NRC Chairman Jaczko pushed for safety first at Bellefonte "zombie reactors" in Alabama

The Chattanooga Times Free Press has published a comprehensive article about U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Greg Jaczko's "safety first" no vote on the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) bid to "resurrect" two "zombie" reactors, abandoned decades ago, at Bellefonte nuclear power plant in Hollywood, Alabama. Jackzo defended his no vote by writing:

“Although records may remain, the NRC can no longer be assured of the quality of the equipment since the [quality assurance] program was halted. The potential that undocumented work activities, introduction of unapproved chemicals, corrosion and other unknown degradation that may have occurred calls into question the integrity and reliability of safety-related structures, systems and components...We set the bar basically on the ground, and now TVA is asking the NRC to lift them over it...By requesting reinstatement, TVA is asking the commission to allow licensees to choose when they want to comply with the rules and when they do not; and is asking the NRC to provide TVA regulatory stability while sacrificing it for others.”

Jaczko "went a step further, calling for a new environmental impact statement and new public hearings."

In fact, nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen documented that TVA had actually "cannibalized" Bellefonte, removing systems, structures, and components for use at other TVA nuclear power plants over the years and decades since Bellefonte's abandonment.

The article also reported:

Garry Morgan, of Scottsboro, Ala., lives four miles from Bellefonte Nuclear Plant site, and he believes Jaczko — the lone NRC vote against reinstating Bellefonte’s construction permits — is under fire because he wants tougher nuclear regulation.

“This is a battle for control of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission originating from the nuclear industry utilizing Republican Party politicians,” said Morgan, a retired U.S. Army nuclear biological and chemical warfare protection officer who has become active in the anti-nuclear movement.

“Bottom line, the NRC which is supposed to be our ‘watchdog’ ensuring the nuclear industry conducts their operations safely has been compromised due to the nuclear industry’s financial influence over politicians attempting to control the NRC,” he said. “It wasn’t so long ago a Republican senator threatened to defund the NRC for doing their job.”

Markey accuses 4 NRC Commissioners of "regulatory meltdown" post-Fukushima

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), Ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee and Senior Member of the Energy and Commerce CommitteeAs reported by Reuters in an article entitled "Private Spat within U.S. Nuclear Agency Laid Bare," U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA, pictured left) has published a report entitled “Regulatory Meltdown: How Four Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners Conspired to Delay and Weaken Nuclear Reactor Safety in the Wake of Fukushima.” The report documents efforts by 2 Democratic appointees, William Magwood IV and George Apostalakis, and 2 Republican appointees, Kristine Svinicki and William Ostendorff, to block the creation of NRC's Near-Term Fukushima Task Force, as well as implementation at the 104 operating U.S. atomic reactors of its "lessons learned" from the triple reactor melt down -- and likely high-level radioactive waste storage pool fire -- at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

In a press release, Markey said “The actions of these four Commissioners since the Fukushima nuclear disaster has caused a regulatory meltdown that has left America’s nuclear fleet and the general public at risk. Instead of doing what they have been sworn to do, these four Commissioners have attempted a coup on the Chairman and have abdicated their responsibility to the American public to assure the safety of America’s nuclear industry. I call on these four Commissioners to stop the obstruction, do their jobs and quickly move to fully implement the lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster.”

Update on December 10, 2011 by admin

Politico has also reported on this story in an article entitled "Ugly Divide at NRC Pits Jaczko against Fellow Commissioners." Politico reports that Markey's report was published one business day earlier than originally planned, in response to U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-CA) Friday night release of an October letter, written by four of the NRC Commissioners to President Obama's Chief of Staff William Daley, complaining about Jaczko's leadership at the NRC. Issa, Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, released the letter despite it clearly being marked "NOT FOR PUBLIC DISCLOSURE."

All five NRC Commissioners are scheduled to testify before committees on both sides of Capitol Hill next week. On Wednesday, Dec. 14th beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern, the NRC Commissioners will appear before Issa's committee; the hearing will be webcast. On Thursday, Dec. 15th, also beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern, they will testify before U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer's Environment and Public Works Committee, which should also be webcast. 

