From Coast to Coast, Reactors Ripe for Retirement

All atomic reactors must be shutdown, of course, but a number are especially ripe for permanent "retirement."

The State of Vermont Attorney General, William Sorrell, now has the support of numerous states and environmental groups in his appeal to the federal courts in New York City, seeking the shutdown of Entergy Nuclear's Vermont Yankee atomic reactor. Sorrell also recently won a ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals against the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) "Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision" -- the State of Vermont has also challenged Entergy's continued generation of irradiated nuclear fuel after the expiration of its original 40 year license.

The Attorney General of the State of New York, Eric Schneiderman, another lead plaintiff in the successful legal challenge against the Nuclear Waste Con Game, cited the ruling as reason for Entergy Nuclear's application for a 20 year license extension at its Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant near New York City to be indefinitely delayed. Beyond Nuclear filed similar motions, for postponement of licensing decisions until NRC completes its court-ordered environmental assessment of high-level radioactive waste storage risks on-site at nuclear power plants, at Davis-Besse, Ohio; Fermi 3, Michigan; and Grand Gulf 1 & 3, Mississippi.

At Entergy's Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan, which just experienced yet another age-degradation related shutdown, Beyond Nuclear and its allies fired off a letter to NRC Chairman Jaczko, asking if he had known about leakage in the reactor's Safety Injection Refueling Water storage tank when he met with their environmental coalition on May 25th, and if he did, why he didn't tell us about it.

Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant near Omaha, Nebraska remains shutdown for the 14th month, after historic floods on the Missouri River submerged miles of safety critical electrical cable underwater for weeks on end, making their integrity and function highly suspect. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has petitioned the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for upgrades to regulations for detecting defects in safety wires submerged underwater or exposed to high humidity. The Nebraska Watchdog reports that just today, the downstream Sierra Club of Iowa has officially called for Fort Calhoun's permanent shutdown.

San Onofre nuclear power plant remains shutdown for the 5th month, after a steam generator tube rupture in January led to the discovery of unexpected, widespread, premature degradation. Friends of the Earth (FOE) has petitioned NRC to block restart indefinitely until Southern California Edison (SCE) obtains a license amendment for the significant changes in design used in the replacement steam generators -- the root cause of the deterioration, that should have been caught by a rigorous review which SCE deceptively sidestepped in the first place.