer wants Justice Dept. to investigate at San Onofre

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer wants the Justice Department to investigate if California utility executives deceived federal regulators about an equipment swap at the San Onofre nuclear power plant that eventually led to a radiation leak, reports the Associated Press. 

The California Democrat obtained a 2004 internal letter written by a senior Southern California Edison executive that she said "leads me to believe that Edison intentionally misled the public and regulators" to avoid a potentially long and costly review of four replacement steam generators before they went into service.

The twin-domed plant between Los Angeles and San Diego hasn't produced electricity since January 2012, after a small radiation leak led to the discovery of unusually rapid wear inside hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water in the nearly new generators. Read more.

Beyond Nuclear's responses, and additional thoughts, to questions from Senate ENR Committee on its "discussion draft" of CIS/Mobile Chernobyl legislation

An infrared photo of a high-level radioactive waste rail shipment. The high temperature of such shipments, however, is the least of our worries. A severe accident, or attack, involving such a shipment could breach the container, leading to disastrous releases of hazardous radioactivityBeyond Nuclear has submitted the following responses, and additional thoughts, to the U.S. Senate's Energy and Natural Resource (ENR) Committee, regarding its list of questions about its proposed "discussion draft" of legislation that would rush centralized interim storage sites into operation. If enacted, this legislation would launch unprecedented numbers of high-level radioactive waste shipments by truck, train, and barge -- a risky radioactive waste shell game on our roads, rails and waterways! (click here for more detailed information) The Senate ENR Committee had set 5 PM today, Friday, May 24th (close of business on the Memorial Day holiday weekend) as the deadline for responses to its bill, which was unveiled on April 25th, ironically on the eve of the 27th anniversary of the beginning of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe.

Be sure to scroll down to the second page, in order to see the Beyond Nuclear Responses to the various questions (#2 to 8).

Executive Summary (referred to as "Question #1"); Response to Question #2; Response to Question #3; Response to Question #4;Response to Question #5; Response to Question #6; Response toQuestion #7; Response to Question #8; Additional Thoughts.

In addition, Beyond Nuclear signed onto an environmental coalition statement spearheaded by NIRS, signed by 100 groups. Click on this link to see detailed comments by additional allies.

Thanks to everyone who has responded to our action alerts going back weeks and months, urging action be taken to stop this latest Mobile Chernobyl bill dead in its tracks.

States tell NRC to review nuclear waste storage at reactors

From AP: Attorneys general in Vermont, New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut announced Thursday they are petitioning the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a more thorough environmental review of storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste at plant sites.

"Federal law requires that the NRC analyze the environmental dangers of storing spent nuclear fuel at reactors that were not designed for long-term storage,’’ said Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell.

In a landmark ruling last year, a federal appeals court in Washington said the NRC needed to do a full environmental review of the risks of storing the waste — spent nuclear fuel — in storage pools and casks made of steel and concrete on the grounds of nuclear plants while the search continues for a disposal solution.

Activists in Vermont have come to mistrust the NRC "dog and pony" shows that show up in their state. Now four attorneys general are demanding some meaningful accountability from the agency on prolonged on-site storage of high-level radioactive waste. The position of Beyond Nuclear is that this waste must not be moved to so-called "interim" sites but properly stored in hardened, protected casks - a process known as Hardened On-Site Storage.

‘‘NRC staff is continuing to ignore serious public health, safety and environmental risks related to long-term, on-site storage,’’ New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a news release. ‘‘The communities that serve as de facto long-term radioactive waste repositories deserve a full and detailed accounting of the risks.’’ More.

Update on May 27, 2013 by admin

Vermont Digger has also reported on this story, including a link to the multi-state coalition filing with the NRC itself.

Help support this important documentary about Erwin, TN

Acceptable Limits, in production since early February 2011, is a documentary feature film about the devastating health and environmental effects that a dilapidated, 54 year old nuclear fuel processing plant has had on a small Appalachian community in East Tennessee. Visit the film's website to donate and help the filmmakers complete this important documentary. 

Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) has been the main employer in the rural valley town of Erwin, Tennessee for decades. On the edge of the Appalachian Trail, the facility sits on the Nolichucky River. Initially, NFS brought much needed jobs to the area, hiring those with little education at pay rates far exceeding any of the factory jobs in the area. For 54 years the neighborhood factory has accepted weapons grade plutonium and uranium from around the world to create fissionable nuclear fuel for our Navy’s fleet of submarines and aircraft carriers.

When tests of the water in the area showed rampant contamination, Michael Abbott Jr., an East Tennessee native, and his best friend Cosmo Pfeil decided to investigate how this pollution could be allowed to happen. They ended up embarking on an exploration of what the word “community” means to citizens of an Appalachian town dealing with the devastating effects of 54 years of nuclear contamination. Through interviews with former employees (some who were there as long as 30 years) now dealing with serious health issues, neighbors of the facility who watch white smoke billow from the stacks in the early hours of the morning and blow towards their homes, it became clear that there was a problem and that people in this town were sick and dying.