Beyond Nuclear to testify at NRC on reactor earthquake and fire risks

NRC HQ, Rockville, MarylandOn Monday, December 12, 2011 from 2:30 to 4:30 PM EST, a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission petition review board will hear Beyond Nuclear staff and joint petitioners -- including Saprodani Associates, Not On Our Fault Line, Alliance for Progressive Values, and the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter -- who have called for emergency enforcement action, and full public hearing rights, on license changes to Virginia’s North Anna nuclear power plant following the August 23, 2011 earthquake of 5.8 magnitude, epicentered just 11 miles away. The meeting will be webcast and a telephone bridge line is being provided for up to 100 toll free lines for the public to listen in. Details for linking to the webcast and toll free telephone bridge line can be viewed by clicking on December 12 in NRC homepage calendar for public meetings.

On Tuesday, December 13, 2011, beginning at 9 AM EST, Beyond Nuclear Director of Reactor Oversight, Paul Gunter, will be testifying before the Chairman and Commissioners of the US NRC on what we believe to significant decades old fire protection risks at US reactors. These same risks potentially threaten control room operations for safe shutdown and cooling of reactors similar to the failure that led to the explosions and meltdowns at Fukushima. Go to this NRC link to view the webcast and Beyond Nuclear at the meeting.

NRC cites Exelon for emergency cooling and containment violations at Limerick 2

NRC file photo of Limerick; it does not indicate whether or not the flowers in the foreground are spiderwort, mutated by radioactivity.The Mercury (Pottstown, PA) reports that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a "white finding" of "low to moderate safety significance" at the Limerick nuclear powere plant's Unit 2, owned and operated by Exelon Nuclear, regarding faulty valves “resulting in one of the plant’s safety systems, known as the Reactor Core Isolation Cooling system, being inoperable from April 23 to May 23." The faulty valves also rendered a Primary Containment Isolation Valve inoperable during the same time period, which “would be used during an accident to close off the plant’s containment building during a significant event in order to prevent the release of radioactivity into the environment.” As mentioned in NRC's press release on the safety violations, regulatory inspections will be increased. “Because the valves in question failed to fully shut, the majority of the cooling water from one of the plant’s safety systems would have diverted to the condenser rather than flow to the reactor,” NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean said.

On Nov. 22nd, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) submitted a petition to NRC to intervene against Limerick's proposed 20 year license extension. An NRC commissioned report from 1982 found that a major accident at Limerick Unit 2 could cause 74,000 "peak early fatalities," 610,000 "peak early injuries," 34,000 "peak cancer deaths," and $197 billion in property damage. However, in the past 30 years, the surrounding population has grown to a whopping 8 million within 50 miles. Those property damages, adjusted for inflation, would now top $434 billion.

Nor on Our Fault Line calls on NRC to distribute KI within 20 miles of North Anna

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA)Not on Our Fault Line, a group of concerned citizens which formed in response to the 5.8 magnitude earthquake of August 23, 2011 epicentered just 11 miles from the North Anna nuclear power plant, is calling on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to enforce a 2002 law requiring the distribution of potassium iodide (KI) tablets within 20 miles of U.S. atomic reactors. KI saturates the human thyroid gland, blocking uptake of hazardous Iodine-131, a viciously radioactive substance that escaped during the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, causing an epidemic of thyroid disease downwind in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Large quantities of I-131 also escaped during the Fukushima triple reactor core meltdown and radioactive waste storage pool fire that began in March 2011, leading the Japanese federal government to warn parents not to use Tokyo's tap water for infants during the early days of the catastrophe due to I-131 contamination. I-131 has an 8 day half life; thus, its hazardous persistence lasts 80 to 160 days.

Section 127 of the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 was sponsored as a successful amendment by U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA, pictured at left), a long time watchdog on the nuclear power industry. In May, 2011, Markey led a bipartisan letter of House Members addressed to President Obama, calling for implementation of the law. 9 long years after its enactment, NRC still had not enforced the law. Markey issued a press release about the letter to Obama, signed by 30 Members of Congress.